After Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement on recall of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 currency notes, most Union ministers and BJP leaders are receiving calls from different people about troubles they are facing. When Union minister M Venkaiah Naidu got a call from Tirupati temple authorities with a complaint that hundreds of pilgrims could not find cash to buy food, the minister suggested that the temple could offer free food for a few days since the demonetisation move is for a “national cause.” The temple authorities agreed and offered free meals to pilgrims, Naidu said. Curious Over Byline As Congress party-owned National Herald launched the beta version of its English website on Monday, many Congress leaders were surprised to see one of the lead articles by Sudheendra Kulkarni. Titled “Nehru, BJP and the need for tolerant dialogue”, the article is about how BJP leaders from a different era - the likes of L K Advani and A B Vajpayee - viewed India’s first Prime Minister differently and had praised him. Kulkarni has quoted from statements of Advani and Vajpayee praising Nehru. Some Congress leaders were, however, miffed that one of the first articles on Nehru — who founded National Herald — is by a former BJP fellow traveller. Waiting For Didi When West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee arrives in the capital on Tuesday one of the first to call on her will be her Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal. While the bonhomie between AAP and the Trinamool Congress has been very visible over the last few months, this time there is more traction given that AAP is so far the only party that has confirmed representation at the highest level in the march to Rashtrapati Bhawan against demonetisation of Rs 1000 and Rs 500 notes. The TMC insists the meeting with the President should take place at the earliest rather than wait for the government’s reply in Parliament. Vanishing Act It seems at least one point of contention between the government and NDTV has vanished. The day after Information and Broadcasting Minister M Venkaiah Naidu met NDTV officials and ordered to put the one-day ban on NDTV India on hold, a blog post by Amit Sen had claimed that the ministry was under pressure and had asked Prannoy Roy to meet and settle the issue. The blog was tweeted and retweeted by several senior NDTV journalists, including Roy, which had irked people in the ministry. The ministry not only disagreed with the narrative but also felt it catalysed mutual mistrust between the parties. But now, although the tweets by NDTV officials still link to the post, the entire blog - and not just that particular post - has been taken down. The webpage reads: “The authors have deleted this site.”
