Capital Buzz: Kovind triggers three questions and a secret report on Tamil Nadu

Political circles are surprised over a sudden decision to advance convening the Bharatiya Janata Party Central Parliament Board, consisting of 12 members, on Monday. 

A telephone call from Amit Shah office went to all the 12 members of the Board. This Parliamentary Board was to be called on Tuesday, but the meeting was held on Monday itself. As was later proven, this was so that the name of Bihar Governor Ram Nath Kovind could be finalised and announced as the NDA Presidential candidate. 

Why were the three members of the BJP Presidential committee ignored?

Amusingly, the 'big three' of the BJP selected to choose the Presidential candidate were themselves missing from the scene. 

Arun Jaitley, who was in South Korea, was unable to
get a proper briefing from the other two members who met Sonia Gandhi. M Venkaiah Naidu is touring from Kochi to Bengaluru to Hyderabad and was not available
for a proper discussion. 

Rajnath Singh had a minor fracture in his right leg and so was indisposed. There seems to be no coordination amongst the three members as each one was travelling a lot. 

Was this aimed at taking the Opposition by surprise?

The other point projected for advancing the parliamentary board was to take Opposition by surprise. Before the Opposition announced its candidate, BJP wanted to spring its own surprise.

Why was O Pannerselvam camp was ignored? 

The whole move was a surprise to the OPS camp of the AIADMK, who were not consulted. The announcement was a surprise for Dr V Maitreyan, who is the New Delhi face of the OPS AIADMK camp. None of the three committee members
- Jaitley, Naidu or Singh - spoke to O Pannerselvam. 

Where is Rahul Gandhi?

Rahul Gandhi's birthday was a mute affair at 10 Janpath - the government bungalow where Sonia Gandhi resides.

The political buzz is that Priyanka and Sonia greeted Rahul on phone, since he is in Italy. Interestingly, Very few in the AICC even have the personal mobile phone number of Rahul Gandhi. 

Ahmed Patel, P Chidambaram, Gulam Nabi Azad and Jyotiraditya Scindia sent their greetings, while President Pranab Mukherjee and Vice President Hamid Ansari sent letters and flower baskets.

Prime Minister Modi tweeted out his greetings to Rahul Gandhi.

It has become a tradition now that Rahul Gandhi does not stay in India on his birthdays. This time, officially, Rahul will be celebrating with his aged grandmother Paolo Maino in the outskirts of Orbassano village - 125 kilometres from Rome, in Italy.  

Rahul's itinerary is not known as he does not take the Special Protection Group assigned to him during foreign visits. 

Sources confirm that all Rahul Gandhi 's office informed to the SPG chief was that Rahul was travelling from New Delhi to London by commercial flight. 

Rahul always reaches London and then takes a small aircraft owned by a UK-based Indian-origin steel magnate. Invariably the smaller aircraft is piloted by the son of the magnate, according to the political gossip circuit.

Rahul's birthday was, of course, celebrated by the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee leaders. There were full page advertisements in a few Hindi and English dailies,
released by a company based in Chennai. 

The owner of the company in Chennai is an MLA in the Tamil Nadu assembly. 

What's brewing in Tamil Nadu?

The National Security Advisory Board (NSAB), under the Prime Minister's Office, functions from Sardar Patel Bhavan in Parliament Street in New Delhi.

Former senior officials of the intelligence agencies, Defence experts and former diplomats from the Ministry of External Affairs are members. This NSAB is appointed by the PM once in two years. 

The buzz in the Sardar Patel Bhavan in New Delhi is that a new 'Top Secret' report on Tamil Nadu speaks volumes about the possible security threats from fringe elements - not only Islamic fundamentalists but also Hindu fanatics. 

Last month when the full bench of the NSAB met in New Delhi, they discussed this draft report on Tamil Nadu, prepared by a sub-committee of the NSAB. 

Internal developments in Sri Lanka, the Cauvery Water dispute, agrarian agitations and militant activities in Tamil Nadu were the subjects discussed. 

Apart from this, regional political parties such as the PMK, MDMK, DMDK and Tamil Nadu Panthers Party (which openly supports the Tamil cause in  Sri Lanka) were considered. 

A few members, after they had spoken to observers in Tamil Nadu and elsewhere, summarised that ultra-Marxist elements or Left-Wing extremists have infiltrated into three southern districts of Tamil Nadu. 

The contents of the detailed report will be made as a power point presentation for the Prime Minister in July. 

A copy of it will be sent to the DGP of Tamil Nadu police.

(R Rajagopalan is a senior journalist based in New Delhi. The views expressed here are his own and do not reflect those of Asianet Newsable.)