Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s excellent media management might have largely insulated him from the flak arising out of the incompetent handling of demonetization. But there is no shield to save him from party colleague Subramanian Swamy’s barbs.
At the book release function of Unreal Aliens by Karthik Laxman (Penguin), the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Rajya Sabha MP was at his witty best. The novel is a satire about an invasion by aliens; for a change, however, it is not the Americans but Indians who have to save the world. Obviously, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is leading the charge. When asked by the moderator, if he (Swamy) would help Modi in the war against aliens, the maverick leader said, “Yes, but Modi has to send Arun Jaitley back with the aliens.”
Asked if the aliens could accommodate three persons, Swamy added the names of Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Digvijay Singh.