Cental Hall Tales: Amit Shah settles in Rajya Sabha as BJP benches catch a break

On Tuesday, the Central Hall of Parliament was packed, indicating something politically big was all set to happen. Gossip is centring around either an expansion or a reshuffle of the Union Cabinet - or changes in the central committee of the BJP.

Amit Shah's entry into the Rajya Sabha has cheered up the BJP Parliamentary Office. Political parties have office spaces in the Parliament, and as the BJP is the ruling party, it has been allotted a huge space. 

Now the BJP Parliamentary Office is making space for Amit Shah to interact with MPs, media persons and party cadres. Incidentally, the BJP Party office is just a short stroll away from the Prime Minister's Office.

Will Amit Shah spend more time in the Prime Minister's Office or will he sit in the BJP's office more? Time alone can answer that, said a senior BJP MP.

The BJP's Rajya Sabha days are anyway looking up. Mayawati has resigned from the Rajya Sabha. Sitaram Yechury's term in the Rajya Sabha will soon be over, and Sharad Yadav's seat will now be in the BJP's side and not with the opposition. 

With these changes, BJP's senior Union Ministers will heave a sigh of relief. These three MPs - Mayawati, Sitaram and Sharad Yadav - have been giving lots of political problems to the treasury benches. 

The Indian Railways run the Parliament canteen. Prices in this Canteen are cheaper compared to a private hotel's menu card.

There is also a provision for the MPs to take away home packets. Interestingly a few MPs from the southern states usually order non-vegetarian items in huge quantities to be packed and taken to their homes. 

Similarly, coffee powder, tea leaves and butter are also available in canteen and MPs certainly pick those up as well. A small advantage of being in Parliament. 

Misha Yadav, the daughter of Lalu Prasad Yadav, is a Rajya Sabha MP. She spends a lot of time in the Central Hall and is very articulate. 

Nowadays Misha is upset with Arun Jaitley. Misha stated that she had been addressing Jaitley as 'Uncle'. But after the ED and IT raids, she has changed her views. Misha does not even say "Namaste" to Jaitley nowadays. She attributed this change of 
her mindset due to the harsh treatment the BJP meted out to her.

Misha Bharti is also pat in her replies. She stated that the 'Parivar Jagada' a.k.a a family feud is not in the Lalu Prasad Parivar, unlike the Mulayam Singh Yadav Parivar. 

Misha owes this peace in her family to Rabri Devi - who controls all the siblings. Rabri Devi always sought peace in the household. Apparently, her mantra is that if you fall apart, then enemies will use the feud and get into 'family issues'. 

Finance and Defence are the two strong portfolios that Arun Jaitley holds. In the Rajya Sabha, two days in a week, he has to answer five starred questions on Finance and eight questions on Defence. He has to do the same in the Lok Sabha as well. 

That is a heavy load and officials brief him on a daily basis, but Jaitley still finds leisure time to spend in the Central Hall during the afternoon. From two to three pm, invariably Jaitley sits in
the Central Hall, meets lots of MPs from various political parties and interacts with media persons.

It is a scene to watch. If Jaitley slowly walks from one entry point, at least 25-30 journalists head to the front row of the hall, as Jaitley tends to share plenty of gossip. The ratio of women journalists is always higher among the journos. 

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