The Union Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Vijay Sampla humorously sought a concession on grounds that he was Scheduled Caste on Wednesday when he was fired with questions from the Chandigarh media.
The reason for the request was easy to understand, since he was being grilled on the fate of the Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alliance in Punjab where Assembly elections are due in 2017.
Junior BJP leaders have been making statements that the alliance would be terminated for the next elections but Sampla was cautious enough to skirt the issue and ask instead for sweets to celebrate his first press conference after taking charge and, since he represented a Scheduled Caste some concessions from the media on tricky questions.
Considering that he unequivocally denied the existence of a rift to the press just a day later at Phagwara, it is possible that the Hoshiarpur MP was waiting on instructions from New Delhi before he spoke, a fairly routine thing for even senior ministers these days.
