Report card is out; Smriti fares poorly

The HRD Minister Smriti Irani is the only Minister who has got the lowest grade in the report of the PMO. The PMO in conjunction with the Cabinet Secretary and some other senior bureaucrats has prepared a report on the functioning of the Ministers of the Modi government. The areas covered by this report are the effectiveness of the Minister, notes put in the files, attendance and behaviour towards theirMinisterial staff. P K Mishra, the eyes and ears of the Prime Minister in the PMO has been asked to give gradings from A to D to all Ministers. Only four Ministers got A grade. This includes the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley but the HRD Minister Smriti Irani is the only one who got the lowest rating.

Come Assembly elections by the end of this year, the ties between the BJP and the SAD are likely to suffer a jolt. The Akalis in Punjab is likely to mount more pressure on the Modi government in the coming days. With the Assembly elections in sight, the Badals in Punjab have conducted a survey in all 117 Assembly constituencies of the state after which they are now relaxed. Contrary to the media reports, going by the survey, the Akalis are doing reasonably well and it is the BJP which is on a slide. The survey report says that the BJP which has 12 seats in the assembly will not cross five seats. After that Harsimrat Kaur has been assigned to talk to Jaitley and Amit Shah about their future alliance. Kaur is planning to propose to the BJP leadership they would continue to support the government at the centre and remain a part of the NDA at centre but there will be no alliance in Punjab. The Akalis want to sever their ties with the BJP in the next Assembly elections.

Poor Randeep Surjewala, the chairman of the AICC communication department has run into trouble. Fingers are being pointed at him for giving too much projection to Jairam Ramesh. Resentment is simmering against Jairam Ramesh amongst a large section of the Congressmen for going overboard over the Lalit Modi issue. The thinking in this section is - by asking for the resignation of Narendra Modi on the Lalit Modi issue, Jairam is only giving a boost to the Prime Minister. “They cannot stop Modi like this” was what HR Bhardwaj said to a <g data-gr-id="85">news paper</g>. He was only echoing the sentiments of this section in the party. And the pressure is mounting on the party high command to replace Surjewala. Surjewala is good but he is too junior to people like Chidambaram and Jairam. He cannot dictate things to them. The name of Veerappa Moily is doing the rounds in place of Surjewala. Ajay Maken is also showing his interest again to come back to his earlier position.

<g data-gr-id="84">Binita</g> Thakur, the former PS to Smriti Irani may have got a sigh of relief after the appointments committee of cabinet approved her relieving orders and that she could repatriate back to her parent cadre Rajasthan, but that that did not end her acrimonious relationship with Irani. Soon after she got the relieving order, she also got the blast of what it means to be on the wrong side of Irani. Thakur was on leave while waiting for her relieving order. But when she returned she found that many of her office materials have been displaced without her knowledge.

Naveen Jindal, the former Congress MP who is allegedly involved in the Coal Scam is one congressman who unlike his colleagues in his party does not spare any opportunity to praise Narendra Modi. Very recently he caught hold of a Minister of State to take him to the PM. The poor Minister took him to the PM but when they reached his office, the Minister was summoned alone. But when he came out, his face was red. He signalled Jindal to leave without meeting the PM. One can imagine what must have transpired inside but surely the PM did not want to meet Jindal. The latest from Jindal came when the heat on the BJP leaders in the Lalit Modi case got at its zenith. Jindal appears to be highly impressed by Narendra Modi’s Man ki Baat where he asked people to post their photographs with their daughters.The very next day, Jindal posted a photo with his daughter on his twitter handle. He has tagged the picture with Narendra Modi with a tweet that he loved the campaign Selfie with Daughter.

The second rung leaders of the BJP are becoming a problem for the Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Many of them are lured by the temptation to earn money and lobby for vested interests. Recently the lone BJP MLA in west Bengal was seen lobbying on behalf of the spurious liquor lobby. He was seen criticising the Mamata Banerjee government‘s decision to introduce the sale of liquor in tetra packs. This would help in revenue collection and prevent contamination of spurious materials in the liquor. But this BJP legislator has unfortunately taken up the cause on behalf of the adulterers and tax evaders. The Trinamool Congress is planning to take up the issue before the central leadership of the BJP.