2 min readJun 12, 2026 04:25 AM IST

BJP’s RAJYA Sabha member Dr Ajeet Madhavrao Gopchade has started a fellowship — MP LEAD (Legislative Exposure & Administrative Development) — to provide young students with first-hand exposure to governance and public administration. Under this initiative, 40 undergraduate and PG students, including girls and tribal youth, have been selected through a competitive process. Beginning June 17, the participants will spend one month in New Delhi, where they will be attached to MPs, MLAs, and Councillors to gain practical insights into legislative functioning. Gopchade started the initiative following PM Narendra Modi’s call for bringing one lakh youth from non-political families into politics.

Nothing Personal

INSIDE THE TMC fort, which is falling like a house of cards, not all love is lost among the party MPs who find themselves on opposite sides. A senior TMC MP from team Mamata Banerjee has been telling journalists in the Capital not to use personal details of some of the rebel MPs. A “request” for this has been made to journalists of Bengali as well as national media organisations by the TMC leader, who insists personal lives of people should not be dragged into any professional discord.

Special Greetings

KICKING OFF the two-day BRICS Urbanisation Forum 2026 in the Capital, Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs Manohar Lal made it a point to greet all the visiting dignitaries in their language. Welcoming the ministers and officials from BRICS nations, Lal read out the greetings in 10 languages, including Russian, Chinese and Persian, besides the regular “good morning, suprabhat” in English and Hindi.

Change of Plan

The CONGRESS high command on Thursday called two of its senior leaders — UP Congress general secretary Avinash Pande and state chief Ajay Rai — who were in the Capital to attend a party event at Indira Bhawan, for a separate meeting on the upcoming UP Assembly polls. Sources said the meeting was scheduled for 5 pm, but Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge had to suddenly leave for Karnataka and the programme was postponed indefinitely. Rai leaves for Mathura on Friday for a padyatra to the Vrindavan Temple. He is ready to return to Delhi whenever the high command calls him for a discussion, said the sources.