In the Central Hall of Parliament today:

We also hear that the BJP does not want BSP chief Mayawati to enter the Lok Sabha from the Phulpur Parliamentary constituency in UP, which incidentally, was Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru's constituency. The BJP wants KP Maurya, the deputy Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, to continue as a Lok Sabha MP.   


So, will the AIADMK join the NDA and thereby get ministerial berths in the Union Cabinet? May be, may be not.
Insiders say that Deputy Speaker Thambidurai is keen to be elevated as Union Minister and has been floating rumours about this possibility, but then Dr Maitreyan of the O Panneerselvam camp has ruled out any merger between the two warring factions. The reality is that the BJP has a comfortable majority in the Lok Sabha without the AIADMK and during the lifetime of AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa there was no talk of the party being a part of the NDA.  

Trinamool MPs are loners, at least in the Central Hall of Parliament. Few MPs can even manage a smile with the CBI net tightening around the party's leaders and many in jaul in the Rose Valley chit fund scam.  


Two BJP chief ministers -- Manohar Parrikar from Goa and Yogi Adityanath from Uttar  Pradesh will enter Parliament on August 5 -- to cast their votes for the NDA's vice-presidential candidate M Venkaiah Naidu. The BJP leadership wants these CMs to enter the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha respectively to lend their weight to debates and discussions. Both these chief ministers will resign as MPs on August 6.