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Pawar & Thackeray Families Face New Challenges, Timing Perplexing
A public interest litigation against Shiv Sena leader Uddhav Thackeray and his family and an allegation that certain forces are bent upon splintering the family of NCP chief Sharad Pawar have come out back on back, raising speculation about the timing of both. The PIL against Thackeray and his family members, demanding to know the source of their income and wealth, came up before the high court in Mumbai on Wednesday. It has been listed for hearing on November 16. The petition has been filed by Dadar resident Gauri Bhide and her father, said to be close to the Thackeray family. The Bhide’s have a printing press near Saamana office in Prabhadevi. The other powerful family belongs to Sharad Pawar, whose grandson and NCP MLA Rohit Pawar had kicked up a storm after alleging that some forces were trying to wreck the family. When asked for his reaction, NCP leader and former deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar was evasive. Ajit said, “I shall ask Rohit what he exactly meant by making such a statement.”  To add to the suspense, Rohit later said he had not blamed the BJP for the plans to dismantle the family but had merely said that some forces opposing the NCP were trying to create a rift in the family. Reactions of Pawar and Uddhav are awaited eagerly.
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Social Media Influencers Setting The Agenda For Brands?
Lobbyists play an important role in the political space across the globe. Their services are widely used to influence key decisions. In the world of commerce, they take a different nomenclature. Influencers are setting the game for many big brands.  Increasingly brands see influencer-marketing as one of the mainstream forms of digital marketing. The reason is simple. There are over 20 lakh content creators in India. Chennai-based Social Beat launched www.influencer.in, a marketing platform, to help brands create quality content and amplify the reach among the target audience by leveraging verified digital influencers across Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, Linkedin and the like. The platform has just released “The influencer marketing report 2022”. The report expects the influencer marketing industry to grow to Rs 2,500 crore by 2025 from Rs 900 crore in 2021. According to the survey, 61.2% of all brands recognize the power of influencer-marketing to tap into a newer audience pool to boost brand awareness.  The survey finds 36.9% of brands rely on Instagram and 20.6% on YouTube for their dedicated influencer-marketing efforts. Facebook continues to be popular, with 18.7% of brands using it. About 50% of marketers indicate that they spend up to 10% of their digital marketing budget on influencers annually. Well, they are the change-driver of a new kind!
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As Scripted Kharge Wins, Congress Gets Its First Non Gandhi President In 24 Years
Election of Mallikarjun Kharge as Congress President by a comfortable number of votes — he polled 7897 votes against Shashi Tharoor’s 1072 — was on expected lines. Kharge with blessings of the Gandhis had to win. Except that Tharoor had hoped to poll about 2000 to 2,500 and that did not happen. After all, he had campaigned extensively in four states. He was hoping to tap on the latent discontent within the party. That is why party MP Karti Chidambaram backing Tharoor remarked “We are very pleased that we crossed the four digit mark – 1,072 votes”. In 2000, when Jitendra Prasada contested against Sonia Gandhi, he had polled a paltry 94 votes against Sonia’s 7,400 votes. In 1997, when Sitaram Kesri was elected party chief, he had polled 6,224 votes, Sharad Pawar 882 and Rajesh Pilot 354. Little wonder, Tharoor who lost the elections felt that the revival of the party “has truly begun today“. After all, winning trust of 1000-plus delegates is no small achievement. Meanwhile in poll-bound Himachal there is rush to file nominations as the last date for filing papers is October 25, day on which the solar eclipse falls. With Diwali holidays and the eclipse, candidates have no choice of good muhurat. Denial of nomination to a sitting Kinnaur MLA Jagat Singh Negi is also irking party leaders. Rahul Gandhi’s aide Krishna Allavaru is reportedly pushing for a Youth Congress pick.
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End Of Sasikala’s Political Ambitions?
The finger of suspicion pointing at VK Sasikala and others in the matter of the death of former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa might spell the end of her political ambitions. Already disqualified from contesting elections till 2027 after going to jail on a disproportionate assets charge, the former confidante of Jaya might find very few willing to join hands with her in promoting her political future. She might find a faithful loyalist in the pliant O Panneerselvam who was substitute CM whenever Jaya was not qualified to hold the CM post or ill. But none would take her seriously any more in Tamil Nadu’s Dravidian political scene after Justice Arumugasamy Commission indicted her. Having taken charge of everything during Jaya’s illness, including ordering the CCTV cameras in the CCU unit of Apollo Hospital to be switched off, she and her kin who is a doctor took the final call on several decisions regarding Jaya’s medical treatment. No one else, not even acting CM OPS, had access to the CCU area that was cordoned off. Bureaucrats who took orders directly from Sasikala will also be under the scanner when the government orders an inquiry. Any chance of rapprochement with the AIADMK party claimed by Edappadi K Palaniswami may have also evaporated as none would be ready to associate with a hanger-on suspected of doing away with her mentor in the hope of capturing her powerful seat.
Collage Maker-18-Oct-2022-01
From Wankhede, Joshi To Pawar, Political Power Play At The Mumbai Cricket Association
Politicians, who take pot shots at each other in the Legislative Assembly, and at the hustings in the lead up to the elections day, have in the last three decades, virtually taken ownership of the top post in the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA). And, Sharad Pawar has always been the playmaker when not occupying the MCA President’s post. He held the coveted post for 13 years with a resolution passed at a general body to extend his term beyond eight years. But it was the most affable personality in SK Wankhede, the assembly speaker who held the top post for 23 years — from 1963-64 to 1986-87. A former MCA official described Wankhede’s time as the most defining one in the history of the Association when it broke the umbilical cord with the Cricket Club of India and built its headquarters at D Road, Churchgate. Former officials also described Pawar’s contribution as significant because the Wankhede was refurbished for the 2011 World Cup and a new facility worth over many hundred crore now came into existence at the Bandra Kurla Complex. Manohar Joshi was MCA President for eight years and Vilasrao Deshmukh and Ashish Shelar for around one year each. Vijay Patil hails from a family entrenched in politics and now Amol Kale, who is pitted against a cricketing hero Sandeep Patil is said to have good equations with Devendra Fadnavis. Truly, the politicians love the MCA.

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.