Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi has a packed schedule for the coming week — he plans to visit three states and hold multiple programmes. Sources in the party said Gandhi will visit Chandigarh on Monday to launch the party’s ambitious ‘Sangathan Srijan Abhiyan’ for Haryana, aimed at strengthening the party’s grassroots cadre. On Tuesday, he will visit Bhopal to launch a similar campaign in Madhya Pradesh. The Congress on Sunday appointed observers for both Haryana and MP to appoint District Congress Committees as part of the ‘Sangathan Srijan Abhiyan’. On Friday, Gandhi is scheduled to visit poll-bound Bihar where he will travel to Rajgir and hold a dialogue with intellectuals and activists from disadvantaged groups.
Must Attendance
With several of its senior leaders away as part of the all-party delegations visiting foreign countries to convey India’s message of zero tolerance against terrorism, the BJP is learnt to have issued standing instructions to all available leaders to be present at the two-day Pt Deendayal Upadhyaya National Commemorative Seminar to be held in the Capital over the weekend. The event will be inaugurated by Union Home Minister Amit Shah and include a valedictory session by BJP national president J P Nadda. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Union Ministers Bhupender Yadav and Shivraj Singh Chouhan are likely to address the event.
Reading The Tiger
A delegation of Cambodian officials visiting the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve in Tamil Nadu earlier this month to study India’s tiger conservation efforts was taken to the Bandipur Tiger Reserve in Karnataka. The forest landscapes of Mudumalai and Bandipur reserves are considered to be similar to those in Cambodia. The delegation was in India as 3-4 tigers are likely to be sent to the southeast Asian country for a reintroduction programme.
Vada-Pav & Wardha
After announcing the decisions taken by the Cabinet on Wednesday, I&B Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw requested mediapersons and officials to stop for tea and snacks being served outside. Since one of the five decisions announced was a railway project in Maharashtra, Vaishnaw remarked that the snack being served was vada-pav. “Wardha ke liye vada-pav (Vada-pav for Wardha),” he said, referring to the Wardha Ballarshah rail line.
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