'Tired, not retired': Uma Bharti says she will return to electoral politics

She’ll be back

The union minister and national vice-president of the Bharatiya Janata Party, Uma Bharti, who is not contesting the ongoing Lok Sabha polls, has made it clear that she is not planning to retire from active politics any time soon. Bharti, who is campaigning for party candidate Pragya Singh Thakur from Bhopal, said that even if the 75-year cut-off criterion for selection of ministers in the Narendra Modi cabinet is taken as given, she will be eligible to contest the Lok Sabha polls of 2024, 2029 and 2034 and that she had a good mind to do so. Tired and not retired, she reiterated.

First garland, then nomination

What is the sure-shot sign that one is an aspiring election candidate? Especially if one doesn't wish to be rebuffed right at the filing of nomination stage? The answer is garland. That was the first lesson Anupam Tripathi, who filed his nomination from the East Delhi seat as a Bharatiya Kisan Party candidate, learned when he walked into the district magistrate’s office in east Delhi with his family to present his candidature. Inside the DM’s office, he realised all other election aspirants present had garlands draped conspicuously around their necks. The takeaway? He would wear a garland when he goes to file his nomination for the next election.

Rahul’s strategy

Congress President Rahul Gandhi held a press conference on Saturday morning. The decision to hold the press conference was taken late on Friday. The reasons for Gandhi holding a press conference on a Saturday morning were interesting. Social media had been abuzz that Gandhi gives scripted interviews. While the Congress social media team tried to counter the perception, the party leadership felt the surest way to neutralise the propaganda was to hold a press conference where journalists can ask the Congress chief all sorts of questions. Of late, Gandhi had insisted on answering questions at press conferences only on the issue of the Rafale fighter jet deal, but on Saturday, he answered questions on several other issues too.