Security Blues
Morning joggers on Altamount Road and Carmichael Road are miffed more than the presence of the CRPF, Bombay Police, and sniffer dogs outdoors the Ambani household Antilia lengthy soon after a Scorpio with explosives was seized close to it. They are concerned it may perhaps reduce the tone of the posh neighbourhood perched on a hillock, the tenth most costly street in the globe. Carmichael Road residents are specifically aggrieved as skyscrapers like Antilia and Lodha Altamount — which boasts that one of its apartments is the most costly in India — are on the Altamount Road side, and really feel Carmichael Road has been dragged in just mainly because the Scorpio was discovered on the Carmichael Road border. Many of the older residents on Carmichael Road regard the new skyscrapers as eyesores, compared to heritage buildings such as the residences of the common manager of the Bombay Port Trust, the RBI governor, the municipal commissioner, the old Parsi bungalows and the stately mansion of Sir Homi Mody’s descendants. Some wonder if the excessive, in-your-face safety presence on the street is to reinforce the demand for extra enforcements for India’s richest family members. Incidentally, only the post-workplace appears conscious that the roads have been lengthy ago re-named S K Barodawalla Marg and M L Dahanukar Marg.
A Single Unit
Political analysts are unanimous that Dattatreya Hosabale, who final week took more than as common secretary of the RSS, will have a smooth working connection with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Hosabale is affable and younger than Modi. Both are on the similar web page on important matters regarding the Sangh Parivar. Pundits generally rake up the prickly connection amongst Atal Bihari Vajpayee and K Sudarshan to make the case that it is the RSS which pulls the BJP’s strings. They are out of date, the narrative has changed. The BJP and RSS are today virtually a single unit. Most of the chief ministers, governors, Cabinet ministers and a big quantity of BJP MPs are RSS merchandise. Government policies on education, Kashmir, Article 370, the CAA or ‘love jihad’ mirror RSS considering. Differences in the financial sphere, specially regarding foreign investments, genetically modified brinjal, privatisation, and so on, have not brought on key hiccups. The RSS may perhaps have also had reservations on the farm sector reforms, but in all these matters Modi appears to have the final word.
Pawar Point
The confrontation amongst former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh and state household minister Anil Deshmukh has reinforced the impression that NCP chief Sharad Pawar, rather than Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, calls the shots in the 3-party ruling alliance in Maharashtra. NCP ministers holding critical portfolios, which includes household and finance, often take directions from Pawar. Though he holds no official position, he practically plays the insider, insofar as practically nothing key is decided without having his prior concurrence. Singh, just before his Rs one hundred-crore-a-month letter bomb, met Pawar to complain. After the meeting, Pawar flew to Delhi and summoned Deshmukh to the national capital. A fairly junior NCP leader from Vidarbha, Deshmukh was reportedly selected for the important Home portfolio for his pliability. Now, Pawar nevertheless believes he can ride out the storm, although Thackeray may perhaps be keen to move Deshmukh from Home.
Politician Cop
The Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance accuses Devendra Fadnavis of applying Param Bir Singh, who was promoted out of turn as Thane police commissioner when Fadnavis was the Chief Minister, to de-stabilise the state government. Param Bir, whose son, incidentally, is married to former Congressman-turned BJP leader Datta Meghe’s grand-daughter, acted more like a savvy politician than a government official. He dispatched his letter not just to the CM but also to the governor, and therefore the matter could not be hushed up. His WhatsApp messages have been cleverly framed to get ACP Sanjay Patil, amongst other folks, to corroborate his version of events.
Trusted Lieutenants
Rahul Gandhi continues to ignore G-23 dissidents, even although Sonia Gandhi has provided the go-ahead to Ambika Soni to try to broker peace. Meanwhile, Rahul is leaning more and more on Jitendra Singh, apart from trusted lieutenants K C Venugopal, Randeep Surjewala and Ajay Maken. Singh, 49, is a Doon college alumnus and scion of the Alwar royal family members. Like the 3 other folks, Singh is a political lightweight, possessing lost the final two Lok Sabha elections. The pleasant, if reserved, Singh was appointed common secretary in-charge of Assam in September and has been travelling extensively. He is also credited with finalising the alliance with the AIUDF’s Badruddin Ajmal. It is the initially time the Congress has tied up with the AIUDF, although it has been accused earlier of possessing a tacit understanding with Ajmal, who has a big following amongst Bengali-origin Muslims. Singh could get kudos or brickbats based on how the alliance fares.