THE CONGRESS’S decision to not invite its state ministers, PCC working chiefs and national spokespersons to the Udaipur Chintan Shivir had led to much heartburn. The party is now planning a day-long session with them, which would be attended by Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and the top leadership. The party is ruling in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh and shares power in Maharashtra and Jharkhand. It has around 70 working presidents in all the states. So in all, the mini-shivir will be attended by around 120-odd leaders.
London Trip
THE TIMEING OF Rahul Gandhi‘s travel to London to attend an international conference and deliver a talk on India at the University of Cambridge has amused many, given that it has come in the midst of yet another round of high-profile exits from Congress. But Rahul is not alone in attending the event on Friday. Several Opposition leaders are expected to attend the ‘Ideas For India’ conference organized by Bridge India, a non-profit think-tank. Among those listed as speakers on its website are RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav and party MP Manoj Kumar Jha, TRS leader KT Rama Rao, CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury, Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, Congress’s Salman Khurshid and Sam Pitroda, and Pradyot Manikya, the leader of Tripura’s Indigenous Progressive Regional Alliance. Apart from the conference, Rahul will deliver a talk on “India at 75” on Monday at the University of Cambridge.
Service Rules
STATION MASTERS of Railways want to go on a mass leave on May 31 over their various demands. However, it turns out that it won’t be that easy. Some zonal railways, including the North Central Railway, have sent out letters, directing attention to DoPT rules, which say the right to form an association does not guarantee the right to strike. So vertical heads concerned in zones have been instructed accordingly to ensure that train operations, of which station masters are a vital part, do not get disrupted on May 31.
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