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Upon the official announcement of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra as the Congress’s candidate from Wayanad, Kerala for Lok Sabha by-election, Congress workers have started putting up her posters in the constituency. The posters featured the greeting “Wayanadinte Priyankari” (Wayanad beloved). The question is with the Lok Sabha bypoll for Wayanad on November 13, how much time will siblings Priyanka and Rahul Gandhi give for polls in Jharkhand and Maharashtra on November 13 and 20? Since it will be Priyanka’s first electoral foray, it is quite likely that Rahul is likely to do much of the heavy lifting for her. The seat fell vacant as Rahul who had contested from both Rae Bareli and Wayanad, decided to represent the UP seat and wanted Priyanka to contest from Wayanad in a by-election. However, the ruling Left Front has made it clear that it would not be a cake walk for Priyanka. Kerala Minister MB Rajesh sought to remind how Rahul Gandhi has deserted Wayanad. “In August, when the state was reeling under floods, we had expected Rahul to deliver special help from the Centre. Wayanad is a constituency that gave RaGa refuge when he lost Amethi, but in the very next opportunity, Rahul Gandhi abandoned Wayanad, and now people of Wayanad will give him a befitting reply.”
Normally, questions about EVMs (electronic voting machines) and the Election Commission are raised after elections. However, the question of EVM was raised again soon after the EC declared the poll schedules for the Maharashtra and Jharkhand assembly elections. Shiv Sena (Uddhav) leader Sanjay Raut said opposition parties do not trust the working of EVMs, and what happened in Haryana can be repeated in Maharashtra too. Congress leader Rashid Alvi alleged that EVMs could be manipulated just like Hezbollah pagers, which Israel hacked to carry out blasts in Lebanon. Rubbishing doubts, CEC Rajiv Kumar said, “Our EVMs are more robust than Hezbollah’s pagers, and they are 100% foolproof. EVMs cannot be hacked. Pagers are connected devices, but EVMs are not. “Those who are again questioning EVMs will have to answer many questions. Were EVMs working perfectly during the Lok Sabha polls but were hacked during the Haryana polls? Did EVMs work perfectly in Karnataka and Himachal Pradesh but were tampered with in MP and Chhattisgarh? Who will believe such allegations? An electronic voting machine is just like a calculator, and it has no connection to the Internet via Bluetooth or any remote device. The battery usage of an EVM is written on the form when the EVM is packed and sealed. Candidates or their agents countersign it. Secondly, in a big country like India, where thousands of EVMs are used, and lakhs of government employees are involved in the electoral process, how can EVMs be hacked? And if some people tamper with the EVMs, how can the matter remain a secret? Victories and defeats occur during elections, but blaming the defeat on the EC or raising questions about EVM tampering is childish.
The deep depression in the Bay of Bengal has been pounding Tamil Nadu with massive rainfall and flooding. Schools, Colleges and all public institutions are to remain closed with dire warnings of every hue…red, orange alerts to stay indoors and stay safe. But the government in its wisdom is keeping the state-run TASMAC outlets open for thirsty denizens. PMK leader Dr Anbumani Ramdoss has lashed out at the TN government over this move. “Is it life-saving medicine or an essential that the public can’t live without? Is it an intrinsic part of the Dravida model to keep liquor sales open”? asked Anbumani in X. Significantly, Deputy CM, Udhayanidhi Stalin addressed the media even as the MET office warned about the heavy rain conditions to hit and assured that the DMK government was fully prepared to take on the threat of flooding. Having suffered severe losses in the past two cyclone hits with cars inundated, the public quickly resorted to parking cars on the flyover bridges….The Velachery flyover overnight turned into a parking lot. It’s another outrage that the police warned about big fines for such “parking”, adding insult to injury. YouTube podcasts on the rain caused flooding in Poes Garden, the hallowed precinct of power, politics and prestige turned smirk worthy. Ramadoss and his take on keeping TASMAC sales open as part of Dravida governance is seen as justified. Strange are the ways of “ideology” when it is business as usual.
Even as the Election Commission finalised polling date for Maharashtra as November 20, the Congress took a lesson from the BJP playbook and appointed senior leaders from other states to manage the polls in Maharashtra as observers. The high-profile team includes former CMs like Ashok Gehlot, Bhupesh Baghel and Charanjit Channi. Karnataka deputy CM G Parameshwara, former deputy CMs TR Singhdeo and Sachin Pilot. The team also includes two Telangana ministers Uttam Kumar Reddy and D Anasuya Seethakka. Deployment of a super team comes right after Congress’ debacle in Haryana elections where BJP won for the third time, securing 48 seats despite exit polls predicting a definite win for the Congress, which was able to secure only 37 seats. One of the reasons that was attributed to the party’s loss is leaving it all to former CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda. Former Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot and Karnataka deputy CM G Parameshwara have been assigned Mumbai and Konkan region while Vidarbha region will be handled by former Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel and former Punjab CM Charanjit Singh Channi and Madhya Pradesh MLA and former minister Umang Singhar. Former Rajasthan deputy CM Sachin Pilot and senior Telangana minister Uttam Kumar Reddy have been deputed to Marathwada region while former Chhattisgarh deputy CM TS Singhdeo and senior Karnataka minister MB Patil have been assigned Western Maharashtra. Senior Rajya Sabha MP Syed Nasser Hussain and senior Telangana minister D Anasuya Seethakka have been asked to look after North Maharashtra. For Jharkhand, the party has appointed a 3-member team headed by Tariq Anwar and Adhir Ranjan Choudhary. Meanwhile, the party has declared Priyanka Gandhi as Wayanad Lok Sabha candidate.
The Eknath Shinde government in Maharashtra held over five cabinet meetings in the span of the first fortnight of October and took over 200 decisions. This was the sprint before the code of conduct got enforced on October 15, 2024. In fact, even the death of Ratan Tata, that had the state observe a day of mourning, did not dissuade Shinde from not holding a cabinet. There was rapid fire decision-making with two cabinet meetings witnessing almost 71 decisions and even 80 decisions each. The chief minister has been over-generous and liberal in doling out freebies, sops and financial allocations in a bid to earn brownie points in the forthcoming elections forcing the opposition to claim that the state treasury was being emptied to woo voters by Shinde. Maharashtra already has debts of over Rs 7 lakh crore and the Ladki Bahin Yojana is expected to bleed it further. Concerns are already being raised about the feasibility of Shinde’s schemes be it the launching of multiple corporations considering that CAG report had claimed that most corporations were not functioning well. In fact, Shinde’s generosity in financial disbursements goes beyond the confines of the state. Sanjay Raut has claimed that the BJP has got Shinde to fund elections in other states like that of Haryana and that each of the probable candidates were being doled out Rs 20 crore by Shinde. The average Mumbaikar is happy that the toll fee at the five entry points has stopped for now. Whether this will convert into votes for Shinde remains to be seen.
The BJP has finalized its polls strategy for the Maharashtra state assemblies for which Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and UP CM Yogi Adityanath will be the star campaigners. The troika will address 18, 26 and 26 public rallies respectively across Maharashtra in a blitzkrieg of public rallies. This carpet-bombing political strategy seeks to exploit the party’s recent success in the Haryana assembly elections where the BJP returned to power for a record third time and improved performance in the Jammu region of J&K where this troika delivered the goods so-to-speak in good measure. International political developments particularly, in neighbouring Bangladesh played a crucial role in consolidating the Indian voter base of the BJP. Additionally, the RSS had organized 16,000 public meetings in Haryana over the last four months encompassing 6,000 villages in the state through a targeted door-to-door campaign by deploying its Karyakartas in the run up to the state assembly elections with a message of Hindu unity that worked like a charm for the BJP. The RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat publicly announced that his cadre of Pracharaks has laser focussed its attention to the forthcoming state assembly elections in Maharashtra, Jharkhand just like it did for Haryana and the general elections of India prior to that through a micro-outreach program. “Our culture, country and (Hindu) religion must not only survive but thrive,” Bhagwat has stated in obvious reference to consistent international (deep state) efforts to undermine India’s growing economy and its cultural identity that has been re-established over the last decade.
Could Baba Siddique who was shot dead while he was bursting crackers outside his MLA son Zeeshan’s office on Vijaya Dashami lived if he had moved out of Maharashtra politics just as he had wished? The former Congress leader, who hailed from Bihar, was apparently wanting to return to his roots and had even met with RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, seeking a Rajya Sabha berth before making the switch to the NCP led by Ajit Pawar. It seemed he had enough of Mumbai politics and deals. Responding to Siddique’s tragic news, Tejashwi Yadav merely acknowledged how he had interacted with Siddique and his family during his recent visit to Mumbai. Siddique hailed from Gopalganj district. For some reason, Siddique was uncomfortable with the Congress and Shiv Sena(UBT) alliance, and had decided to opt out of the party in March this year. A three-time MLA from Bandra West assembly constituency, Siddique had served as a minister in the Congress-undivided NCP government in the early 2000.While his exit would be a big loss to Ajit Pawar ahead of the assembly polls, Sharad Pawar too hailed him as a leader who fought for the “minority community and championed secularism”. A close associate of actor-turned-politician Sunil Dutt, who helped him secure his first Congress ticket in 1999. Siddique is credited for bringing to end frosty ties between actors Shahrukh Khan and Salman Khan in 2013
India’s Twenty20 team — a new look team — after the Twenty20 World Cup win has been going full throttle, starting with the five-match series against Zimbabwe in Harare. Zimbabwe made India — led by Shubman Gill — trip in the first outing, but since facing that one-off reverse by 13 runs, the men in blue have won in a canter, almost every match. After the World Cup win — Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja bid adieu to the short format to make way for youngsters. The selectors made the biggest change, appointing Suryakumar Yadav as captain of the Twenty20 team, not Hardik Pandya. Yadav was rested for the Zimbabwe tour, but the ball-basher from Mumbai has been going great guns from the three-match series against Sri Lanka. The best though, India reserved it against Bangladesh, smashing them out of sight in the three matches that ended with the home team posting a mammoth 297 in Hyderabad. The team was without Yashasvi Jaiswal, Gill, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Rishabh Pant, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj. Out of 11 matches, India won nine of 10 matches with ease. The third and final match against Sri Lanka ended in a super over finish. Yadav, it appears has taken a leaf out of Rohit Sharma’s Kanpur book — going after the bowling and taking the game forward. In all India struck 57x 4s and 44 x 6s in three Twenty20s accounting for 492 runs. Such was the annihilation of the Bangladesh attack, a significant pointer to hit sixes as a strategy to mount pressure and bring down the opponent.
Sixty-year old popular star Jayaram Subramaniam has created a soft and stylish spot for himself in Kerala films despite Mammootty and Mohanlal’s reigning supreme as evergreens. His performance in the hit period drama Ponniyin Selvan (as Alwar Kadian Nambi, the articulate comic Brahmin) was as much the highlight of this epic drama as the pivotal characters of Ponni and Karikala Chozhan. His 26-year old son Kalidas Jayaram has created a niche for himself in the film industry. Recently he was cast in the Dhanush film Raayan, and showed his mettle in the Tamil OTT anthology Pava Kadaigal in which he played a transgender. Kalidas is all set to marry Tarini Kalingarayan, a former Miss Tamil Nadu 2019, well known model and alumnus of MOP Vaishnav College. Jayaram and wife Parvathy had just celebrated daughter Malavika’s wedding in grand style , and it came as no surprise that they announced Kalidas ‘ wedding too in quick succession. The only surprise was that Jayaram, Parvathy and Kalidas honoured MK Stalin, TN CM with the first invite. Not surprising it created a buzz as why had he not given the first invitation to the Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan? In the world of politics and cinema events occur not according to the logic of mundane society. Celebrities have their own exalted status or political predilections. Superstar Mammootty’s son Dulquer Salmaan’s was an arranged marriage in 2011 to Amal Sufiya whose family is from North India. Mohan Lal’s son, Pranav Mohanlal’ marriage with Kalyani Priyadarshan has remained an enigmatic topic.
RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s Dussehra address in Nagpur is seen as an endorsement of the BJP’s policy of Hindu consolidation. It is like a green signal for the party to proceed with its agenda, the insiders feel. Bhagwat’s remarks will be helpful in boosting the BJP’s prospects in the upcoming Maharashtra assembly election since there is no ambiguity in his message. The tone of the address, delivered at the beginning of the centenary year of the RSS, will be interpreted severally but the RSS will continue its work undaunted, its veteran members say. The BJP had suffered in the Lok Sabha election since the RSS had not immersed itself fully in the contest. The BJP took due note of its displeasure and took corrective steps. The result was that it bagged Haryana, though with a nominal margin. The same formula will now be emulated in Maharashtra where the BJP lost 16 Lok Sabha seats due to minority collective vote in favour of the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi candidates. Learning a lesson from the debacle, the ruling Mahayuti partners have been implementing their strategy in an organized manner. Still, there was uneasiness in the saffron camp given the clout of NCP founder Sharad Pawar. The announcement of the election dates and the candidates of respective parties is expected to occur at any moment now. Hence, Bhagwat’s clear call has come as a welcome breather for the Mahayuti.
Shah Rukh Khan’s Jawan is creating records at the box office. The audience has connected with the film as it has raised all the relevant points that the Opposition parties have been asking the Modi government. A WhatsApp message has gone viral saying how the movie is a campaign for the Congress party. Jawan was released at a time when the whole world was busy with the G20 Summit. To avoid any backlash like Pathaan, SRK played it smart by congratulating PM Modi for the success of G20 Summit. Those in the trade feel it is too late for politicians to do anything now as Jawan has turned out to be a tsunami at the box office. The Badshah of Bollywood has made a big comeback and is not going anywhere for the next 10 years. The kind of subject he has chosen gives him ample scope like Rajnikanth who continues to rule the roost at 72. On a personal level, SRK is a hurt man after what happened to his son Aryan Khan in the drug case and the way the media hounded him. Post that he has kept the media at arm’s length. Of late, he prefers to connect with his audience through appearances at Mannat and social media. In the case of Jawan his move to get an accomplished South director, Atlee has enabled him to create an impact in the South.
AR Rahman, the slumdog millionaire and Oscar holder dreamt of a grand music concert, planning to belt out his immortal songs in Tamil to delight a mammoth crowd. Passionately he named the concert Marakkuma Nenjam(will this heart forget). Sure enough the 50,000 odd crowd that pushed into the venue which could accommodate just 20,000 ticket holders swear they would never forget the stampede, women and kids screaming in alarm, people pushing their way through and genuine ticket holders of Rs 5000 left high and dry, unable to get to their assigned seats. The blame game is in full swing…most blame the organisers ACTC events who seemed to have only focused on raking in the money at any cost. The sound system was so poor that even those near the stage could not hear much. People in the know are putting the onus squarely on the maestro himself for trusting an event organiser like ACTC. Incidentally, the maestro himself was grounded in the traffic grid near the venue. The negative publicity saw Rahman tweeting, “Dearest Chennai Makkale, those of you who purchased tickets and weren’t able to enter owing to unfortunate circumstances, please do share a copy of your ticket purchase to arr4chennai@btos.in along with your grievances. Our team will respond asap.” Will this tweet be music to the ears of Rahman’s fans? Not really.
Tamil Nadu is known for its iconic business families. TVS, Murugappa, Amalgamations, Rane, Spic et al – the list can go on and on. They are to a large extent responsible for the early industrialisation of the state. The foresight of the elders of these industrial houses has pushed Tamil Nadu into the national forefront. Of course, many multi-nationals have come into the state since then. But these traditional industrial houses have to tackle a problem of an unusual kind. When families expand, fissures creep in. How best are these handled? That is indeed a big challenge. In the not so distant past, the Murugappas have put an end to the internecine quarrel with a female member by penning a peace accord. Some months ago, the four branches of the illustrious TVS group legally went their own ways in an extraordinary arrangement. The Murugappas perhaps are likely to follow the TVS template. What is this TVS model about? According to grapevine, the key to the TVS model is the generosity of big members (in terms of their market capitalisation) who chose to adequately compensate others who were managing businesses that had inherent growth limitations. The early apportionment of businesses among different branches allowed some to get high growth fields and others not-so-high growth businesses. The appreciation to erase the initial disadvantage is the stand-out feature of the TVS model.
India’s sherpa for G-20 Amitabh Kant seems to have got into trouble for trying to project the G-20 Delhi Declaration as a personal achievement, nearly overshadowing the role of the MEA and the external affairs minister S Jaishankar. Of course, he did attribute the role of four key MEA officials who worked with him on the draft declaration and had helped him negotiate with other countries, but eventually he ended up claiming MEA’s effort as all his own. At least from the way he was seen making his point in the media — how he was awake till 4 am to finalise the draft, it may seem he was the only man on the job. It first started off with a tweet that Kant put out on September 9, the day the G-20 Delhi Declaration was accepted crediting the IFS officers who worked with him. Kant was all over the media and in the social media space, much to the surprise of the MEA too. The Congress, which was disappointed by the success of G-20 Delhi Declaration, decided to focus on sherpa Kant rather than the political leadership of both PM Modi and Jaishankar. Singling out Kant for praise, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor noted “Looks like the IFS lost an ace diplomat when you opted for the IAS!” but generously acknowledged that it was “A proud moment for India at G20!” With things getting uneasy with the MEA, Kant clarified a day later to Tharoor how it was “not about IAS or IFS. It is about working as a Team for the country.” Now to bring MEA’s perspective about its role in G-20, Jaishankar is back again making his points.
A very likely poll scenario for 2024 is the holding of the Lok Sabha polls along with Assembly elections in 10 States. Private polling as well as analysis of opinions gathered by their own pollsters is that the BJP is beginning to fear defeat in all four major states in 2024 – MP, Rajasthan, Telangana and Chhattisgarh. They do not want such results impacting the Lok Sabha polls, which is why this idea of a national poll is being pressed at this time and may come up in the special session of Parliament called for during Ganesh Chaturthi time. The LS poll plus 10 States at the same time is what the BJP is aiming for after having brought up the concept of ‘One Nation, One Election’ idea. While the Assemblies in five States — Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Telangana, Chhattisgarh, Mizoram – will see their terms run out on different days in January 2024, the States of Andhra, Odisha, Sikkim, Jharkhand and Arunachal Pradesh will have to go to polls some time in 2024 after the LS polls. The idea now gaining ground is to pass legislation to push back the dates of the expiry of five states that go to polls in early 2024 to a common period in the summer of 2024 as in late April and early May and to push forward the closing date of the assemblies in the five other states so that 10 states can go to the polls together in April-May.
There was so much joy in the end after the rock and roll display by Virat Kohli and KL Rahul and thereafter by the Chinaman practitioner Kuldeep Yadav with the ball that cut Pakistan to size in the Asia Cup match at Colombo on Monday (Sept 11). India trounced Pakistan by 228 runs. India’s 27th win against Pakistan by runs. It was also India’s fourth win against Pakistan starting from the Asia Cup in Dubai five years ago. The big win at the rain-hit Premadasa Stadium helped Rohit Sharma to maintain a clean slate against Pakistan: 3 wins out of 3. It was not merely the emphatic victory, it was the way India’s batters went about repelling the rival team’s pace pack that had troubled India in Twenty20 internationals in recent times. Left-arm seamer Shaheen Shah Afridi had become sort of a bête noire, but for two days in a row, India’s top 4 sent him packing with Sharma flicking him for a first over 6. Aspersions were cast on Rahul’s selection of Rahul for the Asia Cup and the ICC Cricket World Cup after he had gone down in an IPL match on May 1 and his thigh needed to be set right. An eleventh-hour inclusion after Shreyas Iyer complained of a back spasm, Rahul deployed his multi-faceted skills with the bat to stage a comeback with a bang, as they say; with a score of 111 not out!
The Maharashtra government has decided to expand the scope of its scheme to recruit employees at various levels through private agencies to supply skilled, semi-skilled, and unskilled workers. The decision has come in the midst of an agitation that has been going on for the Maratha caste’s demand for reservations. The government had awarded a similar tender to two agencies way back in 2014 for three years. The decision has the backdrop of the swelling expenditure on government establishment by outsourcing as much staff as possible so as to divert funding toward developmental purposes. Presently, the burden of staff salaries and pension payments is approaching alarming levels. Hence, now nine agencies have been authorised to supply a wide range of workers. They will include personnel like project coordinator, engineer, teacher, content writer, clerk, librarian, telephone operator, driver, carpenter, gardener, lift operator, sweeper and peon, to name a few. The government will have to face stiff opposition owing to this decision as no reservation will be provided for in the outsourcing. Moreover, some of the nine firms selected for the purpose are ‘outsiders,’ another reason for a potential protest. The government has stated that salary for each post has been determined and the agency concerned will be permitted 15% commission for each such recruitment. The decision will apply to all the establishments under the state government as well as to local self-governments and its corporations.
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.