The Rajnath Times |
June 19 2015 |
A decisive battle is on between Rajnath Singh and Arun Jaitley for the number two position in Modi government. Until now, knowingly or unknowingly, Jaitley has had PMO’s veto; all he has to do is wish something from a ministry and it is done. Reliable sources attached to the home ministry say that about seven months ago, Delhi Police Commissioner Bassi met the minister of state for home Kiren Rijiju at his office. He discussed with Rijiju about Barack Obama becoming chief guest for the Republic Day parade and how it would mean more security measures and thus, the usage of more high-tech gadgets and equipment. For this, the police commissioner asked for an extra sum of Rs 20 crore. Rijiju took Bassi to Rajnath, who, sensing the gravity of the matter, thought it best to talk directly to the finance minister about this. But Jaitley turned down the proposal saying the Central government is looking at ways to cut costs. Not just that, in the days to come, Jaitley made some major changes in the home ministry’s budget, so much so that the budget for police modernisation, which used to be with the Centre until now, was handed over to the states. Now the states can make use of these funds any way they want. Rajnath saw it was payback time when the matter of Maran Brothers’ Sun Direct Private Limited reached the home ministry. The matter concerned the sanction of 33 TV channels for Maran from the Centre. The project got the green signal from the information and broadcasting ministry, but it is now stuck in home ministry. Sources at the home ministry say that Rajnath is citing security reasons and is not in favour of clearing the file. This time, the PMO too is on the same wavelength as Rajnath – Modi feels that being strict with the Maran brothers may somehow mean getting into J Jayalalithaa’s good books. Is Modi himself trying to play a role in the balance of power between Jaitley and Rajnath now? |
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