Third eye: Upper house probables

The Congress’ 27 MLAs in Bihar are not enough to get them a Rajya Sabha berth in the upcoming round of polls. Yet, AICC is hopeful it will get one seat with the helping hands of allies RJD and JD(U) even though the latter is hoping to get one additional berth in the Upper House with Congress votes. A little bird says the AICC has two names in mind as potential candidate: AICC general secretary Shakheel Ahmad and former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar

On the Horns of a Bull To challenge the decision of Ministry of Environment of allowing ‘jallikattu’ in Tamil Nadu, the Animal Welfare Board and social activists were in desperate need for the Attorney General’s opinion. For, according to them the AG had opined the government against allowing ‘jallikattu’, a fit legal ground to demand scrapping of the decision. Much to their disappointment, the one-page opinion was nowhere available. Law ministry officials too chose to feign ignorance

Old Foes Break Diplomatic Ice As the leaders of America and Russia have started meeting and talking amongst themselves more frequently in the recent months to counter threats from the ISIS notwithstanding their differences over Ukraine, officials from both countries have also broken ice. Last week diplomats from the local American embassy participated in a Russian embassy social gathering in colourful attire amid some musical numbers in the background

LK All Praise for Benegal While Primes Minister Narendra Modi has hand-picked Shyam Benegal to reform the censor board, the veteran filmmaker has also earned kudos from former film critic and BJP ‘marg-darshak’ LK Advani. Recently, the BJP patriarch watched all 10 DVDs of Benegal’s documentary on Indian Constitution. So impressed was Adavni, that he rang up Benegal to congratulate him personally