Central Hall Tales: Future of AIADMK, and Rajya Sabha TV, are all the buzz

On Monday the Central Hall of Parliament was bubbling with activities as it was a 'house full' in the morning. 

TheCentral Hall of Parliament is the only venue where MPs from all political parties interact with each other without any animosity and anger. 

Often you can spot Finance Minister Arun Jaitley speaking intimately with the Leader of Opposition Gulam Nabi Azad. Similarly, you can see the two warring factions of AIADMK OPS and EPS mixing with each other freely.  

Here are a few hints of the real politik points gathered by this correspondent on Monday.

Nitish Kumar, JD-U leader and Bihar Chief Minister, is said to have abandoned measures to woo his arch rival, Sharad Yadav. Sharad Yadav is in the 'grip' of Sitaram Yechuri, CPM leader, and Lalu Prasad. 

Indeed, Sharad Yadav in Central Hall is a lone walker. 

BJP's first-time MPs do question the JD-U's stand on voting for Congress-supported Gopal Krishna Gandhi in the Vice Presidential elections. 

JD-U will soon join the NDA. But there is no clarity about whether the JD-U will still go with the UPA candidate. Senior BJP leaders' answer to this is interesting - they claim Nitish Kumar does not want to change his commitment to Gopal Gandhi as he is the grandson of the Mahatma. 

In any case, the JD-U is yet to join the NDA. 

The major political news is that BJP does not want Mayawati to enter Lok Sabha. To keep her out, the BJP is all set to reverse the idea of deputy CM KP Maurya resigning. Hailing from the Phulpur Parliament Constituency, Maurya is the Lok Sabha MP from there, and the BJP is doing all it can to keep him in the seat. 

The Central Hall was most loudly echoing with one critical issue - the AIADMK's widely anticipated joining of the NDA. Insiders say that Deputy Speaker Thambidurai is keen to be elevated to a Union Minister, and hence is floating this theory. 

But at the same time, Dr Maitreyan, the O Pannerselvam camp leader, ruled out a merger of the two factions - and thoughts of joining the NDA. 

For now, the BJP is in a comfortable majority without the AIADMK. In the life time of Jayalalithaa, there was no talk of the AIADMK joining the NDA. More over, the two AIADMK factions are not going to merge any time shortly. 

If at all the merger of the two factions takes place, then will be a political point in joining the Modi Cabinet. Therefore AIADMK joining the cabinet was just kite-flying, senior AIADMK MPs stated.

Rajya Sabha TV currently seems orphaned. 

It is said that its 250 employees want the new prospective Chairman of the Rajya Sabha - M Venkaiah Naidu to continue their services beyond August 12. 

The reason for this demand is that whispers in the Central Hall say that Gurdeep Sappal, the current Chief Executive Officer of the Rajya 
Sabha TV has submitted his resignation. 

As he is not a Government servant and his services are Co terminus with the Chairman Rajya Sabha Hamid Ansari. 

The talk in the Central Hall of Parliament is that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has entrusted Arun Jaitley, Leader of the Rajya Sabha, to re-cast the administrative set up of Rajya Sabha TV. 

BJP leadership is peeved over Gurdeep Sappal, as he turned Rajya Sabha TV into a "mouth piece of the Left wing" and turned RSTV into an "anti-BJP" channel. 

RSTV will have an overhaul, likely by the end of August.

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