Delhi Confidential: Small Matters
Derek O’Brien raised a point of order about books etc being passed directly to MPs from the officers’ gallery rather than via marshals.
Derek O’Brien
While the Congress and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley were locked in a war of words over the legitimacy of Sushma Swaraj’s intervention in the morning, the Trinamool had less complicated things on its mind. Derek O’Brien raised a point of order about books etc being passed directly to MPs from the officers’ gallery rather than via marshals. An amused Deputy Chairman P J Kurien urged the Treasury benches to “follow the convention”.
[related-post]
Left Out
As Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan suspended 25 Congress MPs for obstructing proceedings, at least one MP felt left out. RSP’s N K Premachandran, who had been protesting along with Congress members all these days, was not suspended. Premachandran did not hide his unhappiness. He said the suspension of the Congress MPs was a politically motivated move to divide the opposition. The government, he said, wanted to break the opposition unity. For no action was taken against TRS members who had been protesting in the well of the House for a separate high court for Telangana. Similarly, SP and RJD members who have been demanding release of the caste census have also not faced action. At the time of the suspension, three Congress members — M K Raghavan, Kodikkunil Suresh and Mullappally Ramachandran — were not even present in the House.
Perfect Pose
Rajnath Singh, who is good at giving photo ops to the media, did it again on Monday. When Singh came out of Parliament House building to go to the library building for the all-party meeting, he saw Ghulam Nabi Azad and Sharad Yadav posing for photos. By the time he came to the spot, both leaders had walked towards the building entrance. But Singh called out to Azad and forced him to come back and shake hands, much to the glee of the lensmen.
Looking South
Pakistan envoy Abdul Basit is planning a trip to Kerala from August 10 to 13, in his efforts to reach out to the state government. He is likely to meet Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and interact with top state officials. Besides, he is also planning to meet some local think-tanks and university students. After the fiasco with Punjab and Haryana governments, when the chief ministers of these states cancelled their scheduled meeting after the Gurdaspur attack, the Pakistan High Commission is hoping that it won’t happen again. For now, the Pakistani mission is waiting for approval from the Ministry of External Affairs for the trip.
Another Extension
Rajan Katoch a 1979-batch IAS officer of the Madhya Pradesh cadre, has received another three-month extension as Director of the Enforcement Directorate. Rajan has been holding additional charge of the post since August 2014 after he was promoted and posted as Heavy Industries Secretary. Earlier, G C Murmu, a 1985-batch IAS officer of the Gujarat cadre, who served as principal secretary to Narendra Modi when he was the Gujarat chief minister, was tipped to be the next ED Director.
Share
