Being Graceful, the Shivraj Way
Union Cabinet Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan recently took to social media to protest against the broken and sunken seat allotted to him by Air India during one of its flights. What makes it worse is that this was not the only broken seat on the plane. All set to travel from Bhopal to Delhi on Flight AI 436, the former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister was allotted Seat 8C. When he boarded the plane he found that the seat was broken in such a way that it was impossible to have a comfortable flight. When he complained to the flight attendants he was told that they had notified the management about not just this seat but a few others as well; and requested that these seats not be sold until they were fixed. Of course that did not happen. Although Chouhan’s fellow passengers offered to exchange their seats with him, it is to the minister’s credit that he refused stating that why should he be comfortable at another’s expense. While Chouhan’s attitude is indeed laudable, one wonders about Air India’s attitude and its service credentials.
Who will be the next BJP President?
Now that the Delhi Chief Minister question is out of the way, the political corridors are abuzz about the next BJP chief. One thing is certain, after appointing a woman as the Delhi CM, the party will not be looking to balance any gender equations and can safely focus on its male dominated short list. There are, however, other considerations, such as caste and region (and no matter what it says, like all other political parties, the BJP too takes these into consideration). The dominant view is that the next BJP chief would be a Dalit from the South, but then, wouldn’t that be a direct copy of the Congress blueprint? Hence the Southern factor may become a casualty, but most agree that an OBC/Dalit leader would work well with the kind of signalling the BJP wants to undertake.
The Importance of Being Shashi Tharoor
Apparently, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor had a meeting with Rahul Gandhi recently, where he pointedly asked him for a definitive role within the party. So far he is yet to get an answer. The recent Congress organisational reshuffle saw some key members of Team Rahul being given responsibilities. It is clear that Rahul is putting his people in place. Where does that leave Shashi Tharoor, who contested the last party president’s election against the current Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and even managed to bring in a respectable chunk of votes, given the fact that he was not the Establishment’s choice? That fact alone, as well as his popularity with the urban youth as well as the professionals, the middle class, the opinion makers and of course, the women—cutting across various divides—should make the 4th term MP a valuable asset for the party. In fact, he would be a valuable asset for any party.
