Delhi confidential: Lift Out Bad Luck

With the BJP frequently inducting legislators and political leaders from different parties, MPs from other parties seem to be taking extra care not to be seen with BJP leaders. Last week, TDP’s Lok Sabha MP Ram Mohan Naidu was waiting for his car to pick him up from Gate No 4 of Parliament. As he was getting impatient, his former party colleague, C M Ramesh, who was passing by, asked Naidu whether he should drop him. Naidu folded his hands and said he would not get into Ramesh’s car even if he has to wait for long. Naidu, it seems, wanted to avoid unnecessary speculation if he is seen with Ramesh, a Rajya Sabha MP who joined the BJP last month.

Key Meeting

The RSS’s first coordination meeting after the Narendra Modi government returned to power will be held at Pushkar, Rajasthan, on September 7-9. It is the annual meeting where around 300 top functionaries of the Sangh and its affiliates discuss diverse issues. Last year, the meeting was held in Mantralayam, on Andhra Pradesh-Karnataka state boundary, on August 31-September 2. While BJP chief Amit Shah was present all through the three-day event last year, the level of his participation this year is not clear since he is now also the Home Minister. Issues to be discussed at the meet may include schemes and programmes of the new government. The Sangh, it is said, will also suggest what the government should do.