Delhi confidential: Envoy to rescue

Among the guests was Markandey Katju, former Supreme Court judge and now chairman of the Press Council of India.

As the German Embassy invited people in Delhi to the screening of the semi-final match between Germany and Brazil, city’s German expatriate community and Indians came in hordes to watch the match in the early hours. Among the guests was Markandey Katju, former Supreme Court judge and now chairman of the Press Council of India. As he arrived at the embassy, he asked officials to arrange for a vehicle for his return at 4 am — when the match would end — so that he could free up his driver. The Germans were in a spot. There were many guests who had come on their own or with drivers. They had not prepared for such requests for dropping off guests after the match. But German Ambassador Michael Steiner came to the rescue and asked officials to arrange for a vehicle.

BREATHER AT HOME
MORE than a month after the Narendra Modi government was sworn in, Union Home Secretary Anil Goswami is learnt to have given some respite to his officers for the first time for 10 days, cancelling his daily 9 am meeting with them. Goswami informed his officers of the rank of joint secretary and above that there will be no meeting till July 21. Incidentally, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will also be away attending the BRICS meet this week. After the NDA regime took over, Goswami had asked his officers to report to work at 9 am to discuss the day’s development.

FOR THE HOLY COW
FRIDAY saw two Private Members’ Bills relating to cows getting introduced in Lok Sabha—both moved by BJP MPs. While Hansraj Gangaram Ahir, MP from Chandrapur in Maharashtra, moved the Cow Protection Authority Bill, 2014, Gorakhpur MP Yogi Adityanath moved the Ban of Cow Slaughter Bill, 2014. Ahir’s Bill seeks the setting up of an authority for the “purpose of protection of cow and its progeny in the country” while Adityanath’s Bill seeks to prohibit the slaughter of cow and its progeny. Official sources, however, played it down saying that everybody has “the right to voice his opinion” and the BJP MPs did not reflect the party’s or the government’s thinking in any way.

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QUERY UNANSWERED
AS BJP MP from Mehsana Jayshreeben K Patel rose to introduce a Private Member’s Bill in Lok Sabha seeking the establishment of a commission for ensuring minimum support prices to farmers for their agricultural produce, Trinamool Congress’s Saugata Roy, tongue firmly in cheek, sought to know whether she was Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel’s sister. Getting no reply, Roy repeated the query from MPs sitting close to Patel. Some of them nodded in ignorance.

GETTING ON WITH WORK
AS the BJP strives to strike a perfect coordination between the party and the government, newly appointed party president Amit Shah called a meeting of party’s office-bearers and spokespersons Friday. The issue of leveraging party’s media cell and talking heads to communicate government’s initiatives to the public was learnt to have come up for discussion. During the meeting, it was agreed to get one minister address a press conference at party headquarters every day. Incidentally, the first opportunity went to Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad when he Friday addressed a press conference to highlight BJP government’s first Budget.

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