RAISINA TATTLE: Rajnath admits Modi is 'more alert'
Home Minister Rajnath Singh
In a candid admission, Home Minister Rajnath Singh accepted that PM Narendra Modi was more alert than him when the earthquake shook Nepal and parts of India on Saturday.
“Just five minutes before the earthquake, I was with PM Modi. When I came home, he (PM Modi) called me and said he had called a meeting on a very major disaster.
"I have no problem in admitting that the alertness that I should have shown as Home Minister was shown by the PM,” Singh told the Lok Sabha on Monday.
BJP chief Amit Shah will visit Uttarakhand
Shah’s poll strategy
Even as Assembly polls in Uttarakhand are about two years away, the BJP has already started preparing the ground for it.
Party chief Amit Shah will visit the state on May 3 and meet workers in view of the Assembly polls there in 2017.
Party insiders said that strategies would be formed during Shah’s visit to gain from the success of party’s membership drive and Narendra Modi-led Union Government’s achievements.
During his visit, Shah will also address a meeting of party MPs, MLAs and office-bearers in Dehradun.
Old hands meet
The air headquarters saw several former chiefs getting together.
The meeting of the former chiefs took place at a time when the force was involved in one of the biggest relief operations in Nepal.
The chiefs were joined by the Marshal of the Air Force Arjan Singh.
Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar
Desi Bofors’ trial
India’s home-made artillery gun Dhanush, also known as “desi Bofors”, has passed an extensive field trial.
Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar informed the lawmakers at a Parliament panel meeting about success of the gun.
Parrikar also invited some of them to visit the facility in Kanpur where some parts of Dhanush are being built.
When asked how effective it was compared to Bofors, Parrikar’s engineering background came in for use as he explained the features of the new gun.
Congress has jumped a report of BJP MP Anurag Thakur socialising with a suspected bookie
Thakur targeted
Congress on Monday latched on to a report of BJP MP Anurag Thakur socialising with a suspected bookie to demand a probe by an independent agency into the link between him, BCCI and the bookies.
Congress spokesperson Sushmita Dev told reporters that the International Cricket Council (ICC) writing a letter to the Indian cricket board was a serious matter as Thakur is the BCCI Secretary.
Recalling PM Narendra Modi’s claim of not allowing any corruption, she said it was imperative that he ordered a probe into the issue.
