Rajasthan Gaurav Yatra: Vasundhara Raje to cover 165 constituencies

The tour is Raje's biggest outreach programme after the BJP's shock defeat in the by-elections earlier this year

On Saturday, Bharatiya Janata Party chief Amit Shah flagged off Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje’s Rajasthan Gaurav Yatra. Over the next 40 days, she is expected to travel 6,000 km to cover 165 assembly constituencies of her state in what she calls her rath (chariot). The rath happens to be a modified luxury bus, the Ashok Leyland 407, which has an air conditioning system, a bathroom and an elevator. It also has a sunroof to allow the chief minister to speak to people outside and address rallies from the bus itself. The tour, ahead of the state elections later this year, is Raje’s biggest outreach programme after the BJP’s shock defeat in the by-elections earlier this year. The party lost the Alwar and Ajmer parliamentary seats and the Mandalgarh assembly seat to the Congress in February.

Bonding over duty

Between them, two IPS officer couples are heading four of the 14 police districts in Delhi. Given that these districts are located at a distance from each other, each officer has a range of responsibilities to handle and hardly gets time to meet his/her spouse during the week. Two among the four officers were heard discussing how important their weekly meetings at the Police Headquarters were — if nothing else they get to catch up with their respective husband and wife!

Courtship

Friendship can bloom in the unlikeliest of places. In this case, it was a prison cell of Arthur Road Jail in Mumbai where Vipul Ambani, a top official at Nirav Modi's Firestar Diamond and an accused in the alleged Punjab National Bank fraud case, and Peter Mukerjea, a former media professional facing trial in the Sheena Bora murder case, were inmates. Their cases were also being heard before the same Mumbai city civil and sessions court. On occasions when the hearings were slated on the same day, family members of Ambani — who was granted bail on Saturday by a special CBI court —were seen showing keen interest in the murder trial, discussing Mukerjea’s chances of release. Ambani’s family members were also seen offering food to Mukerjea and referring to him and Ambani as “roommates”.