The News Minute| July 27, 2014| 3.30 pm IST
The week's political buzz
Karnataka’s Next Governor Is…
Two very important Indians are hoping to be appointed as the Governor of Karnataka. The problem it appears is that both want only Karnataka and neither has been persuaded as yet to go to Kerala. If the grapevine is to be believed – and we like Bangalore blues too – the Narendra Modi government is quite happy appointing former Attorney General of India Soli Sorabjee and former Chief Justice of India P. Sathasivam as Governors but the delay is because of the place, not the principle.
We at The News Minute (TNM) are well covered. Sorabjee is a jazz lover and we have a matching Bob Marley fan in the office. If it is Sathasivam, we have matching Tamil speakers. And if either of them decides to go to Kerala, then, what can we say except that the official language at TNM is Malayalam. Even the faithful samosa wala who comes at 4pm (he hails from Bihar) is now speaking Malayalam in Bhojpuri.
We Could Have Told You That
On the other hand Chairman of the Press Council of India (PCI) and former Supreme Court judge Markandeya Katju seems to be going nowhere. His now-you-see-it, now-you-don’t blog about a controversial judge from Tamil Nadu, his paeans in praise of Amma and his visit to Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javdekar were not without design.
He briefed Javdekar about his achievements and we think because he is so discreet, he may not have mentioned that his three year term comes to an end in three months. He did not add in passing that he had the support of all his staff. Apparently Narendra Modi and Arun Jaitley are not amused. Now, how can we say this without saying it…samjhe na?
Speaking of Which…
What is the Prime Minister to do? So many aspirants and so few seats and so many people close to so many people. The Rajya Sabha seat from Madhya Pradesh is now up for grabs as its erstwhile occupant Kaptan Singh Solanki has been appointed governor of Haryana.
Leading journalist M.J. Akbar who joined the BJP recently is could be the chosen one for the job though some have thrown in the names of Dr. Subramaniam Swamy, Arun Shourie and apparently other famous people. Interestingly, Solanki is considered close to L.K. Advani and Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and his name had also surfaced to head the BJP but Modi wanted him in Haryana.
We too wanted to send in our names with recommendation letters, there are two strikes against us. One, we have not resigned from anywhere to join the BJP and secondly, we don’t know anyone in Delhi.
In The Meantime, Delhi Is Active…
Ravi Shankar Prasad may have lost out to Sushma Swaraj for the External Affairs portfolio, but his stars continue to rise. He now has three portfolios – Law, Telecom and IT and he is a member of the powerful Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs. He has also been made a key member of the media committee but Sushma Swaraj has been left out. It appears that Narendra Modi was a tad unhappy with the way the Rajya Sabha discussion on Gaza played out and the house remained adjourned for three days when Modi was at the BRICS meeting. Why, we wondered.
And Finally…
It has been brought to the attention of our deaf ears and dumb minds that Narendra Modi has a feedback system in place that brings him reports on not only how the BJP MP are faring in parliament, but also on how well they are prepared and briefed on the subject matter. He is also reported to be watching the performance of six Union Ministers. If they don’t make the cut, he may even axe them by November.
We wracked our brains wondering who these six poor souls might be and we came up with eight. What do you think?