Vilasrao Deshmukh

The week saw the return of Hamid Ansari as the Vice President and the chairperson of Rajya Sabha for a second term. On the day, praises were showered on him from all quarters from everyone on treasury benches to the opposition.

Like the leaders of other political parties, AIADMK leader in Rajya Sabha V. Maitreyan too was all praise for the second term of Ansari and appreciated his style of functioning. However, the MP was quick to point out that he was the only one amongst all sitting MPs who had the distinction of being suspended by Ansari from the House during his first tenure as the chairperson of the Rajya Sabha. This special mention had the House in splits. Including the chair who was seen smiling at the AIADMK leader.

Yadav on a transferring spree in UP

In Uttar Pradesh differences between politics and bureaucracy seem to have ended. This is for the reason that the Akhilesh Yadav-led state government is yet to complete transfers of officials till date. Even after four months of coming into power, Yadav is still trasferring officials in big ways. There are instances where the same officials have been transferred a number of times in the recent past.
The Samajwadi Party leaders claim that the BSP chief and former UP chief minister Mayawati had politicised the bureaucracy to an extent that the party is still not sure which officials to keep in key positions. Those who were in key positions in the time of the Mayawati-led disposition in the state have been shunted out to places where there is no work to be done.
In the case of UP, it can be safely assumed that an impartial bureaucracy has ceased to exist, quipped a political commentator.

Crowds went berserk at Deshmukh’s funeral
The sad demise of Union minister Vilasrao Deshmukh last week was quite unfortunate with most of Maharashtra in mourning.
A sea of people had almost come to see the last rituals in a faraway village from Latur. While the late Union minister’s sons were in mourning, it was quite surprising for this diarist to see how they went inside to change and sport an immaculate look without their facial hair just before the last rites were to be performed. Among the other buzz in the air was the topic of Riteish’s wife Genelia’s pregnancy. One of those rumours where you know “ghar ka chirag” is on its way since senior Deshmukh passed away. Nobody knows how true this is, but the whispers were loud enough for everyone to hear. Genelia, like a true politician’s bahu and wife, stood by her mother-in-law’s side like a pillar of support. As the PM and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi arrived at the funeral venue, the crowds went berserk. The PM’s security also didn’t stick to its usual protocol and was a bit relaxed to manage the crowds. Media had a small podium to stand on and get pictures and if you were a journalist without a camera, then you simply weren’t allowed to step on the podium.

AIADMK cares for northeast
The discussion in the Rajya Sabha on the violence against people from the northeast offered the AIADMK to score some brownie points over
all its political rivals when it took a dig at all of them while expressing its solidarity with the people of the northeast.
Floor leader of the party even while stressing that there was no violence or intimidation against northeast people in Jayalalitha-ruled Tamil Nadu in sharp contrast to incidences from neighbouring states, he went a step ahead and said that his leader loves the tribal people of the region so much so that she proposed PA Sangma’s name for the post of the President. Quite expectedly, the political class was stumped by this googly.