Regional journal: BJP spokesperson turns rock star

Few know that BJP media wing veteran and spokesperson, Nalin Kohli, is also deeply interested in music. Kohli, who rose to prominence under M Venkaiah Naidu as the BJP chief, held a press conference at the party headquarters after nearly five years this week. He is the proud founder and lead singer of Sour Dough rock band and has done two shows at an upmarket Delhi jazz club. He just returned from the Kasauli music festival where he gathered much applause, but his first outing was at a women journalist club anniversary in Delhi in 2019 where he had the audience dancing to his tune!

IIMC road leading to IHC, again

The Habitat Centre, Delhi’s vibrant cultural centre, has been shaken up in recent weeks. The contract of its president Bhaswati Mukherjee, retired diplomat who recently joined the BJP, was not renewed nor was that of its director Sunit Tandon, a well-known theatre and TV personality and a senior officer of the government’s Information Service. Tandon has been succeeded by KG Suresh, former head of the premier media institute, Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC), of which Tandon had also served as DG. All eyes are now on who will be the new Habitat president.

Dance moves put Mann in spotlight

Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann’s dance moves at AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal’s daughter’s wedding in Delhi recently have drawn mixed reactions online. While some praised him for enjoying the moment beyond political formalities, others questioned if it suited his stature. The widely shared video has sparked a debate over public expectations versus personal expression. Those who don’t know, Mann was a multitalented artiste before entering politics.

Rs 20 crore wasted, no questions asked

Politicians, bureaucrats and sports officials agree that the Katasani Sports Stadium project near Shimla has been bungled up and more than Rs 20 crore gone down the drain. Yet, there’s no attempt from any department involved to fix accountability and recover the amount from those responsible for ruining the project. Everyone has accepted that the project is a lost cause and there is no need to lose any sleep over it. End game for a dream sports project!

In Haryana, no full-time FCR for long

The Financial Commissioner-Revenue (FCR) is the second seniormost officer after the Chief Secretary, yet ad hocism continues to surround this prestigious position in Haryana. Blame it on a seniority dispute among IAS officers of the 1990 batch or the BJP regime’s indifference, the post has been held as additional charge – currently by Home Secretary Sumita Misra — for quite some time now. With the Chief Secretary set to retire on June 30, many are eyeing the full-time FCR post in the long-pending administrative reshuffle.

Contributed by Aditi Tandon, Archit Watts, Subhash Rajta and Pradeep Sharma

India