Manmohan Singh's old age home -
Iftikhar Gilani, DNA
Forget old wine, it is ancient wine in an equally ancient bottle. Prime minister Manmohan Singh on Monday opted for experience over youth in what was possibly his last cabinet reshuffle before the 2014 elections. The swearing-in ceremony of four cabinet ministers and four ministers of state at the Darbar Hall of the Rashtrapati Bhawan turned out to be a geriatric affair, with 86-year-old Sis Ram Ola finding it difficult to even take his oath. |
The inside story of how Sonia’s spin doctoring works -
FirstPost
If ever proof were needed that Sonia Gandhi’s relationship with her government is about plausible deniability on the unpopular things associated with the latter, you can do this check. Just put “Sonia unhappy” on Google and you will have an entire list of things she is said to be unhappy about: about corruption, about efforts to defang the RTI Act, about the poor implementation of MGNREGA, about governors who act in a partisan manner to help her party. |
BJP ‘shelves’ Advani’s plan to expand NDA -
Ravish Tiwari, Indian Express
With Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar declaring the end of Vajpayee-Advani era in the BJP, the saffron party has indicated that it has also shelved L K Advani's "NDA plus" formula and will not go out of the way for fresh pre-poll alliances. |
Rahul is 'natural leader' of UPA 3: Manmohan Singh -
Indian Express
In an unambiguous endorsement of Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi's future role, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Monday said Rahul would be the "natural leader" to lead the UPA if it returned to power next year and that he would be happy to make way for him. Singh's comments came as eight new Congress ministers joined his team in an expansion which had purely political underpinnings instead of aiming at improving the government's efficiency, as widely expected.
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Tough time for BJP -
Shekhar Iyer, Hindustan Times
No matter how one looks at the BJP after Narendra Modi's ascent as its campaign chief for the 2014 Lok Sabha polls and Nitish Kumar's resultant exit from the NDA, affairs within the saffron party are anything but fine. Between June 9 and 16 - after Modi's elevation and LK Advani's resignation and its subsequent withdrawal - the see-saw in the BJP-RSS ties propelled Nitish to take a hard line on Modi. |
Young India's grey leaders -
Bhuvan Bagga & Aditya Menon, Mail Today
Aspirational India, that hoped for a future in the hands of a young political leadership, just got the thumbs down. In what could be the last big cabinet expansion before the Lok Sabha polls, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday inducted four cabinet ministers with an average age of 73 years, nearly 50 years over the average age of the Indian population. |
BJP to go to people with Bihar CM’s ‘U-turn’ -
Pioneer
The relationship between BJP and JD(U) became more acrimonious on Monday when Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar accused the BJP of not respecting its elders. In an oblique reference to the BJP patriarch, LK Advani, Chief Minister told mediapersons in Patna that a new leadership has started taking the control of the BJP and party elders are not respected.
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NTRO in a limbo -
Anil Chowdhry, Indian Express
Although a number of my former colleagues in the intelligence and police fraternity are disappointed to read press reports that an IAS generalist is slated to take over as the next chairman of the beleaguered National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO), knowing that the selected officer has the calibre and technical credentials — as also a sound security background — I am confident that under his stewardship the NTRO has a good chance of achieving the lofty objectives of the stalwarts who conceived it. |
RSS may replace Suresh Soni to pacify L K Advani -
Vivek Deshpande, IE
As one of the solutions to the 'Advani crisis' in the BJP, the RSS has agreed to change its coordinator for the party. In place of Suresh Soni, Sarkaryawah Bhaiyyaji Joshi might take over, sources told The Indian Express. |
Bigwigs stay, small changes make up Rahul Gandhi 'revamp' -
DK Singh, IE
On a day when there was gloom in the principal BJP's camp, the Congress chose to send out a positive signal about its intent by effecting a much-awaited organisational reshuffle. However, the exercise to bring in new faces and re-allocate assignments to a revamped team — which was expected to usher in Rahul Gandhi's team to shake up the "system" — turned out to be largely an elaborate window-dressing.
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