(^14) THE WEEK NOVEMBER 12, 2017
APERITIF party snacks
Plan of action
A GRAND DESIGN to conquer
Bengal has been submitted to the
BJP leadership by none other
than Mukul Roy, who had quit the
Trinamool Congress. Apparently,
Roy wants the party to target the
panchayat elections next year and
spread the organisation at the
grass-roots level before that. But,
the catch is that Roy is not yet a
BJP member. The central leader-
ship was supposed to decide on him
joining the party, but it put the ball
in the court of the state leadership,
which has not been very happy
about his entry. Now Roy’s big plan
is expected to smooth the path.
FAULT-FINDING
MISSION
Gone with the wind
VETERAN CONGRESS LEADER
Vidya Stokes found herself in a
curious situation after offering her
seat, Theog in Himachal Pradesh, to
Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh for
the assembly elections. Singh chose
to contest from Arki, and youth
leader Deepak Rathore was nomi-
nated from Theog. Stokes, 89, is said
to have asked the party leadership to
replace Rathore with one of her sup-
porters. The high command, howev-
er, said it was either she or Rathore.
Stokes filed her nomination papers
on the last day, but it was rejected as
it was incomplete. Now, Rathore is
the Congress candidate in Theog.
AT PRIME MINISTER Narendra
Modi’s annual meeting with the
media, the Congress was the favou-
rite punchbag. First Modi took a
veiled swipe at the opposition party,
when he urged journalists to focus
on inner party democracy in the
interest of a healthy democracy.
Then a short video on the history of
the BJP and its role in the freedom
struggle was shown. A good few
minutes of the video were devoted
to the ills of Jawaharlal Nehru
and the Congress, soon after it had
touched on the exit of Syama Prasad
Mookerjee from Nehru’s cabinet.
And, no more than a split second
was given to the much-loved prime
minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and
party veteran L.K. Advani.
ILLUSTRATIONS: JAIRAJ T.G.
sharon
(sharon)
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