Third Eye: YSRCP's support for Om Birla, the 'emergency boy,' and good friends in Parliament

Message Delivered
The support extended to Om Birla for the post of Speaker by four YSRCP MPs raised hackles within TDP. Top TDP leadership was left wondering whether the support was sought by BJP or extended by its bete noire YSRCP on its own. Either way it showed that BJP may look to cushion itself from any future arm twisting by coalition partners.

Emergency Boy!
BJP organised events all over Karnataka on Wednesday and recalled the difficult times its leaders went through during the Emergency imposed 49 years ago. Opposition leader R Ashoka, a first pre-university student back then, shared his experiences and the hardship of life in jail after police arrested him and sent him to prison. State Congress spokesman Ramesh Babu, however, has questioned 66-year-old Ashoka’s claims. The Congress leader was wondering if there were laws those days to imprison a 16-year-old boy!


A Rare Sight
Union minister Anupriya Patel and NCP-SP MP Supriya Sule are good friends despite being members of Parliament from the ruling and the opposition blocs. On Wednesday, they were seen speaking to each other in the Parliament complex and after some time Sule and Patel moved out of the campus in the latter’s car. Such a bonhomie these days is rare in Parliament.