Naidu in a queue
Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu (pictured) visited the Tirumala Venkateswara temple on Tuesday. There is nothing extraordinary for an Indian politician to visit a temple, but a statement issued later suggested the visit to the temple was indeed out of the ordinary. According to the statement, Naidu stood in a queue "for common pilgrims" for the darshan. It said, the Vice- President of the country is entitled to the darshan of Lord Balaji in the sanctum sanctorum by walking though the temple’s main entrance, the Mahadwaram, but he preferred to do so like a common devotee. “Though allowed to make darshan by going through the Mahadwaram, doing so by going through the Vaikuntham Queue Complex gives me immense pleasure. All are common and commoners before God,” Naidu later tweeted in Telugu. He also urged VIPs to consider visiting the busy temple only once in a year so that common devotees are not inconvenienced.
Where is Mulayam?
Days after he appeared endorsing his son and former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav at a rally in New Delhi, images of Mulayam Singh Yadav, founder and former president of the Samajwadi Party, have vanished from posters of brother Shivpal Yadav's Secular Morcha. Last week, Shivpal Yadav’s cavalcade was seen carrying flags of his newly formed party, along with posters with photographs of Shivpal and Mulayam. Shivpal had even offered a ticket to brother Mulayam from his bastion Mainpuri for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. But after Mulayam shared the stage with his son on Sunday, his photo was purportedly removed from new Secular Morcha posters in Etawah. The posters, put up on the occasion of the upcoming Gandhi Jayanti, depicts Shivpal along with many other leaders.
Another flies the coop
The Bharatiya Janata Party has alleged that Congress chief Rahul Gandhi’s attack on the Narendra Modi government on the Rafale fighter jet deal has just one objective — that of derailing the deal to benefit his brother-in-law Robert Vadra. Minister of State for Agriculture Gajendra Shekhawat said on Monday that Vadra and arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari were associates who didn't get a cut in the Rafale deal. However, Shekhawat had no answer when asked why Congress leaders, Vadra and others were yet to be arrested or investigated. Shekhawat simply said Bhandari's role was under the scanner. Bhandari left India during the tenure of the Modi government — in 2016.
Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu (pictured) visited the Tirumala Venkateswara temple on Tuesday. There is nothing extraordinary for an Indian politician to visit a temple, but a statement issued later suggested the visit to the temple was indeed out of the ordinary. According to the statement, Naidu stood in a queue "for common pilgrims" for the darshan. It said, the Vice- President of the country is entitled to the darshan of Lord Balaji in the sanctum sanctorum by walking though the temple’s main entrance, the Mahadwaram, but he preferred to do so like a common devotee. “Though allowed to make darshan by going through the Mahadwaram, doing so by going through the Vaikuntham Queue Complex gives me immense pleasure. All are common and commoners before God,” Naidu later tweeted in Telugu. He also urged VIPs to consider visiting the busy temple only once in a year so that common devotees are not inconvenienced.
Where is Mulayam?
Days after he appeared endorsing his son and former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav at a rally in New Delhi, images of Mulayam Singh Yadav, founder and former president of the Samajwadi Party, have vanished from posters of brother Shivpal Yadav's Secular Morcha. Last week, Shivpal Yadav’s cavalcade was seen carrying flags of his newly formed party, along with posters with photographs of Shivpal and Mulayam. Shivpal had even offered a ticket to brother Mulayam from his bastion Mainpuri for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. But after Mulayam shared the stage with his son on Sunday, his photo was purportedly removed from new Secular Morcha posters in Etawah. The posters, put up on the occasion of the upcoming Gandhi Jayanti, depicts Shivpal along with many other leaders.
Another flies the coop
The Bharatiya Janata Party has alleged that Congress chief Rahul Gandhi’s attack on the Narendra Modi government on the Rafale fighter jet deal has just one objective — that of derailing the deal to benefit his brother-in-law Robert Vadra. Minister of State for Agriculture Gajendra Shekhawat said on Monday that Vadra and arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari were associates who didn't get a cut in the Rafale deal. However, Shekhawat had no answer when asked why Congress leaders, Vadra and others were yet to be arrested or investigated. Shekhawat simply said Bhandari's role was under the scanner. Bhandari left India during the tenure of the Modi government — in 2016.
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