Inside track: Kapil Sibal’s dinner was more popular with opposition leaders than Rahul Gandhi’s breakfast meet, writes Kumi Kapoor

Despite the help of CPM’s Sitaram Yechury, political parties like BSP and AAP stayed away. Some others, like NCP, TMC and SP sent their B-team.

While former Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal has been cited as an example of a senior BJP A leader who undeniably fell in line with the orders of the party high command, Sonowal may not be as friendly as the leadership believes. He is said to be unhappy with the shipping portfolio being allotted. His complaint was that before the recent cabinet expansion, the two people who were certain to be included in Modi’s cabinet were Jyotiraditya Scindia and himself. But when the two stalwarts were dropped with lighter civil aviation and shipping portfolios respectively, a newcomer like Ashwini Vaishnav was entrusted with three mighty tasks. Exactly a decade ago Vaish was secretary to the late Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Scindia, who was nearby, clarified that he did not want to get involved with Sonowal’s complaint.

B-team sent
Rahul GandhiThe recent breakfast meeting with opposition MPs to create a national narrative against the Modi government was not as successful as it was Congress Tried to do project. Despite the help of CPM’s Sitaram Yechury, political parties like BSP and AAP stayed away. Some others, like NCP, TMC and SP sent their B-team. One of the attendees disagreed that listening to Pegasus should be the main focus for the opposition and wanted anti-Modi forces to take to the street to expose rising prices. Another questioned Gandhi for not visiting Uttar Pradesh, elections are near. In contrast, when disgruntled Congressman Kapil Sibal hosted the dinner last week, stalwarts like Sharad Pawar and Lalu Prasad appeared.

speak less
Soon after being sworn in as a minister in Modi’s cabinet, serial defector Narayan Rane realized there were shortcomings. He gave a lengthy interview to a TV anchor considered unfriendly to the ruling party. A day later, in a meeting with his ministers, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi commented cautiously that some people want to be heroes on television – a warning aimed at Rane, duly noted by all the new entrants.

ambitious plans
Many believe that Prashant Kishor is planning to join Congress. And the party has also reportedly formed a committee to work out the modalities to recruit him in the party. But whether the Congress would like to be subject to discipline and hierarchies, the mere political strategists who have been shunned by chief ministers, is another matter. Kishor envisions his role as the kingpin in unifying the opposition. His first target is not the upcoming assembly elections but next year’s presidential election, in which NCP chief Sharad Pawar is the preferred choice. In fact, Sanjay Raut hosted a tea party in which some young MPs from different political parties were invited to take forward the proposal. But the BJP MPs present there felt that this was not the right platform to raise the issue. An embarrassed Supriya Sule agreed.

New Ahmed Patel
Before leaving India with her daughter Miraya, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra held talks with three state Congress leaders, Sachin Pilot from Rajasthan, Karti Chidambaram from Tamil Nadu and Deepender Hooda from Haryana. A disappointed pilot is still waiting for his supporters to join the Ashok Gehlot cabinet. Hooda and Chidambaram are expected to be appointed as Congress party presidents in their respective states. Vadra assured the trio that she would try to resolve their issues when she returned. By default, Vadra, who is officially in charge of Uttar Pradesh, plays the late Ahmed Patel, acting as a mediator in the feuds within the party.

new rules
The pandemic has been cited as the reason why very few journalists are allowed to cover the proceedings of Parliament during the session. However, critics of the government believe that the list of authors has been drastically cut to ensure minimal contact between lawmakers and the press. The new rules allow one news person per media group. But there is an exception to this new order as well. NDTV had written to the Speaker of the Lok Sabha objecting that its political affairs editor Sunil Prabhu had not been given a parliamentary pass for the last two sessions and no reason was given for his boycott. Prabhu has covered the Lok Sabha for over two decades and has broken many major news stories due to his proximity to MPs. If officials are authorized to choose which journalists can cover Parliament, it could set off an alarming trend.