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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.
Of late, politicians have become proactive at the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA), an institution known for producing World class cricketers and winning the prestigious Ranji Trophy. People who have been in the news this month, for either visiting the Wankhede Stadium in some connection or the other are: Aaditya Thackeray, a State Cabinet Minister and son of CM Uddhav Thackeray, CM’s Man Friday Milind Narvekar, who even tossed the coin at the interschool Harris Shield final, and State Congress Chief Nana Patole. Wonder what Sharad Pawar, the go-to-man for MCA matters for over two decades must be making of all the hubbub around it. MCA’s AGM is around, and elections are not far away and, its 330 plus voting members drawn from the maidan clubs, schools, colleges, corporate, State and Central government offices are already mulling over the people they should align with. No one knows which way the wind is blowing for the President’s position — Dr Vijay Patil or Narvekar. Elections are scheduled in October. Pawar who has done the most for MCA, especially on the infrastructure front for the game and other benefits for the members, may, even at the ripe age of 81, have a big say on the MCA election matter. Surely, BJP’s Ashish Shelar, a former MCA vice-president close to Home Minister Amit Shah must be giving him ball by ball commentary.
The world has indeed termed this as an abrasive action by Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Russia-Ukraine military face-off has certainly thrown the nation states across the globe in a tailspin. The ongoing war between the two hostile neighbouring nations is bound to have far-reaching implications for the international community. Nearer home in Chennai, this business group is keeping its fingers crossed. The abrasive action of Putin has put this abrasive maker in a tight spot. Carborundum Universal (CUMI), a Murugappa Group company, it may be recalled, acquired 84% of the ordinary shares of Volzhsky Abrasive Works (VAW), located in the Volgograd Region of Russia, through its wholly-owned subsidiary, CUMI International Ltd., Cyprus, for a consideration of around $37 million sometime in 2007. The Russian venture fetched CUMI a PBT of Rs 1,350 million during 2020-21. The company expanded the capacity of the nitride bonded silicon carbide facility at VAW. This was ostensibly done to provide the company the capability to address the increasing global requirement of nitride bonded refractories for non-ferrous and waste-to-energy applications. Well, the dynamics have completely changed now. With the two countries at loggerheads, a sense of uncertainty has gripped Indian business in Russia. An abrasive action has put this abrasive maker in a bind, it appears.
Madras Race Club To Make Invitation Cup A Festival Of Revival For Racing In Its Diamond Jubilee Year
The Madras Race Club, oldest in the country, started in 1777 by the Brits has been a pulse pounding draw for the glitterati and moneyed of Chennai for years. Invitation Cup and Derby’s drew legendary thoroughbreds and even more iconic breeder owners from across the country, to mix and mingle, bet and brag over chilled beer and gimlets, events that bring in money on weekends for the race course. Late MAM Ramaswamy, that enfant terrible corporate King, breeder and racing aficionado ruled the roost and the racing scene as well. Then, one fine day, three decades ago, Kalaignar Karunanidhi halted horse racing in its tracks, citing a vague rationale. The Race club had to eschew its marquee event, like an emperor without clothes back then. MAM was a super legend, having won 9/Invitation cups. Race enthusiasts still talk about one exciting race when MAM‘s horse, Star Haven was pitted against actor Sanjay Khan’s Khartoum. Most unexpectedly, Khartoum won and the crowd roared its delight. MAM’s son MAMR Muthiah is now preparing for this weekend’s Invitation Cup, in which Forest Flame and Star is Born, Juliet and Own Opinion are being touted as probable winners. So what about the ban? The DMK has just lifted the ban. The public is mulling over this change without any rhyme or reasons provided.
TMC Chief Mamata Banerjee’s uneasy equation with Lord Shri Ram came to the fore in Uttar Pradesh, his birthplace, where there is no avoiding Rama’s political themes either. When Didi reached Varanasi to campaign for Samajwadi Party Chief Akhilesh Yadav, the Bengal CM’s cavalcade was blocked by Hindu Yuva Vahini members carrying black flags and chanting Jai Shri Ram. A Vahini functionary said the protests were justified in the wake of the “genocide of Hindus in Bengal” after which Mamta had the gall arriving into Kashi. By chanting Jai Shri Ram aloud, “We want to bring to her notice that this part (read state) of Bharat was always the land where Sanatan Hindus dwell unlike Bengal, where one may insult Hindus and still get away with it. This is Uttar Pradesh.” For Akhilesh, campaigning in Ayodhya for a party candidate, the protests against his ally was quite embarrassing. Mamata, who faced protests on her way to Dashashwamedh Ghat to see the ‘Ganga Aarti’, got off the vehicle and faced the Vahini crowd. She boarded her vehicle only after police personnel took the activists away. It may be recalled that Mamata walked out of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose’s birth anniversary celebrations in WB in January 2021 after crowds chanted Jai Shri Ram even while sharing the stage with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi recently regaled audiences in Chennai, at the release of Chief Minister MK Stalin’s autobiography One Amongst You, about how his mother Sonia Gandhi used google to discover the age of the DMK leader. Complimenting Stalin for looking young at 69, Rahul suggested he must write another book sharing his secret to good health. While the book launch brought together Opposition parties such as Congress, DMK, RJD and CPI (M) on one platform ahead of 2024, the book itself is being translated into Hindi while projecting Stalin as national leader. A section of the DMK is pushing for Udhayanidhi to take over as CM, wanting Stalin to move base to Delhi for a national role, since Tamil Nadu has 39 Lok Sabha seats. It is almost like watching an action replay of happenings in West Bengal. Mamata Banerjee, who got her biography written even as nephew Abhishek keeps snapping at her heels to take-over, is hoping to clean sweep all 42 Lok Sabha seats in the state. Meanwhile, when senior DMK leader TR Baalu called upon Congress President Sonia Gandhi, he was in for a surprise. She apparently asked him about phone calls Home Minister Amit Shah had made to Kanimozhi and; even sought to know the frequency and purpose of these phone calls.
In order to checkmate poll strategist Prashant Kishor hired by KCR in Telangana, Rahul Gandhi has made an elaborate plan to counter him. The Congress leader has picked his onetime protégé Sunil Kanugolu — who worked with 5 parties and with PK in 2013. Sunil who worked with the DMK in 2019 LS polls and worked for the AIADMK in the Tamil Nadu assembly polls has been roped in via AICC functionary Manickam Tagore. Rahul recently informed party leaders from Karnataka and Telangana that Sunil would closely work with them. Unlike PK, Sunil has been asked to join as a senior AICC office bearer and will undertake his new responsibility — most likely as political economist Praveen Chakravarty 2.0. Party leaders of course wish to ask what would be the ideological commitment of professional election strategists like Sunil who closely worked with the BJP and, which AICC High Command vehemently demands of its leaders. A Telangana leader pointed out how Sunil was hired by KCR before PK had joined him. Switching over from DMK to AIADMK overnight also indicates he is just a professional ready to do a job. But what is nagging Southern leaders is why Sunil a close friend of Amit Shah, is not being deployed in Gujarat but in Karnataka and Telangana where Congress victory has a high probability?
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has once again triumphed over opposition political formations in Orissa. In the recent Panchayat elections, his party Biju Janata Dal (BJD)decimated BJP and Congress bagging 765 of the total 851 Zilla Parishad seats. BJD was able to install 30 Zilla Parishad presidents in the 30 districts, placing a question mark on the future of both BJP and Congress. All this was achieved although Patnaik did not hit the campaign trail. His work speaks for itself; he has transformed Odisha over the last two decades and won people’s hearts. This win may have implications for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. BJP’s MP, Basant Panda attributed BJD’s sweeping electoral success to the BJP’s own failure to convince people to not vote for the BJD. Both BJP MP Pratap Sarangi and Niranjan Pattnaik, President of Odisha Pradesh Congress blamed their losses on the financial might of BJD. Political analysts say both BJP and Congress are now giving lame excuses. They will need to put a strategy in place to beat BJD’s organisational skills and mass appeal of the electorate. And even if they do, will they get a State leader who can match the charisma of Naveen Patnaik?
The Stalin era in Tamil Nadu’s politics was firmly established, even as the wounded AIADMK tried to make its way back into people’s hearts. Probably, the return of Jayalalithaa’s aide and confidante Sasikala and nephew TTV Dhinakaran are viewed as vital to rebuilding a political challenge in the unending Dravidian narrative of TN politics. So long as former CMs Edappadi K Palaniswami (EPS) and O Panneerselvam (OPS) stood united, the remnants of Poes Garden rule in Sasi and her nephew were disallowed entry to the party HQ on Lloyd’s Road. Breaking that unity was key to the reunion that Sasikala was dreaming of. She was able to force a crack through her old scheming ways, favouritism and heroine-worship based politics. DMK’s success in the recent state assemblies, came after the 2019 debacle when just one MP, OPS’s son, was elected. AIADMK swept the remaining 38 Lok Sabha seats in the state, then also ruling the roost in the state legislature. In the 2021 assembly polls EPS-OPS were not totally wiped out but, local body polls saw a decisive sweep by the DMK, prompting the need for a united AIADMK. That may, however, mean a big loss for EPS, not so much for OPS, who was Chinamma’s choice for acting CM whenever Jaya had to eschew the gaddi.
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.