The Perfect Host: “Chalte chalte mere yeh geet yaad rakhna, kabhi alvida na kehna.” — this evergreen Kishore Kumar song sung by a group of MPs summed up the mood of the lawmakers at a dinner hosted Thursday by Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu for the retiring MPs. It was a welcome break for MPs from across the political divide as they entertained each other with songs. While DMK's Tiruchi Siva sang P B Sreenivas's 1960's hit Tamil song 'Mouname paarvaiyaal Oru paattu paatavendum', NCP's Vandana Chavan sang the Kishore Kumar number 'Ruk jaana nahin tu kahin haarke' and Sonal Mansingh sang a Meera bhajan. Trinamool's Dola Sen and BJP's Rupa Ganguly sang Bangla songs. TMC's Santanu Sen played the guitar, and outgoing BJP member Ramachandra Jhangra regaled everyone with a Hindi song. Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended the dinner, as did floor leaders of all political parties. A Special Guest: The BJP headquarters will have a special visitor this week — on his maiden visit to India, Nepal Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba will be at the BJP office on party president J P Nadda’s invitation. Party leaders say the invitation was extended to mark the long-standing warm and cordial relations between the two countries. This is also perhaps the first time that a visiting head of state will be at the party headquarters. No Recusal, Please: Supreme Court judge Justice Krishna Murari on Thursday sought to recuse himself from a bench hearing a matter involving Spicejet and its former promoter, Kalanithi Maran, as his son works with the airline. CJI N V Ramana, who was heading the bench, conveyed this to senior advocates Mukul Rohatgi and Dushyant Dave, who appeared for the two sides, but they “insisted” that the judge hear it. “In England, son can appear before the father judge and have lunch together. What is this misunderstanding we have in our country,” asked Dave. Weighing in, the CJI remarked, “The walls of maintaining distance is more in SC. In HC, we had no such problem. They used to come to our chambers. Here the distance is 1 km.” Rohatgi said what happens in the court should have no bearing on what happens outside, and added, “Your Lordships should break this rule.” But the CJI said, “That is the culture developed here, which I cannot change.” With the counsel supporting, the bench comprising Justice Murari went on to hear the matter.
