Congress MP Rajiv Shukla is also starting a new political innings these days with somewhat changed looks and expressions. It is known to all how much Shukla is given to page 3 parties. But this time when he delivered his much talked about speech in Rajya Sabha his focus primarily was on waste food and wasteland management. Shukla raised the question that now when the country is grappling with the issue of shortage of grains, how can large scale wastage of food be permitted in big weddings and parties. On the one side so many people in the country are on the verge of starvation and the grains are so expensive, and on the other lakhs of parties are hostel every day in
the country and so many thousand quintals of food is also wasted in five star hotels, but we are unable to do anything because there is no arrangement for waste food management. The Central and State Governments would have to think about this. Despite his known friendship with Mukesh Ambani, Rajiv Shukla also insisted that in future cultivable agricultural land should not be allotted for any new SEZ or housing project because in this country even today 27 per cent of the land is barren and for such projects such barren land only should be used.

There is a lot of chaos within the Congress over the Women’s Reservation Bill. This Bill may have been passed in the Rajya Sabha, but several senior Congress leaders are also worried because of this
Bill’s shape and consequences. Prime Minister and several senior ministers like Pranab Mukherjee and P. Chidambaram can be counted among the opponents of this Bill but because of the fear of the
Congress queen their lips are sealed. So, the Congress MPs had been invited with their spouses to the dinner that was hosted by Sonia Gandhi at her residence to celebrate the passing of the Bill in Rajya
Sabha. The women politicians too were invited along with their husbands and whichever MP was going to Sonia to congratulate her on this Bill being passed in the Upper House, Sonia was asking them “if
their congratulation was without any fear or favour?’’ Truly, the Italian queen did fight valiantly.

The entire drama had started from the dinner that was hosted by Indian diplomat in Saudi Arabia, Mr M.O.H. Farooq. Though a group of Indian journalists was also present in that lunch and so were senior
ministers like Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma and Murli Deora, and so was Shivshankar Menon, but no one was discussing politics. Just then people noticed that Shashi Tharoor had the mike in his hand and began addressing a press conference in one corner of the lawn. And in between this he used the word “interlocutor’’ while making a mention of how Saudi Arabia can use its good relations with Pakistan to
India’s benefit and thus play the role of an interlocutor. The next day “Arab News’’ published a big story about India’s intention. Later the Prime Minister himself took control of the situation by saying
that the whole world is dependent on each other or is interdependent, and so one friendly country comes to the aid of another country, the way India is doing for Afghanistan. But by then the matter had reached
a feverish pitch. So now Tharoor should remain prepared for paying the price for having a big mouth.

The rebellious chorus of the JD(U) MPs against Nitish Kumar in Bihar has started becoming shriller. After the rebellion of Lallan Singh, it is as if the flood gates have been opened. If reliable sources are to be believed then recent three JD(U) MPs Pooranmasi Ram, Jagdish Sharma and Munazir Hasan have held secret parleys with Congress in-charge in Bihar Jagdish Tytler. It is understood that Congress has assured these three MPs that in the forthcoming elections to Bihar Assembly their sons could be given Congress tickets. So when the winds have started blowing in favour of the Congress wave in Bihar, several other JD(U) MPs have also started looking towards it intently. For example, Mahabali Singh, Jai Narain Nishad etc., etc.

In the Indore convention of BJP, an Antodaya exhibition of the social organisations was mounted which was an effort to put on the saffron canvas the view and ideals of Gandhi. But it was most interesting that during this entire exhibition the industrial outlook of BJP president Nitin Gadkari was all too dominant. The president claims that he wants to run these organisations like a cooperative but those in the know insist that the president owns sugar mills and big PVC manufacturing companies and will someone tell if these are all cooperative units?

On Wednesday, Shah Rukh Khan suddenly reached Delhi along with his friend Karan Johar and went straight to the official bungalow of his Congress friend at Lodhi Road. He then took the friend along to meet the party high command. Sources tell us that this matter was of thanksgiving. Shah Rukh had come to say thanks for the way Congress appeared concerned about his security and that of his family.

Is the big brother, younger brother duo being eyed with envy by their rivals? Or else, what went so wrong that without the younger brother Big B attended a news channel program in Delhi. The important part is that the elder brother had not come alone to the program, his daughter-in-law Aishwarya and wife Jaya Bachchan had also accompanied him. When Big B was returning after participating in the channel’s program, Thakur Amar Singh arrived. He came all by himself, silent and slightly lost. Has the Thakur leader’s political attractions really started fading?

Prime Minister’s outlook towards GM foods and Bt brinjal may still be soft but Jairam Ramesh has made a 360 degree turn from his earlier statement. At the base of this is that rebuke from Sonia Gandhi in which she had expressed the apprehension that if the UPA Government
would come out openly in support of Bt brinjal then it would have to bear the consequence in the forthcoming Assembly elections in Bihar, U.P. and Gujarat. So Jairam who was openly supporting Bt brinjal has now turned around.

The television rights for 20-20 IPL cricket have gone to Sony TV. It is perhaps the most important aspect in the history of sport that officially a service charge has been levied for the grant of telecast rights and this tax is not a pittance but Rs 400 crores which has gone
to some WSG company. One has heard of kickbacks in defence deals but in the history of cricket it is the first time that a commission has been charged in the name of service charge. When Lalit Modi was asked about this in Goa, his reply was that Sharad Pawar’s son-in-law
Sadanand Sule was doing the mediation for the IPL rights and so this question should be put to him. `Despite you, the loot has taken place, how am I to believe you were not involved.’

Now PC’s stale and old political posturing of putting Telangana on the backburner is also not easy to chew. Congress is in doldrums because of Telangana. The manner in which Chidambaram declared in haste that a separate Telangana State would be created has become a bone in the throat of the Congress. If the party is to implement this announcement of PC then Andhra slips out of hand and if the new State is not created then too the party would lose in the State. Engaged in the task of mediation and political manoeuvring, Pranab has apprised both Sonia and Manmohan that it was because of the poor umpiring by PC that Congress could lose the match in Andhra. It goes without saying that vis-à-vis Chidambaram, the looks of both Sonia and Manmohan are
changing.