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.

Since the time lockdown began, both Sonia and Rahul Gandhi have been giving suggestions to PM Narendra Modi, for example, one thousand rupees direct cash transfer in labourers’ and workers’ accounts. Rahul requested the PM to announce that the stranded migrants will be ferried safely to their homes and after this, the buses and shramik trains were started. After this Rahul said that 7,500 rupees should be directly deposited in workers accounts. The PM was mulling over it when the BJP and Sangh leaders put some pressure that if Congress’s demands are adhered to then the party would take its credit in front of the public and thus RG’s demands have been put in the cold bag.

The ‘saffron’ Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh Shivraj Singh Chauhan wanted to expand his cabinet on 1st June and after several permutations and combinations, he finalised a list and sent it to Delhi for approval. But the BJP high command has not given its green signal to the list. As such this time around it was not easy for Shivraj to finalise the names of ministers since several individuals who left Congress and joined BJPO with Scindia are in line to be provided ministerial positions. And for this, Shivraj had to delete names of several of his loyalists, for example, his faithful MLA and former leader of opposition Sagar Gopal Bhargava was offered the position of Speaker but he declined. In this lockdown crisis, Shivraj has another front opened as he has to get the government bungalows vacated from ministers of Kamal Nath government since Kamal Nath government spent thirty-eight crore rupees in the renovation of these bungalows and now these ‘beneficiaries’ are not vacating their bungalows. However, Kamal Nath himself is vacating the Chief Minister’s residence located at 6, Shyamla Hill and shifting in his old house.

It appears that Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray’s ‘reign’ is not going down well with former Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis, and hence when the opportunity presents itself he complains about Uddhav to BJP top leadership and Sangh. The latest developments related to MLC election in Maharashtra made Fadnavis believe that if Uddhav does not get elected to the MLC he will have to vacate the position. However, Thackeray junior spoke directly to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and soon the notification for the same was issued in a haste and Uddhav was chosen to the legislative council. If sources are to be believed, after this ‘crushing loss’ Fadnavis suggested to the top BJP leadership that after few cosmetic changes, the 123-year-old Epidemic Diseases Act 1897 can be enforced in Maharashtra, West Bengal and Delhi where Corona is spreading at a fast pace. Fadnavis hinted that the union government, taking the support of the Act, could render the state government’s powerless and take the charge of running the states. After this, the legal experts were consulted and it was found that the central government can not take over the complete rights of the states but it can only take steps to stop the spread which means that the centre would be able to take only health-related policy decisions. Suspecting some ‘threat’ the Delhi government quickly enforced Delhi Epidemic Act 2020 and Maharashtra government enforced Covid-19 Regulation 2020. as such, there is a possibility that if any state government does not enforce the Epidemic Act properly then the Central government can suspend the state government. But this ‘possibility’ is marred with legal ‘entanglements’.

Who gave this wisdom to the UP BJP leaders that there could be any discrepancy in the list of buses submitted by Congress for helping the migrants? When Congress gave this list to the UP BJP govt they had no inkling regarding any probable discrepancy in the bus list. Sources say that this happened due to the inside information given by a senior Congress leader ditching his own party. This senior Congress leader has said to have conveyed the UP BJP govt that since required number of buses could not be arranged so there has to be something wrong to it. If sources are to be believed then there was a communication gap between Rajasthan CM Gehlot, Deputy CM Sachin Pilot and Priyanka Gandhi’s secretary Sandeep Singh. Or was it a deliberate plan to sabotage the plan? Priyanka Gandhi should get it enquired as it was her name which took a beating in the whole episode.  

Realising the complexity and humanitarian aspect of the journey of the migrant workers back home, the issue is being echoed from very quarter. Congress and Priyanka Gandhi also started raising the issue prominently. Priyanka asked permission for 1000 buses from the UP govt for taking the migrant workers to their native places. At first sight UP CM didn’t find anything political in the proposal and he took the tweet by Priyanka Gandhi casually. It is here that a senior bureaucrat intervened in the matter who was miffed with UP Congressman Gaurav Pandhi for raising question on his wife, a prominent folk singer, being a permanent feature in every big govt function through a tweet. Pandhi had hinted that the singer wife got the assignments due to her relationship with the senior bureaucrat. Sources say that the senior bureaucrat revealed his heart burn to CM Yogi due to his proximity. CM asked him to take necessary action on the bus matter. After getting CM’s nod the senior bureaucrat asked Congress to send all 1000 buses to Lucknow by 10 pm the same night where their fitness was to be checked. Congress suggested that since the buses were supposed to enter UP from Noida border so even the fitness tests should also be done at Noida. The senior bureaucrat refused this and on the contrary registered a case against UP Congress chief Ajay Kumar Lallu sighting that approx 150 two & three wheelers registration numbers were found in the list of 1000 buses submitted by Congress,m which he regarded infringement of lockdown and fraud on part of Congress.  

The nation’s economy has take a severe blow as a result of the lockdown due to Corona and the Modi government is also keeping a sharp eye on it. As a measure of damage control, a thirty percent deduction has been done in the salaries of government employees while the revenue department has released a notification saying that till April 2021, every month all the employees of the department will deposit their one day’s salary in the Prime Minister Relief Fund. Moreover the DA has been freezed till April next year. If the claims of the Bhartiya Mazdoor Sangh, supported by the RSS, are to be believed, then from now there will be no increment and only thirty five percent employees will work in one shift. According to an estimate, with the deduction in salary and freezing of DA will save almost three lakh crore rupees of the government. India’s corporate sector has been demanding a fifteen lakh crore rupee package and it is believed that the finance ministry is mulling over the demand with utmost sympathy. So it is possible that the Corporate world could be given a package of 7-8 lakh crore rupees.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s alleged ignoring of migrant labourers could prove dear to him. An online survey supported by BJP has revealed that since lockdown was announced, there has been a tremendous fall in Nitish’s popularity. The survey also says that if Nitish contests in the upcoming assembly elections on his own and not with BJP, he would win on a meagre twenty seats. If Nitish and BJP come together to contest under one banner, then JDU’s candidates have a winning chance of fifty percent while BJP candidates could have a winning edge of seventy percent. However, now there could be a tussle between BJP and JDU over distribution of seats where Nitish wants 15-20 seats from the saffron party while the BJP can pitch in equal bifurcation of seats. If Nitish continues with his ‘big brother’ attitude, then BJP could give him 2-5 seats extra with the condition that next CM will be decided by elected legislators.

In the ongoing Corona crisis, by the time the government came out of its slumber, fifty days had passed since the lockdown came into effect, and lakhs of migrant labour had started on their way home travelling thousands of kilometers amid hunger and braving the tropical sun. A few reached their destination, several others were put in isolation and then there were those who became a victim of the road itself. According to an estimate there are eight crore migrant labours who had left their homes in search of job. The railway has decided to run three hundred trains and maintaining social distancing around 1200 labours are ferried in each train. An estimate says that the railways will have to run 66,666 trains to ferry these eight crore migrant labours and the time taken to complete this task is 182 days. The Railway claims that of the total expenditure incurred on running special trains for labours, it is realising only fifteen percent from states since these trains are only travelling one way with passengers while returning devoid of them. Keeping in mind social distancing the middle berth has been removed and the passengers are being provided with food and water for the journey. So the railway is incurring an expense of six to eight thousand rupee per person of which they are charging only fifteen percent. It should be noted that the Modi government has allotted total one thousand crore to the railways to take the migrant labor home and if sources are to be believed, the railways is chugging out fifty lakh rupee for each train journey.

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