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The third term consecutive BJP government in Haryana proactively introduced seven laws before the state legislature’s winter session, even as Congress’ failed CM aspirant Bhupinder Singh Hooda declined handing over the leader of opposition (LoP) post to another party colleague. Before the session began intensive in-fighting broke out for the LoP post with Hooda deferring the appointment though Congress has legitimate claim with 37 MLAs to hold the post. Holding Haryana’s state legislature to ransom Hooda said the LoP would be decided only after the results of the Maharashtra state assemblies are declared on November 23. His stand of “If it ain’t me, it won’t be anyone else,” has already set the ball rolling with a majority Congress MLAs seeking fresh political pastures with strong indications of en masse defections to the BJP, says senior BJP leader Mahendra Jain. “Not only in Haryana, but also in Maharashtra, mass defections are likely from the Congress party and the Sharad Pawar/Uddhav Thackeray led political formations respectively post November 23, 2024. There will be a big political Khela in the two states,” Jain predicts. Ironically, after the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the Congress party was unable to secure the LoP status for Rahul Gandhi in India’s parliament have elected only 44 MPs back then while Hooda’s obstinacy does not allow the party to legitimately designate Harayana’s LoP despite commanding required numbers for the same. The BJP is exploiting the situation to engineer a Congress breakup in Haryana while ensuring the same in Maharashtra at the expense of the UBT and Sharad Pawar’s NCP in a repeat performance.
In a solemn ceremony, Justice Sanjiv Khanna was sworn in as the 51st Chief Justice of India on November 11, succeeding Justice DY Chandrachud, who retired on November 10, 2024. The oath was administered by President Droupadi Murmu during a ceremony held at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. The event was attended by key figures including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, and former CJI Chandrachud. Justice Khanna’s appointment follows the recommendation of Justice Chandrachud, who had recommended him as his successor on October 17. Justice Khanna’s tenure as CJI will last until May 13, 2025. Despite his short tenure, Justice Khanna has opted not to move into the official CJI Bungalow at 5, Krishna Menon Marg. Following the swearing-in, Justice Khanna proceeded to the Supreme Court to preside over the day’s proceedings, hearing 47 cases alongside his colleague, Justice Sanjay Kumar. In his parting address Justice Chandrachud expressed a deep sense of satisfaction with his service, stating, “I won’t be able to deliver justice from tomorrow, but I’m content.” Justice Chandrachud, like other former Chief Justices, will enjoy several post-retirement benefits which have recently been enhanced to include round-the-clock security at their residence, along with a personal security guard available 24/7 for five years post-retirement. He will also get six months of rent-free Type-VII accommodation in Delhi, similar to facilities provided to Union Ministers. Lifetime entitlements include domestic help and a chauffeur, ensuring that their household needs are met and they lead a comfortable life.
In a significant political development, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee has placed her trust in former cabinet minister and senior Left Front leader Abdus Sattar by appointing him as the chief advisor to her government on minority affairs. Sattar, an influential figure of CPI(M) who served as the Minister of State for Minority Affairs and Madrasah Education under the Left Front government. He has been tasked with addressing ongoing disputes related to Wakf properties and will advise the Department of Minority Affairs and Madrasah Education on initiatives for minority welfare. Interestingly, Sattar quit the Left Front way back in 2011 by joining the Congress before aligning with the TMC. This appointment, sources suggest, highlights TMC’s strategy to strengthen its appeal among the state’s educated minority communities. With the BJP’s growing influence in West Bengal and traditional opposition forces such as the Left and Congress losing traction, Sattar is seen as a critical asset for Banerjee’s administration, given his progressive reputation and deep organizational skills. A TMC leader pointed out that Sattar will complement prominent TMC leaders like Firhad Hakim and Siddiqullah Chowdhury. Interestingly, CPI(M) leader Sujan Chakraborty said that Didi’s appointment of Sattar reflects an acknowledgment of the developmental work undertaken during the Left Front regime and is also a rebuttal to TMC’s earlier narrative that the Left did nothing for minorities.
Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde, deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis and former CM Uddhav Thackeray have started singing the same tune. They keep on telling the media, “I am not hankering for Maharashtra’s chief ministership.” Over the past few days, the three leaders have been interviewed by leading dailies and news channels. Each has been repeatedly asked about his prospects to be the next CM. In response, each has reiterated that a decision about this issue will be taken after the assembly election results on 23 November. The issue had become a hot topic soon after the Lok Sabha election when Uddhav Sena’s spokesman Sanjay Raut publicly suggested to Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) to project his leader as the next CM. The move was immediately scuttled since veteran leader Sharad Pawar of NCP and state Congress president Nana Patole rejected it. Now that the polls are away in just four days, the issue has been resurrected. Shinde has predicted that the ruling Mahayuti will win around 160 seats in the 288-member house. Fadnavis has been consistently saying that the issue will be decided by Shinde, BJP’s Central leaders and another deputy CM, Ajit Pawar. This stance of the three top leaders in Maharashtra is interpreted as a precaution to ensure that the boat is not rocked at the opportune time.
He has been very vocal on sanatan dharma and has been taking potshots at BJP and Hindu religion. But ever since Udhayanidhi Stalin was appointed deputy chief minister of Tamil Nadu he seems to have toned down his anti-sanatan stand. Of course, he has shown his aggressive side by insisting on wearing a T shirt with DMK logo on it at every public appearances, a practice that has irked opposition to the extent of filing legal action. This defiance is yet to be resolved. But there is evidence that he is mellowing down, a visible change from his aggressive defiance. Recently, Udhayanidhi was tasked with completing a full audit and stock taking of the DMK government’s welfare schemes and doles obviously aimed at the 2026 Assembly elections. To get a first hand report Udhayanidhi visited several constituencies, met the local party workers and government officials. But when he visited Thoothukudi with Minister for Fisheries Anita Radhakrishnan and Social Welfare minister Gita Jiwan in tow, the powerful and bespoke Kalaignar family’s Kanimozhi( MP for that constituency ) was missing from the scene. The media was quick to pounce on this glaring absence. Udhayanidhi was quick to reassure the media that this stock taking move and audit had been undertaken at the request of the chief minister and that his foster aunt was travelling abroad. He also took pains to reassure the media that he would revisit Thoothukudi in a few weeks with Kanimozhi. There was a time when Udhayanidhi would have flared up at even an indirect reference to Kanimozhi’s relevance. Times are changing
The absence of Maharashtra’s deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar and other senior NCP leaders from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s election rally at Chhatrapati Shivaji Park in Dadar, Mumbai on November 14 strengthened speculation that NCP could possibly be an unreliable link in Mahayuti. This notwithstanding the fact that the deputy CM had attended a Modi rally in Pune barely two days earlier. Ajit Pawar’s party is a crucial partner in the ruling alliance, alongside Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena and the BJP. But then NCP candidates Sana Malik, Nawab Malik, and Zeeshan Siddique were also notably absent from the event, which featured leaders from the Shinde Sena and the Republican Party of India (RPI) led by Ramdas Athawale. While the rally was meant to highlight the coalition’s solidarity, reports suggest that NCP leaders are upset over the BJP’s batenge toh katenge campaign. BJP sources said despite Ajit Pawar’s unease with the BJP’s aggressive Hindutva agenda, it is likely that he will stay on the side “which benefits him”. That is he could walk to any side which will make him the CM or as Nawab Malik told Times Now “Ajit Pawar will be king maker”. BJP sources said UP CM Yogi who coined the slogan has been much in demand among party candidates. “We have been forced to cancel meetings of top leaders to accommodate Yogiji”, said a party manager. As for contrary assertions by Ashok Chavan and Pankaja Munde on batenge toh katenge, these are being viewed more as a desire to project themselves than pose any serious ideological counter to the main party discourse.
Maharashtra’s deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar has raised apprehensions about his future moves, once again. Over the past few days, Ajit has betrayed his ambivalence about the way campaigning is proceeding in Maharashtra. While this is being commented upon, his absence at the final rally of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Shivaji Park in Mumbai on November 14 has been noted with concern within the ruling Mahayuti. Neither Ajit nor any of his NCP’s candidates turned up for the PM’s rally organised by chief minister Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena and the BJP. As Ajit failed to appear on the dais, the media attention has focussed on his possible calculations after the assembly poll results are out on 23 November. Already, he has rubbed Shinde and deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis the wrong way by objecting to UP CM Yogi Adityanath’s slogan batenge toh katenge. Ajit had observed that such slogans will not work in Maharashtra, whose culture was different from that of UP. Ajit’s insistence on fielding former minister Nawab Malik from Mankhurd-Shivaji Nagar constituency in Mumbai despite the BJP’s open objections had created some strain within the Mahayuti. Now, Malik has told the saffron formation that Ajit’s NCP will not be a part of the next government if Yuti’s campaign strategy is not changed. Ajit’s another confidant, Dilip Walse Patil had said a few days ago that some fresh combination can occur after the election. Ajit has not refuted neither statement. Hence, he is under close observation by the other two partners of Mahayuti.
The kerfuffle following Ricky Ponting’s straight–from–the–shoulder observation of Virat Kohli’s form was unnecessary. In the course of an International Cricket Council (ICC) conducted interview before the five-Test series between India and Australia in Australia for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, the former Australian captain said that Kohli has scored only two Test centuries in the last five years (186 against Australia in Ahmedabad in March 2023 and 121 against the West Indies in Port of Spain in July 2023). In these circumstances, he wondered if any other player would have been picked for the national side. While Kohli — described by Ponting as one of the greats in the same interview — himself did not respond to Ponting’s appraisal of his form, a seemingly annoyed India head coach Gautam Gambhir virtually questioned Ponting saying: “What does Ricky Ponting have to do with Indian cricket? He should be talking about Australia.’’ Gambhir’s retort was churlish. The media seeks the opinions of former greats as a build-up to events and in this case Ponting was interviewed by none other than the ICC because of the importance of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Ponting has gone to the extent of saying that the series between India and Australia — from the backend of his career – has always been a high-stakes affair, not far from the relevance of the Ashes. Ponting has played 560 matches for Australia across formats, scored 27483 runs with 71 x 100s and 146 x 50s and led Australia in 77 Tests. He is also a World Cup-winning captain. To question his credentials is downright absurd.
Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath packed a lot of wit and humour while taking potshots at Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge who had mocked Hindu sadhus straying into politics and occupying high offices “in saffron robes”. Yogi reminded Kharge that he may have forgotten some crucial parts while recollecting his family’s sacrifices “for votes”. Yogi alleged Kharge purposely glossed over the tragic death of “his mother and sister” in an attack by Razakars as he feared losing Muslim votes. Addressing a rally in Achalpur in Vidarbha, the UP leader said, “I am a Yogi, and for me, the nation comes first, while for Mallikarjun Kharge, appeasement politics comes first.” He was responding to Kharge’s comments on the “batenge toh katenge” remark. He recounted Kharge’s childhood tragedy during the political unrest in Hyderabad during India’s independence. Kharge was born in the Bidar region of erstwhile Hyderabad state, ruled by the Nizams. The Razakars were a paramilitary force that operated in the princely state with a primary objective to maintain the rule of the Muslim Nizams of Hyderabad and prevent the accession of Hyderabad to India. Incidentally, at the very rally where Kharge was pouring scorn on Yogi’s saffron attire, the Congress chief was trying to generate some sympathy for himself by talking about how he had narrowly escaped the wrath of razakars. He didn’t name the razakars; he merely said how his father was relieved that his only son had been “saved”. “Even our house was burnt. I don’t want to talk about those who attacked us.”
India’s Test team – thrashed 3-0 by New Zealand – will look upon the five-Test Border-Gavaskar Trophy series against Australia with trepidation rather than hope. After the 2-0 win against Bangladesh, the Rohit Sharma-led team seemed to have reached the doorstep of the ICC World Test Championship final. But in a matter of 10 playing days from October 16 to November 3, all the hype around a third consecutive WTC final turned into slough of despond because drawing a blank from the available 36 points from three Tests against New Zealand meant winning four of the five Tests in Australia to qualify for the WTC final. India could be disappointed when the fourth Test begins in Melbourne on Boxing Day (December 26). Of course, putting it across the Pat Cummins-led Australian side will drive the Indian team that competed hard to bring down the home side in the two previous series of 2018-19 and 2020-21. Preparing “designer turners’’ in Pune and Mumbai did not help the home team in any way as New Zealand’s two left-arm spinners, Mitchell Santner and Ajaz Patel, sent the home team packing, capturing 13 wickets in Pune and 11 wickets in Mumbai. The five pitches in Australia will not afford copious turns to the slow men, but Cummins will deploy the smart off-spinner Nathan Lyon – he has taken 60 of his 259 wickets at home in 15 Tests against India — to the full. India has to muster all its wits, hour by hour, session by session, and day by day, deliver with the bat, ball, and field well in each Test match to make the series riveting.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan is a changed man. In his heydays, as a CPM trade union activist he red flagged businesses, organised strikes, hartals and lockdowns. But as CM now, his government has rolled out the red carpet to turn Kerala into a popular business investment destination. Recently, he visited the UAE and wooed investors. Ironically, trade union leaders in his party are busy closing down or threatening MSMEs in the name of Nokku Kooli, an euphemism for extortion. What takes the cake is two controversial decisions by Vijayan’s government. After Air India was privatized, handed over to the Tata Group, the Kerala government took back land it provided for AI’s headquarters in Trivandrum. The logic: the land was provided when AI was a Government of India undertaking. For the record the original owner of the land, the Royal family of Travancore and AI had paid for the land. The same government is courting another Tata Group flagship, TCS to set up offices in Trivandrum’s Techno Park. The other googly Vijayan delivered is over the Trivandrum airport, set up in 1932, run by Adani Group. Post privatization, the Left government has placed one too many hurdles on its expansion plans. It will be interesting to see how the Adanis tackle this challenge even as they are struggling to develop a greenfield Vizhinjam port, also located in Trivandrum.
Looks like there will be no let-up in the probe against the “mystery Yogi” who gave divine instructions to former MD & CEO of the National Stock Exchange, Chitra Ramkrishna. At an official weekend meeting, PM Narendra Modi made clear that investigations must be conducted thoroughly to delve into the depths (gehariyan) of the scam. This means Ramakrishna will not get away with pleading innocence for having taken instructions from a godman who resided in the Himalayas. The official keenness to get to the bottom of the story is also because Ramkrishna, a qualified CA, was connected with an influential political family, a father-son duo, from Tamil Nadu since 2012. It was this connection that helped her secure the coveted job in 2013. Sources close to Ramkrishna, keen to protect her, are peddling multiple theories including one, about the yogi being a finance ministry bureaucrat besides speculative assertions about him. He was probably a Karnataka cadre officer, once a close aide to the senior Tamil Nadu leader. Interestingly, the political class seems very keen to see a bureaucrat is made the fall guy in the Chitra Ramkrishna episode so it fails to impact their political space.
The Indian cricket field will soon witness a major turf war of a different kind, a battle for media and digital rights. Amazon and Reliance Industries, two corporate majors locked in a head-on battle for physical shopping space in Future Retail, will also flex their muscles to bid for the 2023-2027 IPL rights. Valuations have breached the stratosphere already with talk of bids reaching $7 billion dollars and, many other giants ready to do battle as well. The previous 5-year cycle that attracted a consolidated Rs 16,347.5 crore from Star-Disney ends with the 15th IPL featuring 10 teams and more matches than were on offer under the 8-team format. Disney-owned Star India may have to reach deep into its pockets to take on the global e-commerce giant Amazon with its Prime Video OTT pay channel, even as India’s industry and commerce behemoth Reliance, with a broadcasting arm in Viacom18, opens up its considerable war chest to bid for what is seen in broadcasting as an everyday Super Bowl with a 2.5 billion worldwide audience. The BCCI may unbundle the TV and digital rights. IPL has probably already factored in its Rs 7,000 crore a year rights earnings, which is believable as cricket is king in India and IPL dishes out magical live sport entertainment.
L’ affaire Wriddhiman has been rather unkind to the sports journalists’ fraternity in India, in particular with the former India stumper refusing to name the alleged sports journalist who sent him intimidating messages. Wriddhiman Saha, who has been brutally told the truth that he is on the way out of the India scheme of things because he is considered to be too old to be a No 2 man with the big gloves, has brought into the public domain the conversation India Head Coach Rahul Dravid had with him about the improbability of his future roles in India cap and red ball cricket during the recent tour of South Africa and a text from the BCCI president, Sourav Ganguly, assuring to protect his place in the India team. But the Bengal-based stumper has still not revealed the name of the sports journalist who has behaved like a loon to say the least. No professional sports newsperson would resort to such unethical means to extract news from a sportsperson. Saha, a long time understudy to Mahendra Singh Dhoni has played 40 Tests that mirrors the permanency he enjoyed in the Test team, but of late the dashing Rishabh Pant has been anointed as the No 1 stumper across all formats and Kona Srikar Bharat, 28, being looked at as the immediate standby. But the big question now is, will Saha name the uncouth media person?
This news comes as a much needed relief for many family-run enterprises. In a sudden about-turn, SEBI decided to make splitting of the posts of chairperson and managing director (CMD) by listed entities voluntary and not mandatory. A dozen such enterprises thrive in the Dravidian land. With one too many family members within such enterprises, splitting the CMD could have triggered considerable tensions within such enterprises. The consequences for them would have been a lot severe if it was enforced with a stricter fiat from the market regulator? What made the regulator do a U-Turn? One can debate the volte-face endlessly. One thing is sure, however. Regulation by force has often proved ineffective, and hasn’t really delivered the intended result. We have seen this happening in the unfolding Chitra imbroglio in the NSE. The entire governance structure at NSE appears to have gone for a toss. Will more rules solve the problems? They won’t. Be it in the re-nomination of the Maran couple on the board of Sun TV Network or the infamous Tata-Mistry imbroglio, corporate governance has been a consistent casualty. It reflects the erosion in the value system of society. The Venu Srinivasan and R Dinesh-led wings in the now partitioned TVS group have gone for non-family members to chair some of their boards. That’s refreshing. Laws often don’t get the right result.
Maharashtra is on edge, focused on forthcoming BMC elections, the semi-final match for Lok Sabha and assembly prospects of 2024. BJP says the 416 seats it won in January’s Nagar Panchayat polls is proof the voter base of third placed Shiv Sena with 301 seats (NCP/376 and Congress/297) is eroding. Truth being, Sena fared well in Mumbai, Thane, Palghar with limited success in Konkan. Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has entrusted the task to raise Sena’s tally in BMC to over 100 corporators to son and suburban Mumbai’s guardian minister, Aaditya Thackeray. Meanwhile, erstwhile BJP CM, Devendra Fadnavis seeks a CAG audit over financial irregularities in Mumbai’s jumbo Covid centres, apparently run by unregistered medical operators, with familial ties to Sena’s Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut. Did Raut make a distressed late-night call to Amit Shah recently? Union Minister Narayan Rane said Maharashtra’s politics will change post March 10 which was interpreted as fresh efforts to dislodge the MVA government. “Post BMC polls no elections are scheduled in Maharashtra till 2024. After March 10 fresh efforts will commence to dislodge the MVA government. Whether this means cases registered against the CM, his wife or Raut’s kin being arrested has to be seen. After March 10 they will come to us,” a BJP leader told Shortpost.in. Clearly, the battle for BMC has begun.
Every time Odisha faces a poll, the rumour mills work overtime regarding Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s fragile health. Patnaik knows this game is played by opposition parties to cut into his vote base. Now, with Panchayat elections around the corner, Patnaik took the wind out of the opposition sails by addressing the media while on a visit to the Lingaraj Temple. “I am fit and fine,” he conveyed to waiting newspersons. Although appearing slightly under the weather he fronted supreme confidence. Voters in Odisha know Naveen babu’s health is not in the best of pink but, they simply adore and love him for his delivery. No other chief minister in the country enjoys his kind of popularity. The rumours of his ill health also served as a wake-up call to his party, the Biju Janata Dal. Succession talks on taking over the mantle of the BJD have begun. While there are no clear answers, political analysts feel the BJP which was waiting in the sidelines for years feels the inevitable political vacuum being created and its double engine formula may fill this space in the coming days.
Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu is spending his last few months in office reaching out to old friends from across the aisle. This was on display when he made a point to call upon senior DMK leader Arcot Veerasamy during his visit to Chennai recently. Veeraswamy, who is undergoing medical treatment for a fractured leg, was the Power Minister in the Karunanidhi Government (2006-11) and, close to the late DMK supremo M Karunanidhi. His son, Kalanidhi Veerasamy is at present Lok Sabha MP from Chennai North. Naidu spent about 15 minutes with Veerasamy. Naidu’s businesswoman daughter Deepa Venkat also lives in Chennai. Likewise, a week after Mughal Gardens at Rashtrapati Bhawan was thrown open to the public, President Ramnath Kovind invited Supreme Court judges to come visit. Guests led by Chief Justice N V Ramana, accompanied by his wife, grand-daughter and brother judges went for a stroll. A lawyer by training, Kovind played a perfect host to the CJI’s grand-daughter, Sriya, a kindergarten student, showering her with chocolates.
TRENDS & VIEWS
Editor’s Note: Big Punch In Small Pack
It is the Third Anniversary of Short Post and as a news media startup launched during the Covid-19 pandemic it certainly feels better than good to find ourselves where we are today. Here, I must cite the unstinted support of our seasoned contributors, all senior editors in the country, who brought a great degree of maturity and sagacity to the Short Post newsroom. But for them, our tagline “Authentic Gossip”, an Oxymoron, would not have matured viably. Our user numbers may be small but our stories have created the desired impact among people who matter — decision makers and influencers. We offer a big punch in a small pack and Short Post with its 225-word stories has been punching above its weight category. Having posted close to 3,000 stories in the last 36 months, Short Post, I feel, is an idea whose time has come.
And this is vindicated by our two marquee advertisers – IDFC FIRST Bank and ICICI Lombard. Both believed in our story and have supported us from Day one. A big thank you to both.
If you look at the media landscape – print, TV and digital — it is a mixed bag. There are job losses as some outfits have closed down while a lucky few were bailed out by large corporate houses. Yes, there is a lot of action in the digital space. However, the entry of corporate houses has raised the question of independence of news media outfits. Sadly, there are just a handful of independent media outfits in the country that are highly respected for their neutrality. At Short Post, our credo is not to take sides, prejudge issues or be biased but, informing readers of behind-the-scenes happenings. In essence, Short Post strives to be a neutral editorial platform — neither anti-establishment nor pro-establishment.
As I said last year, disruptions in the media world are moving at a fast and furious pace. Technology is playing a very big role in how content is generated and consumed. But, we are neither alarmed nor perturbed as it is all a part of the evolution process. What gives us comfort is that AI is unable to create original gossipy content. And that is the news arena where we have achieved a distinction.