When the tensions between India and China due to the recent border spat were on its peak, the first time BJP MP from Ladakh Jamyang Tsering Namgyal couldn’t control his emotions and went near the LAC, inspected the situation through his binoculars and gave a statement that China hadn’t encroached upon on single inch of Indian soil. After this, he participated in a TV debate and said that the Chinese had encroached upon Indian land. This wasn’t music to the BJP high command and they called Namgyal and asked him as with whose permission did he go to the LAC and then participated in the TV debate? The young MP is said to have insisted on his role as MP from Ladakh. The party made him understand that the party has deputed spokespersons to represent it in the media and he should refrain from expressing the party or government’s view directly. Namgyal’s graph is certainly down in the BJP now. It is worth mentioning that in 2018, the then sitting BJP MP from Ladakh Thumpstan Chhewang refused to contest elections citing his age, BJP had hurriedly asked his deputy Namgyal to contest without many deliberations and Namgyal won the seat as well.

The author is a journalist and political commentator and views expressed are his personal.

UP Congress President Ajay Kumar Lallu is in jail from the last 20 days after the migrant’s bus controversy. There is visibly frustration in the state Congress and they have been apprising Priyanka Gandhi of it. They suggested that Congress should take to the streets and launch a mass agitation against the detention of Lallu. But Priyanka said that it would be improper to come on streets during Covid-19 crisis and the better way would be to tell all poor and needy about Lallu’s detention due to taking up the cause of migrant workers while distributing food packets to them. Now the UP Congressmen fail to understand this new style of politics and are wondering who is the real ‘Lallu’?

The news is that BJP has once again started giving importance to Jyotiraditya Scindia due to the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections. In any case, the by-elections to the 24 seats in Madhya Pradesh assembly are due too. Sources say that Jyotiraditya and Suresh Prabhu may be sworn in on June 26 as central ministers. This has the internal politics in the BJP on the boil with the Narendra Singh Tomar supporters are putting forth the logic that had Jyotiraditya been such a powerful leader then he should have ensured a full majority for Congress in the MP assembly polls. These supporters say that the upcoming by-election results in the non-Chambal areas with no Scindhia effect will show the real BJP power in MP. But the BJP central leadership is in no mood to take any risk with Scindhia as the fate of Shivraj govt in MP hangs with him.

Coronavirus has changed the style of functioning of senior officers. The big bosses drive themselves and carry home packed food and water. The first thing they do upon reaching office is to dust the office, sanitize the doorknobs, tables, chairs, computer etc. Everyone resists calling the peon inside the chamber and even if they need tea, they prefer to self pour from the thermos/flask brought from home. But there are still some officers whose bossism didn’t take lessons from the might of coronavirus and they didn’t stop peeping into the junior section to check who all had reported on time. One such is a Joint Secretary in the Labour Ministry. Later this JS along with 26 other colleagues of the ministry was found to be corona positive. With the tide of time changed now the focus of the investigation is on who all came in contact with this JS? Who came to deliver him files? Where did JS venture out?

Covid-19 seems to be redefining communism giving equal treatment to all irrespective of the fact whether one is on the margins of the society or in the ‘safe’ powerhouse cocoon. The investigation has assumed top priority as to how did Covid-19 reach higher officers and most powerful central ministers. With Unlock 1.0 the central govt ordered opening up of all the central govt offices with 50% employee attendance mandatory. Senior officers were asked to report regularly on the duty. Home Ministry was working full throttle even during the lockdown. The factual and grammatical errors in the bill brought on Kashmir were being rectified. It is said that there were 57 such errors in the bill that was to be corrected and the bill was to be presented to the parliament. This task was assigned to a capable officer specially summoned from the Law ministry. Later the same officer was found to be corona positive. The chain of officers in various ministries like Nirman Bhawan, Rail Bhawan, Shashtri Bhawan, Krishi Bhawan, National Media Centre and Health ministry being found corona positive continued unabated. Although there is no official list of all the infected officers in various ministries but according to an estimate, around 300 officers have turned positive. Among the seniors, the name of Defence Secretary Ajay Kumar, Vinod Pal of the Niti Ayog, Under Secretary of the Finance department Rita Mal (who sits in the North Block), Dhatwalia of PIB along with 30 other officers feature in the list. Many senior ministers like Nitin Gadkari, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Prakash Javdekar and Narendra Singh Tomar have gone for a self-quarantine. Apart from these, 6 Secretaries along with 6 Joint Secretaries are also self quarantined.

At such opportune time when RSS’s hopes are on the rise, it is celebrating its ideology shaper KS Sudarshan’s birthday with utmost frolic. Although Sudarshan’s birthdate falls on 18th June, however, the Sangh is following the birthday on 6th June according to the Hindu calendar. Sudarshan has always been a proponent of the swadeshi model for development and throughout his life, he stood against the ‘Western Model and Economic Development’. in his tenure, Sangh’s frontal organization Swadeshi Jagaran Manch also reached great heights. Considered to be staunch anti-globalisation supporter, it was Sudarshan who gave the motto of ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’. He also laid stress on the development of North-East and he advocated for the Citizenship Amendment Law. So this time, when PM Modi spoke during his ‘Man Ki Baat’ on radio, he also stressed on being ‘Atmanirbhar’. PM clarified that he wants to take manufacturing hub to villages and wants to open new employment opportunities in rural areas. PM’s mention is also important since he believes that those migrant labourers who have reached home, now they will not have to go out in search of work as they will find work near their villages. The Migration Commission has also started working on PM’s idea, the Commission which is going to be given shape in the days to come.

The Aam Aadmi Party has once against started its efforts to spread its power in states other than Delhi. The party has been trying to lure Navjyot Singh Sidhu who is miffed with Congress and the AAP can project Sidhu as its CM face in the next Punjab Assembly elections. As of now, efforts are on to bring Sidhu into the party fold. Moreover, the party is also taking Bihar elections with utmost seriousness. AAP’s Bihar Incharge Sanjay Singh is Rajya Sabha MP. Although he is native of Sultanpur of Uttar Pradesh his political style goes down well with people from Bihar. Hence, during the Corona crisis, AAP has worked tremendously for the migrant labourers from Bihar. Sanjay Singh gave his thirty-four coupons of air travel for Bihari labourers. Along with this, he has appealed the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha MPs that if everyone takes a united step, then 26,860 migrant labourers can be sent back to their native’s states. Till now Singh has sent labourers to Bihar, UP and Madhya Pradesh in 32 buses while AAP has helped more than 1.5 lakh labourers from Bihari by ferrying them in trains. Hence the AAP has decided that the Bihar election will be fought on ‘Delhi governance model’ versus Bihar’s ‘Sushasan Model’. AAP Bihar spokesperson Chandrabhushan has claimed that while in Delhi people pay seventy rupee bill for using 201 unit electricity, in Bihar they have to shell out 1540 rupees. AAP wants to project its successful models of Education, health and transport in Bihar too and has prepared an army of twenty to thirty thousand individuals in each assembly constituency. It has been observed that Muslims in Bihar are quickly turning towards AAP.

Jyotiraditya Scindia is an old Congress leader and hence he has not coloured himself properly in BJP’s saffron. Since he has studied abroad, hence in his thoughts and behaviour, one can easily witness the stamp of western civilization. Till the time he was in Congress, he was regarded as Rahul’s faithful and after Rahul was appointed Party President, he would still address the Gandhi-scion with his first name, Rahul and even Rahul Gandhi also never felt bad. Now that he has joined BJP, Scindia continues to call the saffron leaders with their first name. Just imagine if any BJP leader address Shah and Nadda by first name – Amit and JP – how will the BJP workers digest that? Since the culture in Sangh and BJP do not permit usage of the first name for senior leaders, so if Jyotiraditya wants to remain in BJP he will have to learn to play the BJP’s band.

The long-awaited extension of the union cabinet has been put on the back burner under the garb of Corona and this is the issue that has annoyed Jyotiraditya Scindia who has recently joined the BJP from Congress party. Such is his ‘heartburn’ that he has not given BJP’s profile a place on his twitter profile. This raises a question: Is he again on his rebellious mode? Sources reveal that for the past few days, Scindia has been looking to speak with the Prime Minister, and so he has called up the PMO thrice informing that he wants to speak with the PM but due to his busy schedule PM did not come online. However, word is that PMO has sent a message to Scindia to speak with Amit Shah on this issue. It is said that when Scindia called up Shah, he was asked to speak with BJP President JP Nadda. So when Scindia spoke with Nadda, a simplistic Nadda heard his entire issue and tried to pacify him as well but it is said that Scindia apparently got stuck on the point as to when will he be appointed minister in the central cabinet. The erstwhile royal was then informed that since the work for BJP organizational rejigs is ongoing, and since the Prime Minister himself is involved day and night in the fight against Corona, how then can the cabinet expansion be thought of? It is not known what Scindia is thinking of now.

Rajya Sabha Chairman Venkaiyah Naidu was tensed that when the month-long monsoon session of the house will be called in the third week of July, how will the members maintain social distancing. After this, DMK leader Trichi Shiva gave a suggestion saying that Lok Sabha session should be held with 245 MPs where there are 545 seats for MPs and Lok Sabha MP sessions should be held in Central Hall where more than eight hundred people can sit. It is said that the government is also mulling over this idea.