Third eye: Sitaram Yechury ducks a VS Achuthanandan bouncer

Yechury ducks a VS bouncer
VS Achuthanandan’s latest round of attack on fellow comrades Prakash Karat and Pinarayi Vijayan has forced CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury to deploy some unconventional diplomatic tools to retrieve himself from friendly fire. When asked by the Malayalee media for his response, Yechury said: “Well, I am not aware of what exactly Comrade VS said since he had spoken in Malayalam...”

No political visit for check-up

Former Bihar CM Jitan Ram Manjhi was in Delhi the other day, apparently his first visit to Capital after he had to quit as CM. While mediamen were keen to find out whether the Nitish loyalist-turned-critic was in Delhi to stitch up the likely arrangement with BJP for Bihar polls, Manjhi said he was here only to get admitted in a hospital for a routine check-up. But, then, has anybody heard of a blanket ban on striking political deals from the healing environment of a hospital room?

Lothal museum gets going

The ancient Lothal dockyard — the famed port dating back to the Indus Valley civilization — has suddenly caught the attention of the Government of India. The shipping ministry along with the culture ministry will soon start work to develop a museum at Lothal depicting India’s maritime history. The dock stands in the Ahmedabad district of Gujarat and the museum plan has secured PM’s nod.

World War-I to Kargil

There seems to be a sudden, revived interest in India’s wars after the centenary events around WW-I in the Capital that saw PM Modi taking active interest. RS TV is now producing seven telefilms on all wars since the Great War. The idea is to create a series from WW-I to Kargil that will showcase Indian forces in action. A deep search is on at the defence ministry to dig out old archives, film reels.