Third eye: Differences history, now a team

Differences History, Now a Team
It seems that Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Sabir Ali have buried their differences and closed ranks after PM Modi’s appeal. Ali had invited Naqvi as chief guest for Tuesday’s indoor rally of backward class Muslims in the national capital. Reason: Modi had asked party workers to reach out to backward Muslims as well after his government decided to grant constitutional status to NCBC. It may be recalled that in the run-up to the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, Naqvi had scuttled Ali’s induction into the party. Ali is now a BJP member.

Miffed Over Absentees
Ministers like being invited to inauguration programmes. But, recently, a Maharashtra minister was miffed when no other politicians or officials invited for the event turned up. Basically, there wasn’t much ‘crowd’ at the function, leading to it being dubbed as a non-event. The miffed minister said henceforth invites for such events should be sent only to those who had confirmed their participation.

Cracking Whip on Akademi
The culture ministry has decided to tighten screws on the Lalit Kala Akademi. The ministry has now, through an official communication, directed Akademi administrator Krishna Setty to set aside all “irregular and illegal” decisions taken by Akademi secretary Sudhakar Sharma since Setty’s appointment. It is believed that in many such decisions Setty’s concurrence was also taken.

Brewing Unrest
While HRD grapples with setting UGC right, considerable unrest is brewing at UGC’s inter-university centre, the Consortium for Educational Communication (CEC). A number of complaints have been sent by CEC employees to UGC, HRD ministry, PMO and CVC against its director and the matter is set to go to court.