MEA denies receiving request for Rahul Gandhi's Kailash Mansarovar visit

Congress president Rahul Gandhi has been quite active on Twitter, but missing in action from the Congress national headquarters at 24, Akbar Road in New Delhi and from party meetings and events. Unlike previous occasions, Gandhi has not publicly announced whether he is travelling abroad or is present in India. This had made the situation of senior party leaders piquant as they claim that their party chief is very much in India but cannot explain why he has kept away from public eye. Meanwhile, in some more embarrassment for the party, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Thursday that they were yet to receive any application from Gandhi to travel to Kailash Mansarovar in the Tibet Autonomous Region. Congress had earlier announced that their party chief, a Shiva devotee, would be undertaking that pilgrimage.

Blessings from gurus

Guess who has come out in support of the Vedanta group’s controversial Sterlite copper plant in Tuticorin. “I salute his (Anil Agarwal’s) contribution in the nation building process by creating lakhs of jobs and economic prosperity. International conspirators created ruckus at one of Vedanta’s plant in South of India through innocent local people. Industries are the temples of development for the nation. They should not be closed,” tweeted yoga proponent and FMCG marketer Ramdev. Author and mystic, Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev, described closing of the plant as “economic suicide”. “Am not an expert on copper smelting but I know India has immense use for copper. If we don't produce our own, of course, we will buy from China. Ecological violations can be addressed legally. Lynching large businesses is economic suicide," he tweeted.

Cup of woes runneth over

On Wednesday the rupee hit lifetime low of 69 against the dollar on worries over India’s macro-economic fundamentals. While most saw misery in this, some saw the bright side. Germany's ignominious group-stage exit from the FIFA World Cup 2018 a day before came to at least one Twitter user's aid. He said the rupee had elite company in the form of the German football team and the Australian cricket team that are heading towards their life-time lows going by their recent performance.