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Political parties have their own whims and fancy notions about good luck charms of their parliamentary party offices. That’s why when it comes to the new Parliament complex, it seems — both the Congress and the BJP– are reportedly being reluctant to move their parliamentary party offices from the old Parliament House. Both the offices are on the ground floor and have plenty of history to it. Of course ministers and the LoP do have their offices in the new complex. The only party which has moved into the new building is the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) which stormed to power in Andhra Pradesh winning 164 of 175 assembly seats in an electoral alliance with Janasena Party and the BJP and has 16 seats in Lok Sabha. The Lok Sabha Secretariat allocated a new office, F09, to the TDP on the first floor of the new Parliament, a prime location that also houses the offices of the Prime Minister and Union Ministers. This change marks a transition from the party’s previous office, Room No 5, which was situated in the old Parliament building. Recalling how the YSRCP led by Jagan Mohan Reddy had occupied TDP’s office after party was routed in 2019 elections, a TDP source pointed out that in the 2019 LS polls, the YSRCP had swept the elections, winning 22 of the 25 Lok Sabha seats in the state and TDP was reduced to just 3 seats. Official sources said regional parties like DMK are also reluctant to move into the new Parliament complex.
A new star has joined the Indian insurance galaxy! Galaxy Health Insurance Co Ltd is the new addition. The birth of Galaxy signals the re-entry of yet one more family of the erstwhile TVS group into the insurance space. Significantly enough, this happens a few years after the formal legal separation of four families of the erstwhile TVS group. Galaxy Health Insurance is promoted by Venu Srinivasan and his family. V Jagannathan, former CMD of United India Insurance Company and the founder of Star Health & Allied Insurance, is the co-promoter. Industry stalwart G Srinivasan, former head of United India Insurance, is the MD & CEO. The Galaxy board comprises Dr Sai Satish, a renowned cardiologist, and Sudarshan Venu, MD of TVS Motor Company. Galaxy Insurance is all set to commence its operations shortly. Insurance business is nothing new to the Chennai-based TVS Group. It was the owner of Madras Motor and General Insurance before the industry’s nationalization. After nationalization, Madras Motor merged into United India Insurance. Subsequently, in the post-liberalization era, Sundaram Finance, initially promoted by Madras Motor, launched Royal Sundaram Insurance, a general insurance company. Ironically enough, two former heads of United India Insurance will be guiding Galaxy Health Insurance to make a mark in the space. The size of the Indian health insurance sector was estimated at Rs 1.17 lakh crore in FY 2024, and is currently growing at a CAGR of 20%. Post the legal separation, assorted organisations who once formed part of the erstwhile TVS group are now freely exploring the freedom of opportunity, it appears.
Top BJP minister Nitin Gadkari’s sensational disclosure that he had been offered support for Prime Ministership by a prominent opposition leader before the Lok Sabha election is considered significant owing to its crucial timing. Gadkari generally avoids commenting on political developments and does not entertain any media questions in this regard. Hence, his candid revelation has surprised the BJP brass, which has refrained from reacting to it. The opposition, by and large, also has kept away from the potential bombshell. Gadkari has refused to name the opposition leader who made this offer to him. But the political grapevine is on overdrive to identify the opposition emissary. Various algorithms are applied to find out who it could be. Is he from Maharashtra? From Nagpur or Vidarbha? A former BJP member? Close to Rahul Gandhi or Mallikarjun Kharge? Or someone having tacit approach to the RSS decision makers? Of course, all these are supposition without any factual backing. Still, the suspense is mounting in view of the coming assembly elections. It is deepened since Gadkari has declared on multiple occasions that he is not interested in the topmost job and is happy with his ministry. In the past, his name was being discussed to become the Maharashtra CM but he had firmly rejected the idea. His only connection now with the state elections is that he is one of the star BJP campaigners.
The ongoing RG Kar Medical College protests have cast a shadow over the Bengali film industry, with many in the fraternity struggling to return to work amid constant backlash and online trolling. While several actors, directors, and singers actively participated in the protests, some have gone back to work sparking mixed reactions from the public. The situation intensified after West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s call to “return to festivities”. This statement was widely criticized. Amidst this political tension, prominent figures in the Bengali entertainment industry have found themselves facing undue criticism from netizens. Celebrities like singer Iman Chakraborty, actors Swastika Mukherjee, and Sohini Sarkar, all of whom supported the protests, became targets of online trolling. Swastika faced particular backlash after promoting her upcoming film Tekka, despite her regular attendance at protest rallies. Dev, who stars in Tekka and is also a Trinamool Congress MP, defended his stance, supporting the movement while stressing that livelihoods, especially during Durga Puja, should not be affected. He pointed out that marginalized groups, such as dhakis, decorators, and vendors, depend on the festive season. Singer Shilajit, another victim of online criticism, echoed similar sentiments. He defended the importance of continuing work, noting that events contribute significantly to artists’ earnings. Director Raj Chakraborty expressed concern over how easily celebrities become targets for trolls, leading many to avoid social media. Amid this growing tension, promotions for upcoming Puja releases, such as Bohurupi and Shastri, have been toned down to avoid further controversy. The Bengali film industry continues to navigate these challenging times with caution.
The mantle of head coach of the Indian cricket team has passed on smoothly from Rahul Dravid to Gautam Gambhir. The once famous ‘Wall’ of Indian cricket has returned to IPL’s Jaipur franchise, Rajasthan Royals, but the immediate focus will be on the doughty left hander from Delhi who showed guts and gumption for India across the three formats, scored 10324 runs in 242 matches embellished with two World Cup titles — the Twenty20 In 2007 and the 50 over format in 2011. Gambhir’s international career spanned from 2003 to 2016 after which he spent time as a BJP member of the Lok Sabha from 2019 to 2024 before he joined Shah Rukh Khan’s Kolkata Knight Riders. His success there has catapulted him to the national team that won the Twenty20 World Cup in the West Indies in July. Gambhir’s first major work will be to facilitate India qualify for the final of the World Test Championship. India under Virat Kohli and Ravi Shastri and Rohit Sharma and Dravid finished second best against New Zealand and Australia in the two previous cycles of the WTC, the finals being played in Rose Bowl and The Oval. India has to win at least five of the remaining 10 Test matches to be in the running for a third consecutive WTC final appearance, and this time the final will be played at the famous Lord’s Cricket Ground in London from June 11 next. Gambhir will have five home Tests — two against Bangladesh, starting this Thursday and three against New Zealand — before the historic five-Test series in Australia from November 22. Guiding India to the WTC summit before the ICC Champions Trophy in February- March 2025 in Pakistan will give a perspective about Gambhir’s coaching and mentoring philosophy.
A free burqa distribution programme organised by a Eknath Shinde camp legislator highlighted the uneasiness between the ruling alliance partners particularly over the Muslim vote bank. While the BJP did express its displeasure about such acts as “appeasement politics”, they clearly had to leave it at that. The Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena neither publicly disowned nor criticised the drive, thus recognising the need to woo core voters. The MLA concerned, Yamini Jadhav recently lost from the prominent Mumbai South Parliamentary constituency by over 50,000 votes mainly due to the fact that the Muslim voters there chose to throw their weight behind Uddhav’s nominee, Arvind Sawant. The fact that 50% of voters in her Mazgaon constituency are Muslims, could not have been lost on her as she faces her electorate yet again to reclaim her MLA seat. All this, while the prominent alliance partner, the BJP continues to adopt an aggressive pro-Hindu pitch with Nitesh Rane’s diatribe against Muslims being the order of the day. The BJP has also been critical of Uddhav’s recent success in garnering the support of the Muslim vote bank terming it as a result of not being sincere to core Hindu ideology. The third partner, Ajit Pawar, has already clarified that he would continue to be secular, in spite of his alliance with the BJP. Pawar has gone ahead and almost-declared the candidatures in key Muslim-dominated seats like Bandra East (Zeeshan Siddiqi) and Anushakti Nagar (Nawab Malik’s daughter Sana Malik) ignoring the BJP.
Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin said he would be seeking an appointment with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and personally request him to release funds meant for the second phase of the Chennai Metro Rail Ltd (CMRL) project as well as the funds due to the State under the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) relating to school education. Both funds have been blocked by the Centre. His finance minister Thangam Thennarasu has already issued a statement hitting out at the Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman for saying that the ongoing CMRL second phase for Chennai was a State sector project. He had pointed out that the project envisaged in 2017 was a central sector project in which the Union government’s share had worked out to Rs 7,425 crore. He also refuted a statement by Ms Sitharaman that the state had spent only Rs 5,880 crore on the 119-km phase II whereas the state had already expended more than Rs 18,000 crore so far. The step motherly treatment being meted out to Tamil Nadu, considered the last bastion against the ruling BJP is borne out by the fact that funds allocated for Metro Rail schemes in cities like Bengaluru (Rs 30,399 crore), Kochi (Rs 1,957 crore), Nagpur (Rs 6,708 crore), Pune (Rs 910 crore) and Thane (Rs 12,200 crore), are all from the Centre’s kitty while not even what was promised for Chennai Metro expansion has been delivered.
Even as film fans across the country are wildly speculating about divorce in the Bachchan’s family comes the news from Kollywood that Jayam Ravi, one of the most dependable performers (the standout star of Ponniyin Selvan) dropped a bombshell on his 44th birthday (Sept 9) that he is seeking divorce from wife Aarti after 15 years of marriage. The couple have two children. A shell shocked Aarti, a successful entrepreneur in her own right, said “Ravi did not consult me, nor was I aware that he is about to drop this bombshell on me and the kids. This unilateral announcement never gave me a chance …much as I tried to talk to him.” Coincidentally, Ravi’s first hit, M.Kumaran S/O Mahalakshmi was a film that touched the hearts of many. It is about a single mother who brings up her son with no help from a husband who walked out on the marriage. Ironically, Ravi asking for divorce will see Aarti face a similar predicament. Aarti is the daughter of successful TV serial producer Sujatha Vijayakumar. Has Ravi come to the end of his tether because of perceived interference of his in-law? Inspite of his busy schedule, Ravi has always given quality time for his family says sources. No one is aware of the real reason for Ravi’s ultimate break decision. But the way he has done it made Aarti lament, “My grace and individuality have been knocked out by the media speculations.” She still hopes for a rapprochement. Marriages are made in heaven, but hit the rocks in this fantasy world of tinsel make believe.
It was Chandrababu Naidu’s dream to create a world class city — Amaravati — as the capital of Andhra Pradesh. But, he lost the 2019 assembly elections badly and the new government headed by Y Jagan Mohan Reddy put his plan on the backburner. A kind of political vendetta. With Naidu’s TDP sweeping power in Andhra Pradesh 2024 Assembly elections Naidu is going all out with his dream capital plan. The new city, to be built from the ground up, will start from December 1. The Modi government has already sanctioned Rs 15,000 crore for the project, besides Naidu is talking to multilateral agencies like World Bank seeking soft loan for this mammoth project. Sources say Naidu definitely wants a city which is resilient, creates value, drives new markets and responds to future demand. For now the 29,966 farmers who had pooled in 34,400 acres of land for this ambitious project eight years ago are in a celebratory mood. The land prices have zoomed from Rs12,000 to Rs35,000 per square yard. Naidu has roped in renowned London-based architectural firm Foster + Partners to design the government complex to house the legislative assembly, high court and secretarial buildings. Sources say Amaravati would require a budget of at least Rs 40,000 crore.
Shiv Sena leader Uddhav Thackeray has miffed his supporters by declaring that he has never hankered for the chief ministership. In the same breath, he has expressed determination to wrest power in the coming election. Conversing at a rally of an Old Pension Scheme organisation, Uddhav said, “You, the people of Maharashtra are my power, which none can take away.” Uddhav performed darshan of Sai Baba at Shirdi and later addressed the OPS meet at Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar. His observation is viewed in the context of the persistent efforts of his supporters to project him as the next CM of the state. The campaign had dampened some time ago as veteran NCP leader Sharad Pawar and state Congress president Nana Patole had publicly clarified that this issue will be discussed only after the assembly election results are out. Uddhav has refreshed the issue by giving an emotional touch to the meeting by saying that he had been invited to speak with its members though he had no power, no office now. “But you are my power. Nobody can retire me from this position. I don’t care for power, I am concerned for your future,” he said. Nonetheless, he assured the audience that he will wrest power and dispense justice to them and the people of Maharashtra. Uddhav has thus dwelt on both possibilities, although not in explicit terms. His statement, hence, can be interpreted in any way but will make his supporters think before taking any stand.
Social media has become so powerful a communication tool these days and yet, not everybody understands the scale of its utility. None, however, can afford to ignore it. Not surprising, all and sundry have made it a point to be visible on the social media platform. Take the case of the Vedanta outfit. Mired in a local political slugfest and caught up in a legal bind, Thoothukudi-based Sterlite Copper, a unit of the Vedanta group, is stuck in a pincer-like situation, being hammered from all sides. How to fight this tricky situation? Well, a new Twitter handle was set up in January this year, created by Sterlite Support Federation, a non-government and non-profit organisation. The federation was formed ostensibly to bring all the pro-Sterlite people across the country to “fight for the cause, thereby giving jobs to thousands.” With over 400 followers, this appears to be a determined counter to the anti-Sterlite lobby that works relentlessly to derail any efforts to revive the Sterlite Copper plant in Tamil Nadu, ordered to close down by the previous AIADMK regime following police firing that resulted in 13 deaths. The firing was ordered to disperse the anti-Sterlite agitators in the vicinity of the plant a few years ago. Can the micro-blogging site help check-mate anti-Sterlite sentiment?
The recent fuss around the independent chair position in the International Cricket Council (ICC) fizzled out into non-event at the quarterly ICC Board meeting in Dubai. Rumours were rife that a couple of BCCI officials were in the race for the top ICC position. But the news came from the ICC HQ that the incumbent independent chairman Greg Barclay who took charge in November 2020 will continue to complete his first two year term; that’s till the Men’s World Twenty20 in Australia this October- November. With him set to carry on, a peculiar process overseen by the chair of the ICC’s independent audit committee to identify the new chair has been put off by seven months. Normally the ICC election takes place at its annual conference in July, but after Shashank Manohar chose not to go for the third two-year term and stepped down from office on July 1, 2020, the lack of a unanimous choice immediately thereafter resulted in Barclay being elected. And that’s presumably the reason the New Zealander has been asked to stay till this November. Or is it because clarity will emerge in September when the BCCI, post the election of its office bearers, will be able to pitchfork its candidate! There were good tidings at the Dubai meeting for Jay Shah, the BCCI Secretary was made the Full Member representative in the prestigious ICC Men’s Cricket Committee.
Following the electoral reverses in the recently held Assembly Elections in five States, the Congress has gone for an organizational overhaul in Goa, Punjab and Uttarakhand. In fact the kind of changes the party has made is making everyone wonder if the new appointments were to deliver results. In Goa, the Congress went for a 38-year-old fresh hand Amit Patkar who had only recently become active. He was picked as he gave a good fight to Goa Minister Nilesh Cabral in the Curchorem assembly seat. The only criteria of selecting him was that he came from a well-known Congress family. He was also viewed as resourceful. In Punjab the Congress opted for a three-term Gidderbaha MLA Amararinder Singh Raja Warring to replace Navjot Singh Sidhu. Ironically, Sidhu was replaced the same day as Imran Khan lost his vote of confidence in Pakistan. Party sources said Warring was picked as he had displayed a capacity to fight the Badals of Akali Dal. His real test of course would come up how he steers the party in Sangrur Lok Sabha by-poll — a seat vacated by AAP CM Bhagwant Mann. In Uttarakhand, the party has picked Yashpal Arya as CLP leader — someone who was in the BJP till the last minute and rejoined the party just before polls. Meanwhile, in Himachal, BJP seemed better prepared. While J P Nadda is camping in Shimla even for upcoming civic polls, Congress leaders skipped a meet called by Rajeev Shukla.
The Gujarat-based Adani group, with interests in every field that involves energy, has announced a massive expansion in its construction financing. So too the group company Adani Gas Ltd (AGL) with its city gas distribution and piped natural gas to the domestic, commercial, industrial and vehicle users in 15-plus distinct geographical areas. AGL, which is going great guns, also supplies compressed natural gas to the transport sector. Though a very small part of the Rs 20,000-crore group, the Ahmedabad-headquartered AGL is important to the business, thanks to its involvement in the daily lives of both employees and outside customers. The company changed its name to Adani Total Gas Ltd at the end of 2020, 15 years after it was incorporated, when French energy major Total took a stake of 37.4% – equal to its own, making it a joint-venture company. The remaining 25.2% is with public shareholders. “Passion, perseverance and self-belief enable you to overcome obstacles and deliver solutions that benefit the business and our consumers,” says Sandip Adani, Head, Techno Commercial, Adani Total Gas. Big brother Adani Green Energy is the world’s largest solar power developer and is in the process of completing the construction of its projects to meet its stated renewable energy capacity target of 45 GW in the next eight years.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate on April 14 the “Pradhanmantri Sanghralaya (museum)”, which acknowledges the contributions of all previous Prime Ministers of the country while a redeveloped Block I will also exhibit a number of gifts received by first PM Jawaharlal Nehru, which have so far not yet been part of Nehru Memorial Museum. The inauguration of the museum will coincide with the birth anniversary of the architect of the Indian Constitution Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar. The government says the museum will sensitize the younger generation about the leadership, vision and achievements of all the 17 former Prime Ministers: Jawaharlal Nehru, Morarji Desai,Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, P V Narasimha Rao, HD Devegowda, I K Gujral and Dr Manmohan Singh. The “Pradhanmantri Sanghralaya” is an endeavour by PM Modi to acknowledge the contributions of all his predecessors irrespective of ideology or tenure in office. The design incorporates sustainable and energy conservation practices. No tree has been felled or transplanted. The total area of the building is 10,491 square meters .Families were contacted for information about the former Prime Ministers. Holograms, virtual reality, augmented reality, multi-touch, multi-media, interactive kiosks, computerized kinetic sculptures, experiential installations have been leveraged to make the exhibition content highly interactive. At a recent BJP Parliamentary party meeting, PM Modi asked his party MPs to visit the museum and spread the word among youths in the country.
Looks like the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) run schools are going for an image makeover. A team of officials and private citizens are designing a new set of uniforms with a brief to spruce up its tardy image of being a poor man’s school. This is not exactly an image makeover or brand building exercise; it is more of a perception change that would reflect the overall upgradation taking place at the educational, technological and infrastructural levels in our civic school education system, explains joint municipal commissioner Ajit Kumbhar. About 103 BMC buildings are being renovated to refurbish its dull and drab settings. Enrollments in BMC schools have registered a sharp rise since introduction of CBSE syllabus. Schools of Cambridge and the International Baccalaureate curriculum are also in the offing. Every academic year 27 items are given free to all students right from uniforms, school books, shoes to even school bags and water bottles. With an annual education budget of Rs 3,370 crores, digital classrooms, tablets for learning and plans to set up 25 astronomy labs are also in action. Sena scion Aaditya Thackeray personally leads his party’s education initiatives. His push for more English medium schools met with criticism from his own party’s core vote bank of Marathi middle class. Is this exercise being done with an eye on the BMC elections?
When Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Punjab CM Bhagwant Singh Mann picked Mandi for their roadshow on April 6 — the party’s first event in Himachal in the run-up to assembly elections later this year, they chose it because it was Chief Minister Jairam Thakur’s home ground. However, a week later AAP has announced it is dissolving its state unit. Delhi’s Health Minister Satyendra Jain, who is in charge of the Himachal, announced the dissolution after AAP state president Anoop Kesri joined the BJP before party president J P Nadda’s road show in Shimla. Kesri joined BJP as he found local leaders were sidelined. “We were toiling for AAP for the last 8 years but it neglected state party workers. There was disregard towards the people of Himachal Pradesh. During a rally in Mandi, no space was given to any leader from the state other than Delhi and Punjab CMs.” Kesri’s entry into the BJP was facilitated by I & B minister Anurag Thakur; he took along with him several AAP leaders. Congress leaders also acknowledge that the way BJP chief Nadda is camping in Shimla it is going to be a direct contest between BJP and the Congress. And there is no scope for a third player.
The build up to the Tata IPL-15 had positive vibes. For the first time since 2020, the BCCI’s prestigious and cash cow Twenty20 tournament is being held in India and in a single State (Maharashtra). It was an excellent decision on the part of the BCCI to engage the Maharashtra government to schedule the 70 match league at four venues taking into account the pandemic situation. But after 15 matches it has been observed that interest among the cricket fans has not met with expectations. The league started on March 26 with permission for 25% capacity attendance and from April 6 the BCCI allowed 50% attendance. But the surfeit of matches in Mumbai (at the Wankhede, Brabourne and at Navi Mumbai’s DY Patil) has not enthused the IPL faithful. Matches featuring Mumbai Indians, Chennai Super Kings have appealed to the cricket fanatics, but the turnstiles have not seen expected footfalls for other matches. Pune appears to be an exception though, with 18084 turning up for the MI versus KKR match on April 6 and when Pat Cummins went berserk with the bat. With another 55 league matches to be played before the four-team play offs from May 24/25 to May 29 people are keeping their fingers crossed. An official of the Mumbai Cricket Association said: “Hopefully the cricket fans would begin to throng the IPL venues soon”.
NCP chief Sharad Pawar’s brief meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Parliament House on March 6 is in many ways a throwback to his interaction with Modi way back in November 2019. Only circumstances were vastly different then. There was a stalemate in government formation in Maharashtra — the state was under President’s Rule after Shiv Sena had walked out on its pre-poll partner BJP and was exploring a new coalition. At that time Pawar was holding the trump card. The buzz then was that the NCP would join Team Modi in Delhi. Three years on, when Pawar met Modi, he was a humble self-vouching not to head UPA or aspire to provide a national alternative. It was possibly because the situation for Maha VIkas Aghadi (MVA) has gotten a lot tougher. Those linked to MVA are facing actions and being probed by central agencies. It has actually been a matter of niggling worry for Pawar. He even mentioned as much while emerging from his interaction with Modi. ED attaching properties of Samna editor Sanjay Raut; he flayed it as Raut was a “journalist”. Pawar is also upset that another of his aides Nawab Malik was arrested. This news came just when Pawar was recovering from action on Anil Deshmukh. Pawar’s worry is that these ED actions could create legal hurdles for the NCP.
The merger talk was in the air for years but, was put on the back burner over serious differences at the top. Finally, the merger between HDFC and HDFC Bank has happened. For the first time perhaps, a challenger of a fitting kind from the private sector appears to have arrived to counter the dominating State Bank of India. To that extent, the HDFC-HDFC Bank merger move is seen to herald a massive transformation in the Indian banking space. Will that edge the non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) out of the picture? Not really, say experts. For, there are plenty in India who are still either unserved or underserved. Why did it take a long while for the two to merge? People who matter know it but, none prefers to go on record for assorted reasons. Perhaps, the merger plan was waiting for the HDFC Bank’s founder-CEO Aditya Puri to serve out his term in October 2020. If sources are to go by, some 5-6 years back Deepak Parekh had mooted the idea of HDFC merging with HDFC Bank to create a big bank but Puri was disinclined. He wanted the two entities to operate separately. Perhaps, with his exit the whole plan was brought out from the cold storage. The merger has indeed reconfigured the banking turf in India.
The upcoming BMC elections will not be an ‘aam’ municipal referendum by any means. The BJP is determined to put all that it has at stake, to level scores with long-time friend-turned-foe, the Shiv Sena. The Sena is trying all the tricks of the trade to retain its Marathi Asmita and control over Aamchi Mumbai. The NCP is looking to expand its Mumbai base at the cost of senior partner Congress’ vote bank. The grand old party is also using all its might to stay relevant in the politics of the very city where it was born. Amidst all the scheming and planning that the city is silently witnessing, the AAP is using the grace period, by postponement of elections, to actively strengthen its organisation. AAP, the fourth largest party, has formed teams of devoted workers and volunteers in almost 100 wards. Its campaign will highlight the pathetic state of Mumbai’s roads, corruption in BMC and announce its plans for the health and education sectors. “We’ll fight to win and are getting tremendous support from Mumbaikars. People are really frustrated and fed up with these parties and their dirty politics. The only clean alternative they have is in AAP,” says Ruben Mascarenhas, the working president of AAP Mumbai. AAP is betting on youngsters and a majority of its candidates will be under 40 years old.
Tamil Maanila Congress (TMC) President G K Vasan has stayed unaligned and non-toxic despite breaking away from the GOP. His father G K Moopanar, aristocratic agriculturalist from the Delta rice granary was a highly respected Congress member. He played a mediator’s role for many vexing issues when Indira Gandhi was Prime Minister. He quit Congress and founded the TMC in 1996. After his death, in 2001 Vasan presided over the TMC and was made Minister for Shipping in UPA 1. In 2014 he broke away from the alliance despite protests from within his own party and joined the AIADMK-BJP front. Once again, rumours are doing the rounds that he is being wooed by the BJP. This news needs to be seen against the backdrop of an incident that occurred when Chinese Premier Xi Jinping visited Mamallapuram (Tamil Nadu) along with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. During the course of that visit Modi asked Vasan, “You are not seen in Delhi. You visit it only when I call you”. Cutting to the chase, Vasan met Modi in March and was offered a berth in the Union Cabinet. When this news reached Sonia Gandhi, she asked AK Anthony to net Vasan with TN Congress Chief K S Alagiri also in agreement. But, Rahul Baba is not sehmat with mama mia wooing Vasan. And therein lies the rub.
On the back of a record win of the BJP in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved a saffron cap to be worn by all BJP leaders, MPs and MLAs. On BJP’s 42nd Foundation Day on April 6, Modi, BJP chief JP Nadda along with other office bearers were seen sporting the new saffron cap. The new caps, which have the party’s symbol (Lotus) embossed on it, come with a message “a new cap, a new mission”. It was designed by the BJP Gujarat unit and is somewhat similar to the traditional cap of Uttarakhand — Brahma Kamal — which was worn by the Prime Minister on the Republic Day. This new cap has been made quite fashionable to attract the youth, and was distributed to all the MPs in the BJP’s Parliamentary meeting by Gujarat BJP President CR Patil. A lot of thinking went into designing the cap. A thin patch of embroidery has been put on the cap and a plastic ‘Lotus ‘ (BJP’s election symbol) has been pinned. Modi approved the final one, which was designed in Surat. Modi wants the party to be using the new saffron cap widely in the Gujarat Assembly election, which is due later this year. From now onwards, all BJP workers will be seen donning a saffron coloured cap.
The AIADMK head honchos mean business. They are full time politicians running the Opposition party in Tamil Nadu and they are determined to take total control of the party, which means keeping Jayalalithaa’s confidante Sasikala and her nephew TTV Dhinakaran out of the party. The party went into a late-night huddle after rumours began doing the rounds about differences between the top coordinators E Palaniswami and O Panneerselvam. They have sent a message out to the party to hold elections in all phases by April so that the general council can be convened in May. A message has also gone out that Sasikala loyalists are not to be accommodated and that they must be defeated in the intra-party polls. It is no coincidence that the ED suddenly woke up to resume the long running case against Dhinakaran in which he is accused of trying to bribe the Election Commission. After Jaya’s death, there was a tussle for the party and TTV did his best to get recognised as the AIADMK’s official representative through the conman Sukesh Chandrasekhar who is in the news for his extravagant gifts to Bollywood actresses Jacqueline Fernandez and Noora Fatehi. EPS and OPS have since then been in control of the party though Sasikala keeps up the pinpricks with her claims to the party as its ‘General Secretary’.
Is the new CEO of FedEx Raj Subramaniam just one more Indian CEO of an American corporation? This question elicited two divergent views, summed up aptly by Chidanand Rajghatta of Times Of India. One response is the blasé “Ho hum, another Indian”. The other: “What Indian? He is an American, who worked his way up.” Raj joins an exclusive club of over half a dozen PIOs who merited entry into the hall of fame thrown open by Google and Microsoft. Sundar Pichai and Satya Nadella are already part of the corporate power folklore. Other recent entrants include: IBM’s Arvind Krishna, Parag Agrawal of Twitter and Leela Nair of Chanel. Founder Fred Smith who spearheaded the FedEx operations for 50 years and saw its turnover touch $92 billion found that Raj, who has been with FedEx since 1991, was the ideal man to hand over the baton to. Thiruvananthapuram born Raj faces big challenges before him. E-Commerce has changed the whole ball game and, FedEx must enter this instant gratification, touch of a button business by changing its own avatar, from an Express Delivery Organization, hub & spoke, track & trace, but as part of that last mile delivery, the fulcrum of e-commerce. Clearly, Raj has to combine his experience at FedEx 1.0 and metamorphose into FedEx 2.0. Clearly Raj has a tall order to deliver.
After Didi, Stalin Now Telangana CM‘s National Ambition Comes To Fore, Appoints A Hindi PRO In Delhi
Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao (KCR) is sparing no efforts to make a pitch for the PM’s office in 2024. Towards this end, he has decided to widen his acceptance in the Hindi media. Possibly on the advice of poll strategist Prashant Kishor. Aware that his competitor Mamata Banerjee has a natural advantage because of her following in the media as she has been a Rail Minister, Rao has decided to reach out to national media by appointing a PRO in Delhi, which came through during a 3-day stay. The appointment of the PR person was handled by KCR’s daughter and Telangana MLC K Kavitha. Meanwhile there is talk that the Centre may go in for appointing a more hands-on governor who will effectively handle the state. The present incumbent Tamilisai Sounderajan is being seen as too soft on the TRS dispensation. In her own words she admits she has good equations with the TRS Government. “I am straight forward and I function with transparency. I always wish for good relations with the government”, said Tamilisai. Earlier, there were talks of her being nominated as a Vice President candidate. But, after a recent visit to Delhi, when she did interact with PM Modi, Tamilisai may have realized she does not have much of an option.
Even as Congress President Sonia Gandhi went out of the way to be on the right side of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin — not bothering about protocol while agreeing to catch up with the DMK leader in his party office in Parliament House– and also attending the inauguration of the DMK office in Delhi, a miffed Rahul Gandhi chose to stay away. It is being said Rahul was upset over the manner in which Stalin had focused on his meeting with Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, visiting a Government school and taking a lot of interest in AAP’s model of schools. Stalin’s tango with Kejriwal, particularly on the back of the Congress’ defeat in Punjab to the AAP was perceived as a hostile step by Rahul. However, Sonia went the extra mile to be nice to Stalin with the hope of clinching two Rajya Sabha seats for Congress from Tamil Nadu come June. For his part, Stalin has been cold to Congress and, did not drop in at 10, Janpath as he usually does. It is quite another matter that he asked Sonia to inaugurate the Murosali Maran library in the DMK party office. For the first time, Stalin decided to visit all top Central ministers, to pursue matters of his state.
No wonder, football — the game once played and advertised by the likes of the greats Pele and Maradona and these days by Christiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi to provide plenty of entertainment and thrill– is called the “Beautiful Game” on the planet. And no wonder that over 800,000 tickets were sold online for the FIFA World Cup to be held in Doha, Qatar in November-December. As the FIFA chief, the Swiss-Italian Gianni Infantino said before the draw recently, the World Cup at Doha would be unique because all eight venues will be within a 50 km distance. Football crazy fans living in Qatar, USA, England, Mexico and the UAE have picked up the majority of the 800,000 tickets. The second online sale of tickets (after the draw) opened on April 5. India’s football fans have been match specific and have bought tickets because Doha is only three and a half hours by plane. For the first time FIFA’s premier competition is going to be held in the Arab world and Qatar has spent billions of dollars to make it the most memorable event. The football World Cup will follow the ICC Men’s World Twenty20 to be held in October-November in Australia and these two events are going to keep the sports fans across the World glued to the small screens at home. Football though will win the fan following hands down.
Major tennis tours like ATP, WTA and ITF are allowing Russian and Belarussian tennis players to compete without flags or anthems. But Wimbledon, one of four Grand Slams being a private event, is seriously considering a ban on stars like world No 2 Daniil Medvedev and world No 5 Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus on the grounds that their victory could boost the Vladimir Putin regime. The legal implications are being considered seriously in the wake of recent images of war crimes on Ukraine’s streets showing up as evidence of the brutal war Russia is waging. The All England Lawn Tennis Club may receive legal advice that private clubs have more freedom to allow or ban players and they would not be subject to the same discrimination laws as the tours. What is the point the tennis fan may be wondering as Russian athletes are so far free to participate in global events as individuals but the UK might wish to take the economic sanctions and sporting bans further because of the war in Ukraine. Wimbledon might find a way out by asking the likes of Medvedev to sign an anti-Putin form and that they are not receiving any money from Putin or Russia or Belarus. Medvedev, like Novak Djokovic, is a resident of Monaco who could now miss two months of tennis due to hernia.
Shahid Kapoor, at a recent press conference, expressed envy towards Mrunal Thakur, one of few actresses who were busy shooting during the Covid lockdown. The Jersey heroine is again one of few TV actors who transitioned seamlessly to the big screen. Her first movie Love Sonia was an international film. The 29-year-old actress, who made her television debut in 2012, worked in eight TV serials and was called insane for quitting the highly popular Kumkum Bhagya. She has since emerged among the top leading ladies of Bollywood with films like Toofan, Super 30 and Dhamaka. Mrunal is not singularly successful though and TV stars like Sakshi Tanwar, Vidya Balan, Prachi Desai and Yami Gautam also migrated to the Big screen as did Shah Rukh Khan. So, what makes Mrunal different? Industry watchers say it was her timing of entering the film world when the industry was undergoing a churn and stories took precedence over stars. She was launched through a Marathi movie in 2014 and entered Bollywood in 2018 managing to emote and impress the audience even with her small roles. She almost made it to Bahubali and would have been part of Aamir Khan’s Dangal if her TV show had not come in the way. One thing is for sure, nothing’s gonna stop this Marathi mulgi going the dhak dhak girl way.
MNS Conundrum Continues As Raj Thackeray Finds New Political Guru In Nitin Gadkari, Post Pawar Phase
It’s Ghar Wapsi for Maharashtra Navnirman Sena Chief Raj Thackeray, who has thrown his weight behind the BJP hereon. This completes the full circle that began when Nitin Gadkari assumed office as the national BJP president years ago, and Raj paid him a visit in Mumbai. Thackeray had Gadkari over for dinner at his Shivaji Park home a day after his militant Hindutva rally at Shivaji Park in Dadar on April 2 where he was introduced as ‘Tiger Raj Thackeray’. The turnout was impressive, as was his fiery one-hour long speech attacking Sharad Pawar and Uddhav Thackeray. Raj Thackeray’s proximity to Gadkari goes back a long way. Circa 2005, Raj announced his own party plans and formed MNS the next year with an avowed anti-north-Indian stance, ironically with financial backers from Uttar Pradesh’s minority segment. Thackeray is now trying to occupy the perceived political space of Hindutva-Marathi voters that Shiv Sena always counts on. This also marks Raj’s volte-face, taking on the BJP after spending 10 days in Gujarat under then CM Narendra Modi’s hospitality, followed up with an-anti-BJP stance before the 2019 general elections, apparently at Pawar’s behest. BJP leader Ashish Shelar played a key role in Raj’s current political disposition, alongside Devendra Fadnavis, who has the final say on Maharashtra. BJP seeks to project Gadkari as the tallest Maharashtra leader to replace Pawar.
A private-public partnership saw a plant come up at Thoothukudi in Tamil Nadu to produce ammonia and urea. In the 50 odd years of its existence, Southern Petrochemicals Industries Corporation (SPIC) has had a chequered history even as the A C Muthiah-piloted group became ambitious. Big investments in PFY and PTA (Spic Petro) and in a new fertilizer facility in Dubai saw money going down the sink. Things turned for the better post 2010 with a changeover at the helm. Now, Muthiah’s son Ashwin, who heads the company, has gone all out to ramp up capacity of ammonia and urea to almost global scales. To improve margins, it moved from naphtha to natural gas for its feedstock. For fund infusion, Ashwin roped in AM International of Singapore besides talking to lenders for debt restructuring. Result: Thoothukudi-based SPIC has turned around with its topline and bottom-line looking healthy. Unfortunately, another well run plant in Thoothukudi Sterlite Industries, part of the Vedanta Group had to shut shop over environmental issues. For the nine months ended December 2021, SPIC has turned in heart-warming results with a PAT of Rs 132 crore on the back of a topline of Rs 1,600 crore, both representing a big leap from the previous corresponding period. While things are certainly looking up for SPIC, the road ahead still sports many signs of caution!
In a significant move, Nepal’s Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba arrived in New Delhi on April 1, 2022, and among his first engagements was a visit to the BJP headquarters where he met BJP president J P Nadda. It was Deuba’s first visit to India after becoming PM in July 2021. What is of particular interest is that Deuba, as a Nepali Congress leader heading a five-party left-wing coalition, would choose to visit the BJP office. It seems like a throwback to the times when a visit to the Communist Party of China headquarters in Beijing was considered a de rigueur. However, party sources said, PM Narendra Modi has always been keen that the party headquarters should be able to receive global leaders. The significance of the Nepali leader visiting the BJP office is also that increasingly, India’s neighbours have begun to see the value of building bridges with New Delhi rather than going anywhere near Beijing, after the recent economic collapse of Sri Lanka that has sent alarm bells ringing in South East Asia. To Deuba’s credit it must be said he withstood the pressure of signing up any pact with China on its Belt and Road Initiative. He also made clear to China that he does not want any projects with strings attached.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma’s standing in the BJP is vastly enhanced, especially after he managed to win both the Rajya Sabha seats from the state for the NDA alliance, dealing a blow to attempts by Congress-led opposition parties to corner one seat. Home Minister Amit Shah was immensely happy with Sarma’s strategy to clinch the twin wins. It is significant that the Congress came a cropper despite tying up with AIUDF. Apparently five of Badruddin Ajmal MLAs cross-voted for the BJP while one Congress MLA cast an invalid vote. The Congress suspended Siddique Ahmed, its MLA from Karimganj South, from primary membership of the party for writing ‘one’ instead of ‘1’ on his ballot paper as per voting protocol. While Sarma ensured a smooth win for BJP’s Pabitra Margherita and coalition partner United Peoples Party Liberal (UPPL) candidate Rwngwra Narzary, the Congress camp was in tatters. In fact, because of the setback in Assam, Congress President Sonia Gandhi went into overdrive last week to ensure at least two Rajya Sabha seats from Tamil Nadu. She is also in touch with Sharad Pawar for two seats from Maharashtra. Sources said the Congress is looking to get one seat from Jharkhand notwithstanding the political upheaval there. Following this round of biennial elections, the BJP has notched up a tally of 101 seats in Rajya Sabha.
The deployment of Tamil Nadu police for the DMK event in Delhi to manage security instead of Delhi police came at a cost for the influential Lok Sabha woman MP from South Chennai Thamizhachi Thangapandian. According to party sources, her very expensive phone was stolen at the event. Though it is not clear how exactly she lost it, a police complaint is yet to be filed. Her younger brother, Thangam Thennarsu is a minister in Stalin’s Government. Tamil news media is miffed with the State Police who let the thief get away while screening the media at the venue and even acting tough with them. Meanwhile, Chief Minister MK Stalin seems to have taken Delhi by storm. Parts of East Delhi were splashed with posters of him and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal together, applauding his visit to the Government school. A fitness freak, Stalin was found doing his brisk early morning workout at Nehru Park close to Tamil Nadu Bhawan in Chanakyapuri. Even at that hour people queued up to ask him for a selfie. Meanwhile, even as DMK MP Tiruchi Shiva showered encomiums on TMC MP Mahua Maitra calling her a “tigress”, Stalin avoided any reference to the TMC leader who lost the Goa polls. Instead, he preferred to mention Arambagh TMC MP among his guests in his tweet.
Since winning the panchayat and urban body elections, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has been pulling out all the stops to kickstart Tata Steel’s Rs 5,000 crore Subarnarekha deep-sea all-weather port in Balasore district. He hopes to complete the project before the 2024 general election and, is moving quickly on the land acquisition front; with nearly 146 acres of land almost acquired. The state has already provided 700 acres of land for port construction near the Chaumukh seashore, Baliapal. However, for the construction of a new rail line from Amarda Road to the port at Chaumukh and widening of existing roads and creating new ones, it needs to acquire another 300 acres. According to Sudarshan Chakravarti, Collector & District Magistrate, Balasore “Of the 300 acres requirement of land 154 acres has already been acquired with the balance to be acquired soon.” Land acquisition may not be a problem as the government is paying a good compensation — three times more than the registered value. Tata’s project will have the first mover advantage over Adani Group which is setting up a green field port at Tajpur in West Bengal which is literally next door. When both ports become operational East India will emerge as the new regional maritime hub.
The senior DMK minister Durai Murugan may have set a record of sorts missing his flight to Dubai, twice on a single day. Having landed up at the VIP room of Chennai airport, the minister realized he had processed his Dubai visa on his old expired passport. He rushed back to the city to rectify the error through back-and-forth calls being made to Dubai. Armed with the rightly secured visa, the minister returned to the airport hours later the same day and, not wishing to waste any more time, advanced his departure by opting for an Air India flight. Seated in the business class and all set to fly, the minister received a call on his mobile from the Tamil Nadu chief minister’s office advising him to cancel his trip. The cockpit door to the pilots’ domain not having closed for departure, the minister was allowed to deplane and go back home to Kotturpuram. The CM’s decision to call off his senior minister’s Dubai trip was partly owing to carping criticism by the opposition AIADMK party that had also found fault with Stalin’s own trip to Dubai earlier with family for which DMK party had paid the charter fare.
Mission 2024 has commenced for BJP in West Bengal with Union Home Minister Amit Shah setting his sights on Mamata Didi’s political turf, once again. With a more realistic objective this time around, the BJP wants to retain the number of MPs elected in 2019. Shah’s multi-pronged attack upon the TMC government got a shot in the arm by the court directed hand over of investigations into the Birbhum murder, arson killings to the CBI. The BJP also cited public statements by TMC MLA Naren Chakraborty from Asansol asking TMC cadres to warn BJP voters against casting their ballots on pain of death, for the scheduled bye-poll. “If you vote we will presume you voted for BJP and after the election you will be living at your own risk,” Chakraborty said. The EC imposed a seven-day campaign ban on the MLA after the video of his speech emerged. The BJP is pursuing a criminal case against the MLA for threatening people against exercising their vote without fear. A BJP leader told shortpost.in, “Didi is using strong-arm tactics like the erstwhile CPM government of WB employed to keep its grip on power, by hook or by crook. The Congress shoots itself in the foot by keeping mum only to keep the BJP out, like a man willing to die to ensure another woman is widowed also.”
European hospitals say 80 % of Covid patients lose the sense of smell, not regaining that sensitivity even after recovery. When the sense of smell is gone, vital sensory cognition is lost too. The five crucial senses of cognition and life are now viewed in a new light, as marketers and manufacturers perceive newer horizons to tap, post pandemic. Aradhna Krishna, the Dwight F Benton Professor of Marketing at the Ross School of Business, University of Michigan cites the intricacies of our sensory reach that marketers are engaging with. Scents from the past and present possess a unique signature, sensory cues. “Smell is vital to our existence, essential for taste, even foretelling danger like smelling smoke or bad food.” The Harvard Business Review acknowledges her as “the foremost expert in the field of sensory marketing”. Her book, Customer Sense provides researched insight on how the five senses influence human buying behaviour. Her paper on Olfactory Imagery postulates that imagining/imaging odours affects human responses towards products. No wonder India with its cultural and gastronomic diversities is so amenable to marketing products that evoke a positive response. Now restaurants may simply market their signature Panneer Tikka or Kerala Chatti Meen Kuzhambu by opening a vent directly onto the streets and, the hungry will just follow the aroma trail for an actual taste of their drool worthy dish.
Vasundhara Raje has fortified her continued reign over Rajasthan, as the BJP’s CM face, thanks in no small measure to her face-to-face with Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the last fortnight. Raje was on the radar of the BJP high command for quite some time when the party leadership was actively looking at alternatives to replace her, with Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat first and then Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla being seriously considered for the job. Things have settled down now for the Rani, who celebrated her birthday bash in Boondi, Rajasthan on March 8, 2022, through a show of strength, even as 42 BJP MLAs and a few MPs were in attendance. According to a BJP leader, however, “The Rani made strong statements against the Congress party announcing her serious political intentions. More importantly, Vasundhara Raje has visibly shed her arrogance and even reached out to PM Modi who met her recently in New Delhi where she promised better coordination with the high command going ahead.” With elections to the Rajasthan state assemblies scheduled in December 2023, the BJP high command for its part, after failingly prospecting for an alternative to the Rani, has finally buried the hatchet in the larger interest of the party. With Modi’s sanction Vasundhara is here to stay in Rajasthan.
Alia Bhatt has clarified she is not upset with director SS Rajamouli for limiting her role in RRR. Alia should know, however, that her fans are upset over her minuscule performance in the magnum opus that registered a roaring box office success. Industry insiders explain that Rajamouli’s focus was on making a film featuring Jr NTR and Ram Charan, with a limited role for Alia but, he did also make Bahubali with two leading ladies each dominating with fabulous roles. So, was casting Alia merely a marketing tool to appeal to Hindi speaking audiences? That would explain why Ajay Devgn, also featured with a 10-minute role in RRR, stayed away from the film’s promotion. A similar experience was faced by Priyanka Chopra during her initial days in Hollywood. It was only her strong PR management team that made her the star she is today. Why then are Bollywood stars still keen to be part of south Indian projects, to feature in blink-and-miss roles? South Indian films do not need Bollywood stars to boost business. In fact, it is the other way round. Alia may do well to note that a brief post on social media may not placate her fan following although she plays the heroine of RRR and shares credit for the film raking in Rs 600 crore.
The Citi never sleeps. Citibank literally rode on this famous tag line for an increased mind share even as India was only just opening up to the world in the early 90s. The MNC bank left no stone unturned embarking on its aggressive business expansion. Somewhere along the line, however, the aggressive instinct for growth turned ugly and, Citibank went about issuing credit cards without any let or hindrance, to onboard lakhs of customers. Citibank had indeed re-laid the retail thrust in the Indian banking industry. Many in Indian industry did follow the Citi line but, somewhere along the way, Citi went overboard as an incident in the early 90s hit national headlines. In its zest to recover dues, its agents waylaid a top bureaucrat in the Central government on the Bombay-Pune Highway in a case of mistaken identity. The script went horribly wrong and Citi should have realised the `retail difficulty’ in India. It did slug it out for several seasons thereafter. Though it launched credit cards in India in 1987, Citi’s market share has slumped to 4% from 13% just a decade and, it has decided to sell its retail business to Axis Bank. After 119 years in India, Citi is restructuring and exiting the consumer banking business. Over the last few years was Citi out of sync in India?
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin, in Delhi on a three-day visit, has a jam-packed schedule. Details of his engagements released by the CMO revealed back-to-back meetings lined up with several Union ministers on day one itself. He first met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Parliament House at 1 pm. Thereafter, Stalin had a meeting lined up with Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari at his residence at 2.30 pm. An hour later, it was back to Parliament House for tete-e-tete with Home Minister Amit Shah with the TN CM concluding his day by calling upon Defence Minister Rajnath Singh at his Akbar Road residence. In between these meetings Stalin also dropped in at the Central Hall of Parliament to catch up with his DMK MPs. Interestingly, while Stalin was at the DMK office, senior DMK leader TR Baalu brought along Congress President Sonia Gandhi for a brief interaction. On day two of his sojourn, he will call upon Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and end the work day meeting with Commerce & Industry minister Piyush Goyal at Udyog Bhawan. Stalin will also meet Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in the afternoon with the duo going to inspect government schools and Mohalla clinics. On the third day, Stalin is expected to meet up with Opposition leaders including Sonia Gandhi.
Farewells are always an emotional time more so, in the Rajya Sabha where biennial elections are held every second year when one-third of the members retire. On March 31, the Rajya Sabha chair had set aside the entire day to bid farewell to the 72 members whose term will end come early July. Even as some members got emotional, there were some lighter moments witnessed too. Like when DMK leader Tiruchi Shiva reminisced and said he would miss the presence of Congress deputy leader Anand Sharma — he is retiring as Himachal MP– in the opposition bench right in front of him. Sharma would always borrow his pen whenever he needed one within the house. An amused Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu, who was presiding as chair of the house, asked Shiva if Sharma made it a point to return his pen after use. Shiv revealed his house secret then and said, “I used to only give Sharma the pen but retain the cap with me.” At this point, Naidu recalled how, when he and S Jaipal Reddy worked together; they similarly encountered resistance from other members they asked to share their pens. “When we would ask people for pens, they would hide it in their trouser pockets,” he said.
Looks like Prime Minister Narendra Modi cannot afford to ignore Karnataka any more. Governance issues in the state have been long ignored because of the BJP central leadership’s preoccupation with elections to the five state assemblies. This has led to the situation really deteriorating. Chief Minister BS Bommai has a clean image but, reports of rampant corruption are being made out against his ministers – not only against those who joined the BJP from the Congress, but also those originally hailing from the BJP. Home Minister Amit Shah flew into Karnataka to attend the 115th birth anniversary of Lingayat seer Siddalinga Shivakumar Swami in Tumkur. The event was a show of strength by former Chief Minister BS Yediyuruppa and his son, Vijayendra. Until March 10 the Congress was very confident of making a comeback, whenever the elections were held. This notwithstanding, the fact is that PCC chief DK Shivkumar and the CLP leader K Siddaramiah do not see eye to eye. Morale of Congress workers touched a new low after the BJP swept the assembly elections – winning four out of five states. It is in this context that Rahul Gandhi has begun his 2-day visit to the state to boost the sagging mood of the Congress’ state unit. He also paid a visit to the Lingayat seer in Tumkur.
Chennai Super Kings is feeling the pinch without seamer Deepak Chahar. Last year CSK thrived on the wicket taking habit of Chahar, Shardul Thakur and Australian Josh Hazelwood. The threesome accounted for 46 scalps in IPL-14 on the pitches of Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah. But Chahar is injured and Thakur and Hazelwood are with other franchises. As a consequence of their absence, the four time winner of the league has been beaten in its first two outings of the Tata IPL-15 played in Mumbai. The Chennai team retained Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Ravindra Jadeja, Ruturaj Gaikwad and Moeen Ali and went all out to stop Chahar’s bidding at Rs 14 crore, and it also bought Dwayne Bravo at the auction. Unfortunately Chahar damaged his right quadricep and went into rehab for eight weeks. At the auction, the Parth Jindal owned Delhi Capitals bought Thakur and the United Spirits (of the Diageo Group) owned Royal Challengers Bangalore took Hazelwood. On Thursday (March 31) night against the new IPL team Lucknow Super Giants at the Brabourne, CSK which made 210, was hit for nine 6s and eighteen 4s, and it lost its second match. West Indian Evin Lewis hammered the CSK bowlers for a 23-ball unbeaten 55. Not a good start for new captain Jadeja, but CSK has the wherewithal to advance to the play-offs.
The Hindi language was a barrier for yesteryear superstars from down south like Kamal Haasan, Chiranjeevi, Venkatesh and Arvind Swamy; they did not gain a foothold in Bollywood. Some lost out because of south Indian looks and returned to doing regional films after acting in a few Hindi films. But, the new crop of popular stars are defying conventional wisdom. Allu Arjun, Rock Star Yash, and Prabhas have proved that you don’t really need to move lock, stock and barrel to Mumbai to make a mark in Bollywood. The movie can be dubbed or, simultaneously shot in two languages Telugu/Tamil and Hindi and it will fly. By doing so, they have crossed over virtually through their movies and have become mainstream heroes of Bollywood. Trade pundits feel although Bahubali restarted the trend of the return of the south stars, it was Pushpa that showed that language was no barrier to woo audiences; Allu Arjun literally took over the throne of cross-over from Prabhas. Now our very own indigenous Akira Kurusawa, SS Rajamouli, with RRR has introduced two more megastars to Bollywood — Ram Charan and Jr NTR, with the inconspicuous presence of Alia Bhatt and Ajay Devgn. Meanwhile, in an interesting development, Kannada superstar Rockstar Yash, Malayalam superstar Prithviraj and Karan Johar are working towards the amalgamation of Kollywood, Tollywood into Bollywood – a la Hollywood style.
Will Stalin Forgive And Forget UPA-2 Tribulations Of DMK And Back PC After Sonia Meet Up On April 2?
Congressmen are keenly awaiting Congress President Sonia Gandhi’s meeting with Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin on April 2 in Delhi at the inauguration of DMK’s new office. The three- storied DMK office on Deendayal Upadhyay Marg, built as per Supreme Court orders, may well cause much heartburn all the same. The DMK was allotted the land in 2009 and has become the second party, after BJP, to move into its own building. The BJP relocated into its headquarters constructed on the same road in February 2018. The Congress is yet to begin work on its plot. The Sonia-Stalin meeting is expected to settle matters for the Rajya Sabha biennial polls coming up in June in Tamil Nadu. The DMK had offered a RS seat as per the seat sharing pact it entered into with Congress during the 2021 assembly polls. Intense jostling for this one seat is ongoing with former Finance Minister P Chidambaram foremost among aspirants. Currently a Rajya Sabha MP from Maharashtra, Chidambaram’s wishes to get elected from Tamil Nadu. He went out of his way to woo Stalin. Sources, however, say it will be difficult for Stalin to forget the harrowing time the Karunanidhi family faced in 2013 under UPA-2 from various enforcement agencies and still back Chidambaram.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, did not decide upon his cabinet, leaving it to the high command. Even as Union Home Minister Amit Shah camped in UP for three days before Yogi’s swearing in ceremony, the CM designate said he had no favourites to recommend as cabinet colleagues. A BJP leader told shortpost.in, “Yogi had no role on BJP candidates in 2017 assemblies, while he handled the show by himself in 2022. He was reluctant about Maurya being made his deputy since the latter did not work during the elections.” However, the RSS insisted upon Keshav Prasad Maurya as Dy CM against Yogi’s advice, though he lost elections from the Sirathu assembly constituency. “Dinesh Sharma, who was also Dy CM in Yogi 1.0, declined any interest in not only contesting elections in 2022 but also, any political post, returning to work full time for the RSS. Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh then proposed Brajesh Pathak’s, a Brahmin who came from BSP in 2016, candidature as the second DCM face in UP as 90% Brahmin voters had backed the BJP. Bulldozer Baba, for his part, has launched into 2.0 immediately not only announcing free rations for three months for poor citizens but also, adding three more commodities to the monthly food-grains hamper, that now includes edible oil and sugar.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was caught completely off guard recently when Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann paid him a courtesy visit. What took the PM by surprise during the one-on-one meeting was the manner in which the AAP CM, who is a Lok Sabha MP, made a personal pitch to Modi for a bail out for Punjab out of its financial mess, while seeking Rs 50,000 crore annually for two years to maintain Punjab’s fiscal health. Mann made a fervent plea for a Central Government financial package of Rs 1 lakh crore in stark contrast to the arrogance displayed by AAP Chief Arvind Kejriwal since winning the state assemblies. A more down to earth, Mann is aware of the impending trouble ahead so, the simple man CM displayed touching humility while seemingly anxious to fulfil poll promises. Clearly, the AAP which got a humongous mandate sees no way it can keep the promises made, including Rs 1,000 for every woman per household or, even free power without hand holding from Modi. Mann blamed previous governments for leaving a whopping burden of Rs 3 lakh crore. It is not just AAP that finds it difficult to fulfil election promises as even the DMK, which rode into power using Prashant Kishor’s freebie lollipops, has since not implemented anything tangible after one year in office.
A section of the media is gung-ho about the pointedly brief interaction between first-time MLAs, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and opposition leader Akhilesh Yadav in the Uttar Pradesh assembly on Monday (March 28). While both exchanged smiles and the CM even patted the SP supremo’s arm, body language exhibited uneasiness and awkwardness. According to an expert, Yogi didn’t even look Akhilesh in the eye and there was a sense of gawkiness in his smile. To conclude that all’s well between the leaders will be wrong. In fact, the CM shook hands with the SP leader and even shrugged him off – at the same instant. A senior BJP leader from Lucknow confirmed this on condition of anonymity and told shortpost.in, “Being a sage, Baba may forgive Akhilesh Yadav. However, SP leaders know that just like PM Modi, even CM Yogi doesn’t forget things.” He added that the bulldozers will work overtime now to raze all the inflated egos of netas who thought very highly of themselves. SP leaders claim Akhilesh greeted the CM out of basic protocol and courtesy. The BJP too knows the reason why Akhileshji gave up his parliamentary seat. He’ll finish the unfinished business in the 2024 general elections and will make life difficult for the ruling party in the subsequent state assemblies.
Gautam Gambhir, BJP MP from East Delhi was at the Wankhede Stadium on Monday (March 28) night watching the TATA IPL-15 debutants’ match between Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) and Gujarat Titans (GT) with a keen eye. After winning the ownership of the team last October paying Rs 7090 crore, Lucknow got the first chance after five months to step on the field with KL Rahul as captain. In a sort of dire straits at 29 for 4, a grim LSG dug out looked upon the tyro from Delhi Ayush Badoni to perform the double act of rescuing it first and then enable it to post a decent total. Some 11 years ago Gambhir had played a similar role in the ICC World Cup final against Sri Lanka making a gritty 97 off 122 balls after which India went on to win the title. Gambhir is the mentor of the team and Badoni delivered some deadly punches to make a 41-ball 54 with four 4s and three 6s. The young right-hander reached 50 with a six after hitting out at rival captain Hardik Pandya. Gambhir was pleased with Badoni’s fine debut, but his team lost to GT, a good start for first time IPL captain Hardik, who did better with the bat than with the ball; the national selectors though wanted him to excel with the ball.
Biju Janata Dal’s (BJD) absolute sweep in the recently held rural panchayat polls and urban body elections raises serious doubts about BJP’s political future in Odisha. The misery for the BJP was apparent as it could not even win a single mayoral seat in the urban body polls, even as the initial buzz of support around Modi dissipated. Political analysts say BJP failed to match BJD’s organisational infrastructure. Besides, the towering leadership of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik helped to sweep the elections through good governance that has transformed the state reaching people at the bottom of the pyramid. Die-hard BJP supporters feel the initial buzz around BJP’s consolidation is history now in the face of depleting BJP support base in the west Odisha electorate, which is slowly spreading to other parts of the state. Why did the BJP fail? Unlike the BJD, with Naveen babu as its face, the BJP state leadership in the state has no one to talk about. Also, the Central government’s development schemes could not overshadow Patnaik’s welfare schemes vis a vis and the positive image he has cultivated over the years. Modi’s constant praise of Patnaik for his spirit of co-operative federalism, his reforms and reluctance to criticise him openly also sent signals that Modi was not keen to fight Naveen babu.
In some ways the complete rout of the Congress in the five assembly elections seems to be doing some good to the party. It has got the party leadership back to the drawing board. Sonia Gandhi has taken charge of the situation and reached out to all those who worked with her in the past. She has essentially got in touch with her core personal staff, the people acquainted with the Congress culture and its core leaders. She is relying on inputs of Vincent George, PP Madhavan and SV Pillai to help her navigate through these troubled times. Former Madhya Pradesh CM Digvijay Singh, with whom Sonia held meetings, may be given a key organisational role. Singh, a two- term CM, is a good bet as he likes to interact with people. Sonia is falling back on Singh after Kamal Nath refused to shoulder any AICC responsibility as he prefers to focus on MP. Sonia also exposed the hollowness of rebellion of the G-23 leaders. She exposed them by showing the petty and narrow aspirations of some of these leaders. Most of them became quiet after meeting her. If Bhupinder Hooda’s limited interest was to ensure control of Haryana PCC, another G-23 signatory Anand Sharma wanted to be projected as Himachal CM; he even lobbied among Himachal MLAs without much success.
UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak, once considered a replacement for Prime Minister Boris Johnson if, Partygate had hit his party, is under fire now over his wife’s Rs 430 crore stake in the company her father Narayana Murthy founded. Infosys still runs its Moscow office and delivery office though the company is at pains explaining that its office serves global clients locally in Russia sans any active relationships with Russian companies. Having advised British companies to cut ties with Russia, the Chancellor is facing the challenge of his wife Akshata’s fortune that is facing calls for full disclosure in the UK. He had said, “We must collectively go further in our mission to inflict maximum economic pain and to stop further bloodshed,” Rishi is under pressure to explain his family wealth through his wife’s holding in India’s second biggest IT company. Rishi was pointedly asked whether he was giving advice to others that he was not following in his own home and he replied – “I’m an elected politician, and I’m here to talk to you about what I am responsible for. My wife is not.” Regardless of how the Ukraine situation goes while raising such questions, one thing is clear and that is Rishi Sunak may have already lost out in the race to the British Prime Ministership.
Star Sports’ five-season all-encompassing global television media and digital rights over the glamorous Indian Premier League (IPL) will end at the conclusion of the Tata IPL Season-15 starting on March 26 at the Wankhede Stadium. There is no denying the fact that the IPL has become the money making machine for the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) after the Rs 93 lakh deficit it posted in mid-nineties. From a whopping Rs 8200 crore that SONY Pictures Network paid for the first 10 years from 2008 to 2017, Star India almost doubled it — Rs 16,347.50 crore — for TV (Star Sports) and digital (Hotstar) platforms for five seasons (2018-22). The mastermind, the then Chairman and CEO of Star India, Uday Shankar, averred that the price his company successfully bid was “not outrageous” and that the per match fee of Rs 54 crore was “not exorbitant” reasoning that after 10 years, the IPL had become a tried and tested and a premium product. SONY itself had put in a sum of Rs 11050 crore. Experts reckon that the IPL media rights (TV and Digital) for 2023-2027 will definitely touch Rs 35000 crore plus for five seasons and the e-auction could make the desperate, more desperate to own IPL, the most sought after hot property in the world of cricket. Five years ago there were 13 bidders, including five for digital.
Kerala’s hottest topic these days regards the proposed 530 km K-Rail project between north and south Kerala. Also called the Silverline Rail Project, it promises a time save of eight hours in travel time between Trivandrum and Kasaragod, currently taking 12 hours. The Rs 67,000 crore project cost has the Kerala government swearing by a five-year timeline to project completion, though it has taken 15 to 20 years to build simpler by-passes and flyovers in the state. The promise appears too difficult to keep like the 25 km Cochin Metro project that took six years to complete @ 4.7 km per year notwithstanding Metro-man, E Sreedharan at the helm. By this yardstick the Silverline project will need 37 years, says economist KP Kannan. But why the clamour for a project none wants? KPCC Chief K Sudhakaran has alleged a 10% kickback accruing to the Kerala Government. Japanese agency JICA will loan Rs 50,000 crore at 0.25% interest if, the Government of India stands guarantor. Sources say the Union Government won’t oblige till it gets its pound of flesh. Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan’s meeting with the PM Narendra Modi is also being seen in this light. Either way, the railway project is not expecting completion anytime soon!
Supreme Court directions to CBI to take over investigations into criminal complaints lodged in Maharashtra against suspended state Home Guards Chief, Param Bir Singh, has unfolded into a classic study on criminal investigative science. The CBI will need exemplary skills to unravel one side of its brief, probe complaints registered against Maharashtra minister Anil Deshmukh, Anil Parab and others (by complainant Singh), while also establishing criminality in over seven FIRs registered against Singh himself who is accused of corruption in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region. One notion that the central investigative agency was going soft on Parambir Singh, will likely dissipate following Singh’s impending arrest by CBI. Importantly, he is a complainant in ongoing CBI investigations on corruption in Maharashtra but now, Singh’s statements as accused in fresh FIRs to be probed, will likely open a can of worms in the coming days. “The CBI will need to demonstrably show extreme efficiency, professionalism to clinically cover investigations into apparently opposite ended criminal complaints in these FIRs, where a former complainant is now an accused,” an intelligence source tells shortpost.in. Now BMC Chief Iqbal Chahal has received summons to appear before the I-T department in a probe against BMC Standing Committee Chairman Yaswanth Kamalakar Jadhav. Meanwhile, former Mumbai police commissioner Hemant Nagrale, mysteriously relegated as Director, Maharashtra State Security Guards Board from his high-profile role as Mumbai police commissioner, is yet to take charge nearly a month since his transfer.
Sharad Pawar is sitting pretty with the Shiv Sena and Congress parties. With BMC elections in Mumbai deferred for six months, an imminent face-off between erstwhile alliance partners in Maharashtra — BJP and Shiv Sena — stands temporarily averted. Maharashtra’s MVA government will fight the BMC polls, Thane civic elections and other pending local body elections in alliance, single-mindedly to defeat BJP, with Congress also fully on board now. A BJP leader says, “While the MVA alliance may prove a daunting challenge for us, the Sena will lose out on absolute power it enjoys in BMC to the Congress and NCP. They would have won and yet lost.” The NCP with a single digit representation in BMC will improve its tally on the back of the minority vote bank (that holds significant influence in 52 seats) it stirred up over L’affaire Nawab Malik while Congress will seek to ensure its current tally of 37 corporators rises to over 50. The BJP elected 83 party corporators in 2017 BMC polls when in direct contest against the Sena (85), even as Congress and NCP fought each other, and is still hoping to get over 70 corporators elected this time around. Meanwhile, the political slugfest has intensified with cases registered against MVA stakeholders and kin, just as shortpost.in had predicted, even as counter cases against BJP stakeholders have also been preferred.
Do you need a chairman for a company? You may not. But you need someone to chair shareholders’ meetings and to conduct the proceedings. Any board member may preside over and conduct such meetings. Nothing amiss about this. There are dime-a-dozen organisations where the top slot has remained unfilled for several reasons and, they are running quite well and this is not peculiar to any specific field. For instance, the Gujarat Cricket Association (GCA) is sans a president at this very moment. Since Amit Shah, the Home Minister of India, stepped down as its president in September 2019, the position at GCA has not been filled. As it is often said, life has simply moved on. And, the game of cricket has not stopped either! After all, cricket is bigger than individuals. There are no two views on that, however, the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) affiliated to the Board of Control for Cricket in India is the parent body governing the game of Cricket in the State of Tamil Nadu. In December 2021 Rupa Gurunath, daughter of N Srinivasan of India Cements stepped down as president of TNCA after holding the reins for over two years. The heavens did not fall on TNCA because it is without a president. It’s business as usual. If GCA can run smoothly as before, why won’t the TNCA?
Six-time Member of Parliament, senior DMK leader T R Baalu is personally inviting leaders across political parties for the grand opening ceremony of the party’s spanking new office and memorial centre, Anna Kalaignar Arivalayam, to be inaugurated by the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin on April 2, 2022. Eyebrows were raised when the 81-year-old Baalu went to invite Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. Was he trying to cross sides or was DMK trying to buy peace with the Modi Government? Ever since RN Ravi’s appointment as Governor of TN, Stalin and he have been unable to see eye-to-eye on a number of governance issues, including NEET. A peeved Stalin was rallying opposition leaders to stop the BJP juggernaut in the 2024 general elections. But, with the BJP recently winning four out of the five state assembly elections in March, Stalin may have decided to recalibrate his strategy. This also comes in the backdrop of a strong whisper campaign around the flight of capital amounting to Rs 5000 crore to Dubai. The DMK machinery, on its part, while dismissing the rumour, is at pains to elucidate further on the four-day Dubai visit by Stalin along with wife Durga for the inauguration of the TN Pavilion and to woo investors into the state for an economic transformation.
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.