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Delhi Confidential: At 82, Vaiko ‘Younger than Rahul’, Brittas leaves opposition in splits

The evening’s most engaging moment belonged to the compère, CPI(M)’s John Brittas, who introduced the 82-year-old Vaiko as “the youngest person on the dais”.

2 min readNew DelhiUpdated: Aug 7, 2026 11:52 AM IST

CPM MP John Brittas

THE RELEASE of four volumes of parliamentary speeches by former MP Vaiko in the Capital saw prominent faces from the Opposition bloc share the stage. LoP Rahul Gandhi launched the volumes and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav received them. The evening’s most engaging moment belonged to the compère, CPI(M)’s John Brittas, who introduced the 82-year-old Vaiko as “the youngest person on the dais”. Gandhi seconded him, declaring Vaiko as “indeed young”. After Gandhi’s speech, Brittas returned to the podium and smilingly said what he actually meant was that Vaiko was not only young, “but younger than Rahulji himself”. The hall erupted in laughter.

‘Mission’ Siwan

THE OPPOSITION parties are planning to send their MPs to Siwan in Bihar to meet the student protesters injured in police action during the July 25 state bandh. Sources said Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi floated the idea during a meeting of floor leaders of the Opposition parties on Thursday. Gandhi said the Opposition can’t confine itself to Parliament and must hit the streets, said sources. He appealed to all the parties to send maximum MPs to Siwan, and they agreed, the sources said. A final schedule for the programme will be prepared in the coming days.

Direct Feedback

UNION JAL Shakti Minister C R Patil has launched a unique initiative to collect direct feedback on the implementation of Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) 2.0.He has been holding interactive meetings with MPs from both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha to assess the Mission’s progress and address constituency-specific concerns. Patil has so far met MPs from Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Odisha and West Bengal. He is scheduled to hold similar interactions with MPs from UP, MP and Maharashtra in the coming days.

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