How Rajasthan Congress MLAs are spending their time at a luxury hotel

What’s cooking? 

So how are the Rajasthan Congress MLAs, sequestered at a luxury hotel in Jaipur, spending their time? Pictures have emerged of the MLAs doing yoga together in casual wear. Ahead of the Tuesday storm, when a crucial court hearing will decide whether rebel leader Sachin Pilot and 18 Congress MLAs could be disqualified by the Speaker, they are unwinding at Fairmont. On the agenda are film screenings and culinary classes. Pictures have also emerged of some MLAs crowding around the executive chef of the hotel, who is seen guiding them along a line of dishes dispensing valuable tips on preparing pasta, butter paneer, and so on. For both Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and the rebel Pilot, the court battle is crucial. Gehlot needs 101 MLAs to vote for him in the 200-member Assembly and claims he has the support of 106.

Traders’ instinct

The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) took its call to boycott Chinese goods one notch up last weekend. The traders’ body urged Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to take note of the neighbouring country’s aggressive behaviour and opt for steps to impose restrictions on the use of Chinese machinery and equipment, particularly in the border and other sensitive areas “in the larger interest of the security and sovereignty of the country”. In a letter to the minister, followed by the release of the prepared note to the media, the body warned if such machines were used in strategically important locations of construction work at the border or any other sensitive area “all the data of the machine as also their locations, operating hours and other strategic details can be transmitted to the servers owned by the owner of Chinese companies located in China”, CAIT Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal said.

Chirag’s googly

Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) leader Chirag Paswan’s tweet thanking Prime Minister Narendra Modi for sending a team to Bihar to bring the cases of coronavirus under control is bound to rile his alliance partner and the ruling NDA’s face in Bihar, Nitish Kumar. Paswan’s words of praise came at a time when Chief Minister Kumar is being criticised over his handling of the pandemic and his insistence that the coming Assembly election in the state be held according to schedule. The tweets by the young LJP leader came hours after state opposition leader and the face of the Rashtriya Janata Dal, Tejashwi Yadav, dubbed the central team’s visit to the state evidence that the government was “manipulating the Covid-19 numbers in the state”. Paswan’s other tweet was a direct hit at the Chief Minister: “The spiralling coronavirus cases in Bihar might soon lead to an explosive situation and has become a matter of concern for the people of the state,” he said.