Will Congress follow the Delhi model in Bengal?

Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge has appointed Arvinder Singh Lovely as the new president of the Congress’ Delhi unit. This has been done while keeping in mind a possible alliance for the Lok Sabha elections with the Aam Aadmi Party in Delhi. The party is also looking at a seat-sharing agreement with the TMC in West Bengal. After a meeting between Rahul Gandhi and TMC General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee, it is being speculated that West Bengal PCC president Adhir Chowdhury may be replaced with someone who has a good rapport with TMC Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. Chowdhury is very critical of the TMC government. Following the I.N.D.IA bloc’s recent meeting in Mumbai, he took shots at the TMC for corruption in the state.

Onam lunch at New Delhi’s Kerala House draws huge crowd
For Onam, the Kerala house in New Delhi organised a special luncheon or “Sadya”, drawing huge crowds. Among them were many Members of Parliament from the state. CPI(M) politburo member Prakash Karat, who hails from Kerala along with his wife Brinda Karat were among those in attendance and were given almost VVIP treatment. It seems Kerala House did not expect so much rush and it so happened that many invited guests did not get to taste the special food. They later issued a press release about the presence of many MPs, including CPI’s P Santosh Kumar, who told journalists, “I did not get food. What’s the point of mentioning my name?” So this year’s Onam also saw a cold war of sorts between the CPI and CPI(M)

Vegetarian menu angers some MPs
Recently, a three-day symposium was organised by the Home Ministry in the Parliament annexure building for Members of Parliament regarding the newly introduced “Bharat Sanhita Bill”. The interactions went on for three days. Apparently, only vegetarian foods were served at lunch for the invitees, which angered some of the MPs who were non-vegetarians. One parliamentarian asked ministry officials why only vegetarian items had been served when non-vegetarian food was available in the parliament canteen.