The RSS will consolidate its grip on the BJP’s highest decision-making body, the parliamentary board, with the names of Gujarat chief minister Nare-ndra Modi, his Madhya Pradesh counterpart, Mr Shivraj Singh Chouhan, and saffron sanyasin Uma Bharti doing the rounds as possible new members of the parliamentary board.
Most of the current board members, inclu-ding former PM and party patriarch A.B. Vajpayee, L.K. Advani, M.M. Joshi, M. Ven-kaiah Naidu, Nitin Gadkari, Sushma Swa-raj, Arun Jaitley, Ana-nth Kumar, Thawarc-hand Gehlot and Ramlal, are unlikley to be changed. The board is headed by party chief Rajnath Singh. Mr Modi, considered the front-runner for BJP prime ministerial candidate for the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, and Mr Chouhan are likely to be special invitees to the parliamentary board. Mr Modi is also expected to head the overall campaign committee of the party for the Lok Sabha polls.
BJP chief Rajnath Singh’s new team is expected to be anno-unced after the party’s three-day national council meet beginning March 1.
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Sheila: Use less electricity to cut hefty bills
Age Correspondent
New Delhi, Feb. 24
In her first rally for the upcoming Assembly polls, Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit suggested that Delhiites use less electricity to curb hefty power bills. Justifying the power tariff hike, she said people have to pay electricity bills if they want round-the-clock power supply.
“If you cannot afford the electricity bill, then cut down your consumption of electricity. Future generations will never realise there used to be seven- to eight-hour power cuts in Delhi,” Ms Dikshit told a rally at Chhatarpur area in South Delhi.