Narendra Singh Tomar THE NEXT round of meetings between the government and protesting farmer unions is unlikely to take place in the next few days as Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar is out of town. Tomar, who has been appointed BJP in-charge for the upcoming Assam assembly elections, is on tour of the state. He began his three-day tour on Wednesday.
The Self-Goal
CONGRESS LEADER Rahul Gandhi appeared to have committed a faux pas in Puducherry, where he was on a one-day visit on Wednesday. Talking to fishermen, Gandhi said that “if farmers of the land have a ministry in Delhi, then why is it that farmers of the sea do not have a ministry in Delhi”. This prompted Giriraj Singh, Minister for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, to remind Gandhi on Twitter that the ministry was set up in May 2019. Singh also offered to give him information on what work is being done by his ministry. Ministers Smriti Irani and Anurag Thakur also joined in, accusing the former Congress president of spreading lies, with the former tweeting in Italian.
Fresh Appointments
In a spate of appointments announced on Wednesday, BJP leaders Vijay Sampla and Arun Halder have been appointed as chairperson and vice-chairperson, respectively, of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes. While Sampla is from Punjab, which is witnessing protests over three farm laws, Haldar is from poll-bound West Bengal. Similarly, M Venkatesan has been appointed chairperson of the National Commission of Safai Karmacharis while P P Vava has been made one of its members. Venkatesan and Vava are also from two poll-bound states – Tamil Nadu and Kerala, respectively.
