DMK’s Arun Nehru, a first-time MP from Perambalur, has a sweet trick to make new friends in Parliament. The 41-year-old is popular among Opposition benches for his delicious homemade chocolates that he generously distributes among his colleagues. Nehru is also promoting a small venture — Kocoatrait, which makes ethically sourced zero waste bean-to-bar chocolates — from his constituency. He says it’s one way of supporting a sustainable and circular economy. Nehru’s sweet offering has won him praise from the Treasury benches too. While he has introduced some NDA MPs to his homemade delights, the DMK leader says he is still amassing courage to go to the senior leaders. He recently offered a few chocolates in different flavours to Union Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, who said he relished each one of them.
Overhaul On Cards
Ridden by factionalism, the Haryana unit of Congress may soon get new District Congress Committee (DCC) presidents under the party’s Sangathan Srijan Abhiyan (organisational rejuvenation campaign). The party had kickstarted the organisational overhaul in Gujarat, where it appointed new DCCs in June. It recently sent observers to Haryana and Madhya Pradesh to oversee a similar exercise. Sources in the Congress say they are not sure when the Madhya Pradesh appointments will be finalised, but in Haryana the revamp will begin in the next few days. The party high command has meticulously gone through suggestions made by the observers, and will soon announce the appointments. In party circles in Haryana, meanwhile, speculation is rife about which faction — former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda or party MP Selja Kumari — will have more people among the new DCCs.
Old Office, New Role
Senior forest service officer Gobind Sagar Bhardwaj, who was till recently a member secretary of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), returned to his former institution — the Wildlife Institute of India — as its director. Bhardwaj had earlier served as a scientist and faculty at the autonomous wildlife research body and has moved there after a one-year stint at NTCA.
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