Comeback Capers
Keeping in mind next year’s Lok Sabha polls, the BJP national leadership has extended an olive branch to its breakaway rebel, former Karnataka cm BS Yeddyurappa. However, the party doesn’t want to open its doors for the return of other leaders of the KJP that he formed in November. Those unwelcome include KJP chief Dhananjay Kumar and former minister Shobha Karandlaje. Several BJP leaders in the state reportedly have problems with ‘Team Yeddyurappa’ and hence have asked him to drop his team to rejoin the BJP. Yeddyurappa, whose rebellion was a key factor in the BJP’s loss in the May Assembly election, is furious that the BJP is setting conditions for his return.
House Full
After the formation of yet another ragtag government in Jharkhand this month, the footfall has dramatically increased at Jharkhand Bhavan, the state government’s camp office-cum-lodge in New Delhi. Officials have a tough time dealing with MLAs and babus looking for accommodation during trips to the national capital. So much so that former deputy cm Sudhir Mahato was left high and dry despite calling days in advance. He even played his card of being in the current government but it cut no ice.
Enriching Scam
Revenues at Kerala’s television networks have lately shot up thanks to a raging cheating scandal that has ensnared Chief Minister Oommen Chandy. The arrest of Saritha Nair, a woman who allegedly took advances to sell solar panels and then scooted, has roused enormous interest in the state’s 33 million people, driving advertisers to television stations. Chandy and the who’s who of Kerala’s ruling Congress-led United Democratic Front government are allegedly linked to the woman.
Why did Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar keep away from Chhapra where 23 children died from eating poisonous food at a village school? An official in his staff in Patna told nosy reporters that the chief minister had broken a foot. When a reporter persisted, asking which foot had he broken, the official said the chief minister had actually hurt a toe on his right foot but couldn’t walk.
