Thiruvananthapuram Congress MP Shashi Tharoor had an unusual visitor on Wednesday morning while he was reading a newspaper in his garden – a monkey that jumped into his lap. Tharoor gave the guest a banana and hugged him in return. Then the monkey fell asleep on his lap. Tharoor claimed that when he tried to get up slowly, the monkey hid. Posting pictures of the encounter on X, Tharoor wrote: “Reverence for wildlife is ingrained in us, so I was a bit worried about the risk of monkey bites (which would have required rabies shots), I calmed down and welcomed him. A non-threatening presence. I I am satisfied that my faith was born and that our meeting was completely peaceful and gentle.”
Kerala Connection
Congress Lok Sabha member from Wayanad Priyanka Gandhi Vadra wants to raise the issue of central assistance in the House for rehabilitation and reconstruction work in the disaster affected areas of her constituency. Although he did not get a chance to speak on the floor of the House, he was part of a delegation of Kerala MPs from both houses that met Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday. The delegation handed over a memorandum prepared by the Kerala government to Shah. Shah, who had a lot of ‘business’ according to the MPs present, assured the delegation that by Thursday evening, the Center would provide a status report on what it has done and what it can do for Wayanad.
Service provider
Union Communications Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia surprised many when he answered Maharashtra Congress MP Pratibha Suresh Dhanorkar’s question about BSNL and its employees in Marathi. But the question later triggered some heated arguments and Scindia insisted that the government was committed to the welfare of BSNL employees, which, he said, had been revived by the current government. However, the opposition MPs were not convinced by his answer. When Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Arvind Sawant asked how many MPs of the ruling BJP use BSNL services, Speaker Om Birla intervened, saying that BSNL is the only service provided by Parliament.