Nothing has come more as a shock for the Congress than its meltdown in the Bihar assembly elections. The party which had 19 MLAs in the outgoing assembly didn’t expect a wash-out particularly after Rahul Gandhi had carried out a much-hyped ‘Voters Adhikar rally’ in September, with a common slogan: “Vote chor, gaddi chhod”. Of course, party sources concede that Rahul’s yatra had not resonated on the ground. In fact, many Congress leaders believe Rahul had focussed on non-issues “like vote chori” just to divert from people’s real problems. What has come as a shock for Bihar Congress leaders is that new entrants like Asauddin Owaisi’s AIMIM seemed to have fared well in Seemanchal leading in as many five seats, quite close to Congress’s own tally of six seats. Analysing the Bihar victory, PM Modi described the overwhelming mandate for the NDA– 204 seats out 243 as a vote for vikas, for development. Modi who invoked prayers to Chhati Mayya and took on Rahul for mocking Chhath Puja. It is learnt that Rahul is in Muscat.  Sources feel Congress party’s bad performance was because it could not get good seats to contest — of the 61 seats it got to contest, 32 were such seats that the Opposition had not won for the last three decades. Bihar Congress leaders also said party managers like Krishna Allavaru were completely not briefed about the quality of seats. Some also felt inordinate delay in seat-sharing and declaring Tejashwi Yadav as the chief ministerial candidate may have cost the secular alliance votes. As for the rout of the Rashtriya Janata Dal, Congress sources say people find Tejashwi Yadav too arrogant. After the Bihar rout, Congress may not find many takers in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal.

With the Bihar election results clearly going in favour of the NDA and meltdown of the RJD, PM Modi said, “Bihar mein RJD ko saanp soongha hua hain” and then went on to add “I said during the Bihar elections, the conflict between the two parties will soon come to the fore” Today’s victory is the beginning of a new journey. I assure you that in the coming five years, Bihar will progress at a faster pace. The world will see Bihar’s new potential. A number of Muslim women had also voted for the NDA. Modi said “With the new government, the NDA is now moving forward towards a golden journey of 25 years in Bihar. Bihar has ensured that Jungle Raj will never return to this great land of Bihar. Today’s victory belongs to the youth of Bihar whose future was ruined by the terror of Congress and the Red Flag people. Today, that Red Corridor, those days of terror, are history. Bihar is moving forward on the path of development, and this journey is not going to stop now.” He congratulated the Election Commission, security forces and the conscious voters of Bihar. The Bihar elections have proven another thing. Now, the country’s voters, especially young voters, take voter list purification very seriously. And he said he plans to take Bihar’s message of Mahila & Youth empowerment to West Bengal. It’s interesting to see how the SIR plays out in this state.

Known as ‘Bihar’s Singham’ for making Patna a safe city for girls and women some years ago, former IPS officer Shivdeep Lande’s attempt at transition from Khaki to Khadi has been foiled by that state’s voters in the two assembly constituencies he chose to test his luck from. Born in a farmer family from Vidarbha in Maharashtra, Lande cracked the UPSC tests to join the IPS in 2006. His first posting was in the Naxal-infested Munger district of Bihar. It became sensational owing to his incredible feats, one after another. But his popularity was at its peak when he took over as Patna SP. The anti-social elements in Bihar’s capital used to tremble to even hear his name. Lande was married in 2014 to Mamata Shivtare, the daughter of a Shiv Sena leader and then minister, Vijay Shivtare. After serving in Bihar, Lande returned to Maharashtra and resigned from the police force. In April this year, Lande floated his own political party, the Hind Sena, and announced that he will field candidates in all 243 seats. However, he himself contested from two constituencies – Jamalpur and Araria – where he had earlier served and amassed popularity. While pollster Prashant Kishor’s defeat has been highlighted by the media, Lande’s decimation has been ignored, more or less, once again proving the adage that a politician is born, not made.

The BJP’s emphatic victory in Bihar has prompted the party leadership to project confidence about replicating the outcome in West Bengal in 2026. Yet, despite the celebratory rhetoric, the ground situation in Bengal presents a far more complex—and arguably unfavourable—terrain for the saffron party. Buoyed by Bihar, senior leaders such as Union ministers Giriraj Singh, Sukanta Majumdar, who was the former state president have asserted that the mandate reflects a decisive shift toward the BJP. Singh, who has previously had several direct confrontations with the TMC, stated unequivocally that with Bihar delivering its mandate, Bengal would be next, as the people of the state are growing increasingly dissatisfied with chief minister Mamata Banerjee. Majumder, meanwhile, likened the TMC regime to what he described as a shadow of the “jungle raj” associated with Lalu Prasad Yadav’s era. However, analysts argue that such comparisons reveal more political impatience than electoral realism. A section of political analysts pointed out that Bihar’s outcome was shaped by pro-incumbency and by the NDA’s existing administrative footing—advantages the BJP does not enjoy in Bengal. The TMC’s long tenure, rather than weakening it, has consolidated its organisational strength, particularly across the rural belt where nearly 70% of the state’s electorate resides. While the BJP has succeeded in capturing segments of the urban vote with its Hindutva messaging and pro-industry posture, it continues to lag the TMC’s 48% vote share by a significant margin. More critically, the party has yet to develop a robust grassroots network capable of countering the TMC’s deeply entrenched cadre structure built since 2011, when Mamata rode the Singur and Nandigram land movements to power.

The resounding victory of the NDA and the BJP in the Bihar assembly election will result in scripting the future prospects of many individuals. Although the focus will remain on PM Narendra Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah and Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, there are many more who have influenced the outcome to some degree, according to the assignments entrusted to them. Prominent among them are Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis. There are several reasons for his glee at the results, a fabulous achievement for the saffron outfit. Fadnavis found time to visit Bihar to campaign for NDA’s Bihar candidates while handling various tricky situations in the state. Agitations by Maratha and OBC leaders, the flood devastation, the opposition attacks and daily problems concerning law and order had been taking much of his time. Known to be working till 2 am every night and starting his next day at 7 am, Fadnavis planned his Bihar sojourn carefully and gave a series of campaign speeches in Bihar’s 61 assembly constituencies spread over seven districts. To his delight, 49 of these seats have been bagged by the BJP. Expectedly, he was lambasted by the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi for ‘abandoning’ Maharashtra which needed his attention. However, those who knew Fadnavis ignored this criticism. The Bihar victory has further consolidated his firm political clout. No doubt, BJP rank and file has started expressing confidence that the coming local body elections will be a cakewalk for the party. But Fadnavis is cautious.

Nothing has more shaken the incumbent Modi government than the blasts near Red Fort. The blasts shook the national capital after a gap of 14 years. PM Narendra Modi, who is away on a two-day visit to Bhutan conveyed his resolve to punish those involved in the blasts. Warning that the horrific blast in Delhi on November 10 evening has deeply pained everyone. India stands with those who have suffered, PM Modi said “I assure everyone that the agencies will get to the bottom of the entire conspiracy. All those involved will be brought to justice.” He spoke both in Hindi and English from Bhutan reminding many political watchers of his utterances before Operation Sindoor. In fact, it is believed that the nation could well be on the verge of launching Operation Sindoor 2 as agencies uncover the real perpetrators. It is felt Pakistan may feel encouraged to experiment with some misadventure as it enjoys unstinted backing of the U.S. President Donald Trump. Modi has held extensive consultations with Home Minister Amit Shah. Shah has already held four meetings with security agencies. The government will not proceed with any Op Sindoor till security agencies neutralise all jihadi networks in the country. Interestingly, the Al-Falah University in Faridabad, Haryana where the suicide bomber and his colleagues worked was set up in 2015. There are also reports that Umar made trips to Tamil Nadu.

The Maharashtra government’s proposal to translocate leopards, combined with the killing of a leopard in Pune after it was labelled a man-eater, has raised deep concern among environmentalists, who say these responses signal a governance failure in forest and land-use planning. Instead of addressing the factors that push wildlife into human spaces — shrinking habitats, fragmented corridors, unmanaged waste and unregulated expansion into forest-edge zones — the state is opting for short-term actions that risk intensifying conflict rather than resolving it. Leopards are territorial animals that play a stabilising role in ecosystems. When a resident leopard is killed or relocated, its territory does not remain vacant; another leopard moves in, often younger, stressed, and more unpredictable. Studies from Maharashtra, Karnataka and Uttarakhand show that relocated leopards frequently attempt to return to familiar terrain, travelling through villages and farms and increasing the potential for human encounters. National wildlife guidelines therefore caution against translocation as a routine conflict response. Environmentalists say lessons must be drawn from the cheetah introduction effort in Kuno, where animals struggled to adapt despite extensive planning. Wildlife cannot simply be shifted and expected to adjust; ecosystems require continuity, stable habitat and respect for territorial behaviour. NatConnect Foundation has escalated the issue to the Prime Minister’s Office. The Foundation hopes he will step in to ensure Maharashtra shifts from reactive “animal removal” measures to long-term forest and corridor management, waste regulation, humane stray animal control and trained rapid-response teams. Killing or shifting wildlife is not management — it is symptom control. Environmental advocate Jyoti Nadkarni said: “The leopard is an essential part of the food chain and the wider food web. Removing it disturbs a balance far more complex than we acknowledge. We must think before...

The ownership of 14 villages claimed by the Maharashtra and Telangana governments has been under dispute in Chandrapur district which is along the border of the two states. While the revenue department of the Maharashtra government is the claimant of the villages, the same are under the forest department of the Telangana government. The issue has a long history. According to authorities in Maharashtra, the Supreme Court has ruled in its favour. Nonetheless, the resolution of the matter is still awaiting a final outcome. Over the years, the villages in Jivti tehsil of Maharashtra occupy nearly 15,000 acres of land. The Maharashtra authorities complain that the villages have been shown by Telangana as part of its territory. Telangana’s Asifabad district forest authorities have been looking after the green cover in the area. Meanwhile, the villagers are reported to be exercising their voting rights in both states. The villages have been at the centre of the dispute, with residents often living under dual administration and having voting rights in both states. Finally, in July 2025, the Maharashtra government has announced that it has started the process to merge these 14 villages into the state’s jurisdiction. While some residents have asked to remain in Telangana to access its welfare schemes, Maharashtra’s stance is that the villages are predominantly Marathi-speaking. Due to the lack of a clear administrative structure, the villages have two sarpanchs, two Gram Panchayats and separate schools for Marathi and Telugu speakers. The issue has been holding fire but no immediate solution is forthcoming.

The BJP central leadership is watching with interest the tantrums that its former Tamil Nadu state president K Annamalai is throwing. Even as he dismissed reports that he may launch a new party, it seems Annamalai may not last in the BJP for long. He expressed his discontent by saying none can put a gun to one’s head and force a person to remain in a party. Annamalai has been sulking ever since Nainar Nagendran replaced him as TN BJP president in April this year. Sources in BJP headquarters say Annamalai has been working overtime to undermine Nainar and weaken the AIADMK-BJP alliance. Though he officially maintains that “the NDA should win” the 2026 Assembly elections, it is being said he is not comfortable with the idea of AIADMK chief Edappadi K Palaniswami (EPS) clinching a win. He is also known to have played a role in bringing together former AIADMK leaders like VK Sasikala, KA Sengottaiyan and O Panneerselvam. More than these disparate groups of former AIADMK leaders, Annamalai’s real interest is in floating a new party and striking an alliance with actor Vijay’s Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK). With Vijay recently declaring that the 2026 Assembly elections would be a contest only between the TVK and the DMK, virtually writing off the AIADMK-BJP alliance, Annamalai may feel more encouraged to float his own outfit. But then the future of leaders who have quit the BJP to launch their own outfit has not been very bright. From late Kalyan Singh (UP) to BS Yediyurappa (Karnataka) to Shankersinh Vaghela (Gujarat). They have all floundered. Meanwhile, the ruling DMK is also welcoming into its fold former AIADMK leaders such as PH Manoj Pandian, son of former Speaker PH Pandian. Pandian charged AIADMK of “functioning as an extension of the BJP.”

Political controversy has intensified in West Bengal over the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls after a report in Jago Bangla, the official mouthpiece of the Trinamool Congress (TMC), claimed that chief minister Mamata Banerjee had personally accepted the SIR Enumeration Form. In response, Didi clarified that she had not personally received the form. In a social media post, she explained that the designated Booth Level Officer had visited her neighbourhood and residential office, made routine inquiries about the number of voters in the household, and left the forms accordingly. She added that she had not filled out her form and that she would do so only after every eligible person in Bengal had completed theirs. Earlier this week, Didi led a protest march from Red Road to Jorasanko Thakurbari, terming the ongoing process “SIR terror” and urging citizens to remain cautious. The Opposition BJP criticised Mamata’s clarification, accusing her of double standards. Former state BJP president and Union Minister of State Sukanta Majumder stated that the CM’s actions contradicted her public position and claimed that she had accepted several forms despite urging people not to cooperate with the process. Senior TMC leaders rejected the allegations, describing them as politically motivated attempts to discredit the CM’s campaign against the SIR. Party functionaries said the report about Didi personally receiving the form was misleading and aimed at undermining the ongoing movement. According to party sources, Mamata is planning to take the issue beyond Bengal and raise it at the national level. TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee has already indicated that the party will intensify its protests in the coming weeks.

Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar is finding himself in hot water following the allegations against his son Parth in connection with a massive land deal in Pune involving hundreds of crores of rupees. Noted social activist Anna Hazare’s spirited attack against the Pawar clan has added another dimension to the suspicious deal. The web of doubt around the father-son duo is becoming thicker since Ajit has claimed that he is unaware of the transactions conducted by his son, “an adult and running his own business.” As chief minister Devendra Fadnavis has ordered a thorough enquiry into the serious charges, Ajit has gone on the defensive. Hazare’s stinging statement about the ‘culture of Baramati’ has an indirect past reference to the developments when then chief minister Sharad Pawar was facing grave allegations regarding several land deals under the civic development plan for Mumbai. Later, the allegations were declared unfounded by an inquiry committee. Incidentally, Hazare was at the forefront of levelling the allegations, along with controversial municipal officer GR Khairnar. Obliquely referring to those events, Hazare has remarked that the family and the culture of a particular place are responsible for occurrence of such deeds. In a guarded response, Pawar’s daughter Supriya Sule, MP, has sided with Parth. The DCM is finding it difficult to defend or criticise, given the perceived role of Parth. The scandal’s fallout will have a bearing on the strategy for the upcoming local body elections in Maharashtra, weakening Ajit’s bargaining stakes.

Top BJP leader Ashish Shelar has been entrusted with the responsibility of the coming Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) election by the BJP, underscoring the importance of the electoral fight considered the decisive battle for the existence of the Shiv Sena (UBT). Although Andheri MLA Amit Satam was appointed Mumbai BJP chief just a month ago, his predecessor Shelar has been reassigned this assignment given the enormity of the challenge. Of late, Shelar has been mounting one attack after another against Sena leader Uddhav Thackeray and the Congress party, main partners of the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA). The BJP is determined to wrest the BMC’s control from the arch rival Shiv Sena, which is not joined by Maharashtra Navnirman Sena leader Raj Thackeray. The two organisations are trying their best to lure the Marathi-speaking population’s vote by constantly harping on the ‘outsider’ tag against several BJP bigwigs, who are from Gujarat or north India. This has put the Congress party in a quandary, given the Bihar assembly election voting, forcing its top leaders to stay away from a joint morcha taken out by the two cousins. By next week, the picture is expected to be clear on this count. Nonetheless, the BJP is going ahead as the main constituent of the Mahayuti under the stewardship of Ashish Shelar, who knows Mumbai like the back of his hand.

In a major political development in Odisha, senior Biju Janata Dal (BJD) strategist and former Rajya Sabha MP Amar Patnaik has quit BJD after serving it for seven years and joined the BJP ahead of the prestigious Nuapada assembly bypoll slated on November 11. The bypoll was necessitated by the death of BJD’s Rajendra Dholakia, four-time MLA and a former cabinet minister. In an interesting twist of turn, the late Dholakia’s son Jay is fighting from his father’s constituency on a BJP ticket. Naveen Patnaik headed BJD has fielded Snehangini Chhuria. BJP which is keen to win this prestigious seat has given a carte blanche to  Amar Patnaik to campaign for Jay Dholakia. Amar Patnaik’s decision to join the BJP is more than an individual move, sources say—it’s a signpost of a deeper realignment in the state’s power structure. His exit lays bare the widening cracks within the BJD, sources say. His joining BJP is now seen as a fresh blow to BJD as the Odisha chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi is determined to win the three-cornered BJP-BJD-Congress battle where BJD’s Naveen Patnaik and Congress Bhaktahari Mahatab’s are campaigning.

The Rs 1000-crore Sub Inspector Recruitment Scam in Odisha seems to have put the former chief minister Naveen Patnaik and his party, Biju Janata Dal on the backfoot. The mastermind Shankar Prusty (32), who is the leader of a syndicate involved in leaking the SI recruitment question papers, has been arrested by the Odisha state crime branch near Nepal border. Brought back to Bhubaneswar he is singing like a canary. According to him “this scam is worth at least Rs 1,000 crore” So far, BJD has denied any connection with this scam. However, the BJP terms BJD’s denial saying “chor machaye shor”. BJP says the contract for the recruitment process was signed during Patnaik’s tenure. But, the general public is asking what prevented BJP which was making big changes in the state to deep dive into Sub-Inspector recruitment issues and procedures immediately when they came to power? So far, the initial investigation report however  says the scamsters collected original certificates and blank cheques from aspirants in exchange of leaked papers, wherein the aspirants were charged Rs 20-25 lakh per candidate. The main accused Prusty has been interrogated in the presence of Munna Mohanty, his close associate to unravel the truth. Sources say both Mohanty and Prusty had reportedly amassed significant assets through recruitment scam. The SI scam gained further momentum after the arrest of Odisha’s Silicon Tech owner Suresh Chandra Nayak.

The electoral rolls for the forthcoming local self-government elections in Maharashtra will be updated up till two days before the elections. Since the state election commission is not equipped to delete duplicate names in the electoral rolls, it has devised a completely new system to identify and pinpoint duplication and try to nip instances of duplicate voting in multiple constituencies by voters. Maharashtra’s electoral department has been at the receiving end with complaints of large-scale duplications and discrepancies in electoral rolls by almost all political parties including the ruling BJP. There have been shocking claims of 127 names listed against the official address of the commissioner of the Navi Mumbai municipal corporation and also voter’s address registered as a public toilet block. Incidentally, the recent parliamentary and assembly elections were held with these discrepancies in the electoral rolls and the EC hopes that this new affidavit system will hopefully prevent the corrupt practice of voting duplication. There has been open admission of grave mistakes in rolls. Shiv Sena MLA Sanjay Gaikwad had also claimed that there were over a lakh bogus-voters in his home constituency including 20,000 bogus voters which had not been deleted despite official complaints. Ruling party legislators like Vilas Bhumre had boasted from political dais about how they managed to get the winning edge thanks to voters being brought in from outside their constituency. The Opposition parties had been demanding that local polls be postponed and held only after cleaning up the electoral rolls. However, the state election department has chosen to go ahead with their schedule and stick to the Supreme Court deadline of January, 2026.

The BJP-run Odisha government seems to be facing the wrath of the Supreme Court. This is because they have failed to take action on mining companies who have over-mined iron resources –in excess of their environmental clearances. The apex court has now put the onus on the Odisha government to enforce recovery against erring mining companies and present a status report by December 1, 2025. The Supreme Court stance is clear — the defaulting mining lessees must bear the consequences of over mining and cannot go scot-free pocketing the value of illegal mined ores. Sources say, the outstanding amount currently stands at Rs 2,700 crore plus accrued interest. The Supreme Court is now insisting on a 100% penalty on the value of illegally mined ore earlier. How will the state government act on the Supreme Court’s directive as this issue has been pending since 2018? The key issue is twofold: one, how the Odisha government will enforce recovery orders against erring mining companies with regard to compensation and second, how capping of iron ore mining would lead to substantial deficit of production of steel and other metals in view of growing market demand. Incidentally, Odisha contributes to half of the country’s iron ore production. Both the Centre, and State governments have urged the Supreme Court not to impose a cap on iron ore mining in Odisha, warning it could derail India’s growth story and Atmanirbhar Bharat mission.

What it means is hard to fathom even for the literate Malayalee. But Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan, in front of a capacity crowd of CPM cadres in Thiruvananthapuram alongside film star Mammootty, announced that the poverty free achievement confirms with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of “No poverty and zero hunger”. As per latest World Bank criteria, people living on less than $ 3 a day are considered to be living in extreme poverty. In order to achieve this, Kerala took the multi-dimensional poverty index route — which incorporates nutritious food, housing, cleanliness, education and basic facilities. The government claims that it has addressed all the reasons for extreme poverty like housing, livelihood, issues, ill-health due to chronic diseases and lack of access to government welfare schemes on a war footing, since 2021. While the LDF government has gone to town with its celebrations both at the ground level and media, critics and the opposition are questioning the very methodology used to arrive at the findings. In an open letter 24 signatories comprising social activists, economists and prominent media personalities have urged the State government to release an authoritative study report that identifies the extreme poor and validates the poverty eradication process. It is too early to predict whether the entire poverty free exercise is a hyperbole campaign with an eye on the ensuing Municipal elections next month and assembly elections next year or a genuine effort to eradicate extreme poverty in the state. As per 2011 census figures, there were 4.85 lakh tribal people, many of them living in extreme poverty. Yet, in the new estimates only 64,006 have been classified as extremely poor. “What magic has happened to alleviate their poverty, “questions the opposition and the elite group!

Reports of a close contest between the NDA and Mahagathbandhan in Bihar polls have led to leaders resorting to a unique style to grab eyeballs and attention. With the last day of campaign closing in on Nov 4 for the first phase poll on Nov 6, both sides seemed to be putting their best foot forward and sharpening political attacks. Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath compared the bonding of Rahul Gandhi-Tejaswi Yadav-Akhilesh Yadav to Gandhi’s three monkeys as Pappu,Tappu and Appu. Interestingly, on a day PM Modi was holding a road show in Patna (Nov 2), Rahul, away from the state capital, in Begusarai, while interacting with fishermen, jumped into the pond for fishing. He was accompanied by VIP leader Mukesh Sahani, who is also from the Nishad/fishermen community and Congress leader Kanhaiya Kumar. Incidentally Rahul’s fishing optics seemed odd as it came in the backdrop of him charging the PM of “doing yoga asanas” for a few votes. And had warned voters that post elections all the “song and dance will be done by Adani and Ambani”. Modi, at a rally in Katihar on Nov 3, reiterated that the NDA government after being voted to power would hand out fishermen an allowance of Rs 9000. Incidentally, Lalu’s eldest son Tej Pratap Yadav, who heads Janshakti Janata Dal took a dig at Rahul’s fishing trip saying “Jalebi chhanna, machli pakadna, unko toh rasoiya hona chaiye tha(He makes sweets, catches fish, he should have been a cook) Why did he become a politician?”

Strange political formations are occurring in Maharashtra’s sport arena despite appeals from all concerned that the two should not be mixed. At the centre of these developments are veteran leader Sharad Pawar, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, deputy CM Ajit Pawar and Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray, representing the important political parties in the state. Elections to the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) and the Maharashtra Olympic Association (MOA) are due in the near future. For the cricket body, Sharad Pawar and Fadnavis are reportedly in tandem. Pawar’s recent praise of Fadnavis for ‘keeping politics out of sports’ has raised many eyebrows. While these four leaders are insistent for election of their close followers on MCA, another shade is added by another deputy CM Eknath Shinde, who is trying to induct Vihang Sarnaik, son of minister Pratap Sarnaik, the buyer of the first Tesla car in India. Ajit Pawar is peeved since his 13-year tenure as MOA president has come under severe criticism by Union minister of state Murlidhar Mohol and BJP MLC Sandip Joshi. The duo had levelled several allegations, all of which have been refuted by Ajit Pawar, who has pointed out that he is dedicated to the MOA’s interests and that the charges are made by politicians, not by any players. These developments have come at a time when the state is gearing up to hold the local body elections, including in Mumbai and Pune, the centres of the two skirmishes.

Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut will be out of action for at least two months, he himself has conveyed through a social media post. Raut had been spearheading the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) campaign against the ruling Mahayuti alliance government in Maharashtra ever since it was first formed in 2022. Derided as a Bhonga (loudspeaker) by his political critics, Raut made a daily appearance on TV news channels almost every morning.  Counted among close aides of Sena leader Uddhav Thackeray, the ‘Saamana’ executive editor has announced that he will be away from public life for the next two months due to health issues. The announcement has come as a dampener for the Sena and MVA since no immediate replacement is in sight, especially as it comes on the eve of the crucial BMC election, which will determine the future of the Uddhav Sena and Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena. In his emotional message titled “A humble request to all friends, family and workers,” Raut has urged the Sena supporters to continue their faith in him during this difficult period. “As per medical advice, I have been advised against going out and mingling with crowds. There is no way around it. I am sure I will recover well and come to meet you in the new year. May your love and blessings remain with me,” he has said in his post.

With eye on 2026 Assembly polls, the BJP in West Bengal is rethinking its strategy whether to bank, once again, on “glamour quotient” that helped thrust its women’s wing into the limelight or fall back on its loyal, traditional cadre base following a string of electoral disappointments? The internal debate follows the party’s underwhelming performance in West Bengal in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. From 2015 to 2021, the BJP Mahila Morcha was led by Roopa Ganguly, Locket Chatterjee, and Agnimitra Paul, all from the film and fashion industry. Their tenure brought visibility through protests and media outreach. Roopa Ganguly, now on the Narrative Committee, is likely to contest in 2026. Locket Chatterjee, despite losses in 2021 and 2024, remains influential and was praised for her role in the Uttarakhand 2022 polls. Agnimitra Paul, MLA from Asansol South and close to Suvendu Adhikari, lost the 2024 Medinipur seat but is expected to contest again. Their successors, Tanuja Chakraborty and Falguni Patra, both long-time BJP workers, failed to match that prominence. During the RG Kar Hospital protests, Patra’s leadership drew limited attention. A former general secretary admitted the Mahila Morcha had become “a launching pad for women from the glamour world.” Actors Payel Sarkar, Srabanti Chatterjee, Tanushree Chakraborty, Parno Mitra, and Papiya Adhikari all contested and lost. Rupanjana Mitra returned to the Trinamool Congress, citing disillusionment. Agnimitra Paul said fame helped connect with voters, while Keya Ghosh recalled that “media attention naturally follows famous faces,” citing an incident when “police tore Locket’s saree.” With glamour yet to translate into votes, the BJP is now moving cautiously. Under the State President Shamik Bhattacharya, it plans to blend visible figures with grassroots leaders as it prepares to challenge the Trinamool Congress in 2026.

Former Indian cricket captain Mohammed Azharuddin joined the Telangana government on October 31, barely 10 days ahead of Jubilee Hills assembly by-election to be held on November 11. Azhar’s elevation as minister is being widely seen as an attempt to secure the support of Muslim community — about 1.3 lakh voters for the Congress in the high-stakes contest. Congress high command also wanted Azharuddin’s induction ahead of Bihar assembly elections. It is likely that as minister, Azhar will get a couple of days to campaign in Bihar. “Azhar’s entry will help us consolidate Muslim votes. Not just in Telangana but also in Bihar. Hyderabad MP and AIMIM leader Asauddin Owaisi, who is opposing us in Bihar has endorsed his elevation,” points out senior Congress leader Madhu Goud Yaskhi. Owaisi’s support for Azhar and the Congress is important at this stage as Telangana CM Revanth Reddy is keen to wrest the Jubilee Hills seat. Incidentally, Azhar had lost from Jubilee Hills in 2023 to the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS). The by-election has been caused following the death of three term BRS MLA Maganti Gopinath. Even though BRS is not in a great shape at present, it has fielded Gopinath’s widow, Sunitha as its candidate hoping to cash in on a sympathy wave. As a Minister Azhar, he will enter the Telangana legislature as a MLC and that will be possible only after the Supreme Court paves the way. In August, the apex court had suspended the functioning of two MLCs, holding that their swearing-in under the governor’s quota was not valid and was based on a misinterpretation of its interim order. Meanwhile, did Azhar’s entry upset traditional Muslim leaders of the Congress? Not many leaders left anyway. Barring exception of Md Shabeer Ali, say sources.

Tamil Nadu is so typical in many ways…cinema and stars, “fanatic fans, cinemaholics” are part of the culture. Rajini, Kamal and Vijay have mind boggling fan clubs. What if we tell you that police sniffer dogs in Coimbatore too have “fan clubs”and crooks are familiar with their names, to tease the police even as they indulge in prank calls and hoax threats with criminal intent? Just as the police move two steps ahead in crime patrol, these fringe elements lead by four steps with outsmarting strategies. Recently, a bomb threat call in Coimbatore rattled the keepers of law and order …but the hoaxers had boned up on the names of the canines and threw the gauntlet…we have planted a bomb. Better bring Wilma or Madhana to “fetch” the bombs. Wilma, a German Shepherd and the Belgian Shepherd Madhana were the first to be assigned to female handlers and trainers –Kavipriya and Bhavani. In 2023, Bhavani requested the top brass to let her take on as a dog handler, and these two women have cared for and trained their charges like their own children. The pranksters boldly name these sniffer dogs in the “fake” threats, to give a sense of authenticity to their threat calls. But the police are inventive …the commands barked at the canines are obeyed instantly …and this famous Doberman Pinscher who walks on his hinds backward (as elegantly as a Gucci ramp model) is waiting for that command…go get him. To have fun with rowdies. Police dogs don’t roll over for all, to be petted.

The Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan is one clear candidate in the reckoning who wishes to be elevated as the next BJP President. He is so coveting the top job that it is being said that both he and family are invoking blessings of the gods to secure it. On an official visit last week to Vellore, Tamil Nadu Chouhan was seen along with his wife Sadhna Singh offering special prayers at Sri Lakshmi Narayani Golden Temple in Vellore. The buzz in party circles is that the idea of offering prayers could probably be Sadhna Singh’s idea as she has been keen that Chouhan get more heft in his career by making a switch to an important party post. His family clearly sees that he would perhaps be wielding far more clout as BJP chief than as a member of the Modi Cabinet 3.0. As a four-term Madhya Pradesh CM and a prominent OBC face he would certainly fit the bill. Chouhan had also met with RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat. Officially Chouhan has maintained that he “never ever thought of nor has anyone told me.  I can’t even think of it. I am the Agriculture and Rural Development Minister. I am doing this work like worship. Serving farmers is worship of God for me and I want to keep doing this worship.” He moved to the Centre as a Union Minister only after securing Madhya Pradesh for a record fifth time in 2023 assembly polls. In Vellore, he participated in Maha Chandi Havan for world peace.

Both Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah and deputy chief minister DK Shivakumar (DKS) are locked in an intense battle to wrest control of the State. Siddaramaiah fancies he will continue as the CM because of the loyalty and support of the majority of 138 elected Congress MLAs in 224 member House. DKS feels he should be the CM since as PCC chief he had ensured that the Congress swept to power in the 2023 assembly elections. Besides, DKS is confident that High Command will back him. It may be recalled when he was jailed in a ED case and Sonia Gandhi had visited him in Tihar.  If DKS plays the High Command card, Siddaramaiah is no push over either. As a CM, he is dangling the Cabinet reshuffle card to keep MLAs by his side. He also used his MLC son Dr Yathindra to prop up PWD Minister Satish Jarkiholi — a tribal leader — as an ideological heir to his father. Jarkiholi was apparently used as a perfect foil to block AICC chief Mallikarjun Kharge who is now very keen to become the CM. It is being said DKS has assured Kharge’s son Priyank Kharge, who is state IT minister to back him and has assured him that he could become Deputy CM in his team. It is being said Karnataka drama would play out only after November 14– that is after Bihar poll results. Meanwhile, the political struggle of oneupmanship between DKS and Siddaramaiah has brought Karnataka administration to a standstill. Siddaramaiah who favours Mysuru over Bengaluru, doesn’t care much for the software capital of India.

Barely a week is left for campaigning for the first phase of election in Bihar to end on November 4 and the first phase of voting is slated for November 6. However, former Congress president and Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi has not visited Bihar even once in the last two months. Rahul was last seen in Bihar on September 1 while concluding his ‘Voters’ Adhikar Yatra’.  With his Vote Chori campaign not making much impact with voters in the state, it appears Rahul has steered away from the state. Rahul’s absence from the political scene has also become a talking point for the ruling alliance. Mocking him for his claims to explode a hydrogen bomb (by giving further proof of vote theft), JDU spokesperson Neeraj Kumar wondered why Rahul was avoiding Bihar. “That too at a time when all the top leaders, be it PM Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, several Union Ministers and even RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav have been tirelessly campaigning for their respective nominees.” For once Rahul Gandhi’s critics may have a valid point. That is because in the election season even Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, who is not keeping good health, has been addressing one rally after another to shore up the winning chances of the NDA nominees. “We too are perplexed over the long absence of Rahul”, said a NDA leader. Notably, the Congress is contesting on 61 seats while the RJD 143. Sources in the Congress say Rahul is reportedly miffed with the way seat-sharing was done in Bihar. It is being said Rahul Gandhi would be addressing a joint rally with Tejashwi Yadav on October 29 in Darbhanga and Muzaffarpur.

All eyes are on Odisha’s high voltage triangular seat contest for the Nuapada Assembly bypoll to be held on November 11. The ruling BJP and opposition BJD, Congress have made this bypoll a prestigious issue. If BJP loses then there will be a question mark on the popularity of Odisha chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi’s leadership. If Naveen Patnaik’s BJD loses it would indicate Patnaik’s popularity as the Leader of Opposition is waning. Even though Patnaik would like his party to win this one, he has not gone whole hog for the fear of inviting BJP’s wrath vis a vis launching probe into financials of his BJD. It is learnt that Patnaik is opting for soft strategy, basically, eyeing the 12% SC votes and deliberately not playing the tribal card and opting to play SC card instead by fielding heavy weight Snehangini Chhuria.  Congress on its part is now playing up the tribal card and is hoping to win this seat. Now all eyes on the November 11 outcome.

The Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw is working out of the War Room. That’s because PM Modi has asked him to ensure super arrangements for the annual Chhath festival in Eastern India, which coincides with Skanda Sasti in Tamil Nadu falling on October 27-28. All trains to Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh are full because families are returning to their villages to celebrate this festival. Outside some stations in many states, nearly 2 km long queues of travellers have been seen. Indian Railways has made arrangements to run 13,000 special trains, but these are unable to cope with the rush. As Bihar goes to elections soon after the festival, Modi told the Railway Minister to ensure everything runs smoothly. So, Vaishnaw is sitting in the three war rooms at Rail Bhavan to monitor crowd management and train locations. These three war rooms monitor the movement of crowds at 35 top stations round the clock using CCTV cameras. Minute-to-minute data are being prepared, and a heat map is being developed. Every hour, footfall in at least 35 stations is recorded. Special trains are immediately sent to stations where huge crowds are noticed. In one case, when the minister noticed a huge rush at Ambala station in Haryana for a train going from Amritsar to Purnea, another train was dispatched from Jalandhar to accommodate extra passengers. Crowds were also noticed in Surat and Udhna stations in Gujarat. More than five million people travelled during Diwali and Chhath this year compared to last year. The only difference this time is that Indian Railways is trying its best to take care of travellers.

Remarriages among the elite muslim community in Kerala are in vogue these days. It is not everlasting love between spouses which is prompting this new trend, but to ensure their hard-earned wealth and properties remain with their children after their demise. What began as a few isolated remarriages is rapidly becoming a powerful movement that questions the long-held authority of religious organisations over personal lives. For generations, the unequal division of property, where sons inherit twice as much as daughters, has been justified as divine law. Couples, who all along accepted this without questioning, are rewriting the narrative. They are using secular legal frameworks to ensure that their daughters and wives are treated as equals. Defying century-old patriarchal interpretations of personal law, a growing number of muslim couples are turning to the Special Marriages Act (Section 15) to secure equal inheritance rights for women. One of the latest to take this step is 76-year old Basheer and 72-year old Hasanath from Palakkad. They remarried to ensure that their daughters get equal share in property. “This is not a rebellion against faith. It is a demand for justice within it,” says Neju, State Convener of Forum for Gender Equality Among Muslims. Neju was one of the first to get remarried to her husband, Ismail, as early as December 10, 2024. “After our marriage, many approached us quietly to know how they could do the same. Hundreds of couples have already chosen this path to avoid pressure from Mahal committees and to protect the future of their daughters.” Prominent Islamic scholar C H Musthafa Moulavi revealed that he knows of a prominent Islamic leader who remarried under the SMA to safeguard his daughters. The current system is unfair to women. In Egypt and Tunisia, where Islamic law is followed, inheritance is distributed equally. 

UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath’s internal problems came to the fore during Diwali. As Yogi gathered in Ayodhya on October 19 to celebrate Deepotsav, the focus was not on festivities but the absence of his Deputy CMs Brajesh Pathak and Keshav Prasad Maurya. It sparked talk of a rift in the UP BJP and differences between the bureaucracy and BJP legislators. While people close to Maurya said his busy schedule in Bihar, which goes to polls next month, for his last-minute cancellation — the Deputy CM is the party’s co-in-charge in the Assembly polls — party leaders blamed an administrative mix-up. “It is the first Deepotsav in nine years that Deputy CM Brajesh Pathak has missed. While no one is saying anything officially, the miscommunication has to be looked into. There was no mention of the Deputy CMs in the advertisement for the celebrations. Not just that, it was not clear which event they would attend and where they would sit, as per the protocol. The same was true of the Governor (Anandiben Patel), whose name was missing from the local invite. The BJP’s loss in UP in the Lok Sabha elections last year sparked speculation about differences within the party’s state unit. Several leaders in the state unit also took note of Maurya’s appointment as the party’s Bihar poll co-incharge in September, months after Union Home Minister Amit Shah referred to him as “mere mitr (my friend)”. It is being said Maurya’s involvement in Bihar polls would give a boost to him ahead of UP assembly polls. It must be mentioned that Yogi is the most sought campaigner in Bihar polls. Meanwhile, Ayodhya once again lit up the world stage with a record-breaking celebration of Deepotsav 2025, illuminating the sacred city with over 26 lakh oil lamps.

Tamil Nadu can only be shocked! Kerala’s ruling LDF is witnessing one of its fiercest internal flare-ups in recent times, with the CPI openly rebelling against its senior partner, the CPI(M), over the “discreet” signing of the MoU for implementing the Union government’s Prime Minister’s Schools for Rising India (PM-SHRI) scheme. The CPI, caught completely off guard by the revelation that the agreement with the Union Ministry of Education’s Department of School Education and Literacy was inked on October 23, accused the CPI(M) of breaching front discipline and keeping allies in the dark. In a dramatic policy reversal, on October 19, the CPI(M) — one of the fiercest critics of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 — took that surprising U-turn. After years of vehement opposition to the Union government’s PM-SHRI scheme, which mandates the implementation of NEP, the Left-ruled Kerala decided to join the initiative. It’s learnt that on October 23, Kerala Education Secretary Dr K Vasuki flew to New Delhi to ink the MoU on behalf of the state. She was accompanied by Dr AR Supriya, Director of Samagra Shiksha Kerala (SSK), whose funds had earlier been frozen by the Centre due to Kerala’s refusal to join PM-SHRI. The decision could unlock nearly Rs 1,500 crore in central funds previously withheld by the Union government. The “secret manner” in which the MoU got signed has snowballed into a full-blown political controversy. The CPI has accused the CPI(M) of violating coalition etiquette and undermining collective decision-making. The Union Ministry of Education welcomed the Kerala government’s decision to sign the MoU, terming it a major milestone in transforming the state’s school education landscape. However, as the CPI and CPI(M) stick to their position, Kerala’s ruling front faces a crisis. Will the storm over PM SHRI shake the very foundations of the Left’s coalition experiment? 

Alleged suicide by a woman doctor working at a government hospital at Phaltan in Maharashtra’s Satara district has shaken the state since the name of a Member of Parliament is said to be connected with the development. There is no confirmation of this information from the police but the political undertones behind the drastic action are slowly becoming known. The deceased had written a note on the backside of her palm, clearly blaming a police sub inspector and another person. The PSI, Gopal Badne, has been suspended forthwith while investigations are underway to unravel different angles of the tragedy. The death occurred in a hotel room on October 23 night. In her suicide note, the victim wrote that Badne raped her four times over the past five months. The other individual, Prashant Bankar, had been mentally torturing her, she grieved. In view of the gravity of the incident, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis called SP Tushar Doshi and ordered the suspension. As of now, the identity of the MP is unknown although it is whispered that he had spoken with the doctor on a couple of occasions though from the mobile handsets belonging to some other persons. It is also alleged that she had been resisting pressure from certain police personnel and political workers who were demanding favourable medical reports from her in certain matters. The police have not corroborated any such social media posts while her body has been sent for a post mortem.

A public admission by senior BJP minister Chandrashekhar Bawankhule that mobile and WhatsApp communication of BJP cadres in Buldhana were under surveillance, has sparked much uproar in Maharashtra. Though the senior leader later clarified that he was simply referring to the one lakh WhatsApp groups of their party’s booth leaders which are linked to their party’s war room. These WhatsApp groups, he claimed, were monitored to gauge public sentiment and determine party policies and were the sole mode of communication between the party and its cadres, it gave ample ammunition to the Opposition which raked up the party’s link with Pegasus and even suggested that the Opposition and coalition leaders too were under watch. The admission comes at a time when the disciplined party has been agog with internal rifts threatening to embarrass the party and its senior leadership. In Solapur, the party cadres held public protests opposing the entry of Dilip Mane, an ex-legislator from another party. In Pune, the party’s senior union minister of state for civil aviation, Murlidhar Mohol has been at the receiving end with allegations of corrupt deals. Though the sustained attack is from a Shinde-aide Ravindra Dhangekar, the general buzz is that the allegations are being fed from his own party. All this comes at a time when the party’s senior most leader in Maharashtra, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis has been emphasizing regularly that he would be very much around in the state till the next elections in 2029. He has been trying to nip a strong buzz that he would be shunted to the Centre from the top post in the state. The BJP has also been battling friction within its coalition partners emphasising that partners must follow coalition norms.

Even when the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) was completed in Bihar, amid opposition protestations that died down soon enough, Maharashtra has held off its own electoral roll revision. Officialdom confirming this said, “We have informed the Election Commission of India (ECI) that we are unable to carry out the SIR in the state being seized of imminent polls to be held for 28 plus municipal corporations, councils and other local self-bodies in Maharashtra. We have already drawn requisite government personnel (mostly teachers drawn from educational institutions run by the state government) who cannot be redeployed for the purpose of conducting the SIR.” While Opposition political formations led by the Congress chief Rahul Gandhi launched protests over alleged impropriety in the electoral revision process, the large number of ineligible voters and subsequent expose over illegal Bangladeshi and Rohingyas being identified in Bihar saw the Opposition protests being muted soon enough. Maharashtra, for its part, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis told newspersons over a Diwali lunch that the state electoral rolls did in fact exhibit individual voters being registered at multiple locations, the incidence of the same voter exercising her/his franchise more than once was not evident. “Address changes and the proliferating migrant populations often caused the changed residential addresses, resultantly in multiple entries in electoral rolls and yet, no double voting incidence has been found to exist…Our priority is to hold the local self-bodies’ elections on pain of inviting public ire over the inordinately delayed civic elections across the state for over three years now.”

The ruling Mahayuti in Maharashtra is facing some tough moments at present. Those at the receiving end are alleged to be related with certain questionable matters. The latest ‘expose’ in this series, by state Congress president Harshwardhan Sapkal, has created a sensation. Sapkal has alleged that 21 MLAs have received a Diwali gift of a Defender SUV each from the same contractor. The price of a Defender SUV is said to be around Rs 2 crore. The genesis of the charge is the Defender in which Shiv Sena (Shinde) MLA Sanjay Gaikwad was found moving around. When the MLA’s pictures in the SUV became viral, he explained that the vehicle belonged to one of his relatives, who is a contractor. “He is first my kin and then a businessman,” Gaikwad defended his position. It later transpired that Gaikwad was exposed by certain Mahayuti leaders. However, even before the dust over the matter had settled, Sapkal had burst a political bomb. He has raised many questions. For instance, he has demanded that the identity of the contractor and the beneficiary MLAs should be revealed by the authorities. Similarly, he has asked if the Defender SUV used by Gaikwad belongs to the fleet of the 21 vehicles or is it the 22nd. That SUV had become a centre of attraction in Buldana town which is Gaikwad’s constituency since it was flaunting MLA stickers. A response from the Mahayuti is eagerly awaited by its supporters and detractors.

With less than a year to go for the 2026 West Bengal Assembly elections, the anticipated alliance between the CPM and Congress remains in limbo. Despite the recent Kaliganj by-election, where Congress contested with CPM support and improved its performance, the absence of a structured coordination mechanism has left both parties drifting. Party insiders suggest that CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury, who was the key in maintaining crucial communication with Congress’ national leadership. But after his sudden demise in 2024 not much progress has been made. CPM sources indicate initial movement to create space for Congress, which has now stalled, with no confirmed timeline or structured plan for resuming discussions. Earlier this year, tensions between the CPM and ally RSP over seat allocation led to Congress being handed the Kaliganj seat. At the national level, AICC general secretary Ghulam Ahmad Mir had urged the Bengal unit to prepare for at least 90 assembly seats, signalling both independent strength and the option of alliance-building. This is in respect to the outcome of the 2024 Lok Sabha election where CPM led in just one assembly segment, while Congress held leads in 11, mostly in North Dinajpur, Malda, and Murshidabad. On several occasions symbolic unity has been absent between Pradesh Congress and CPM where state president Subhankar Sarkar and CPM leader Mohammad Salim separately organise protest programmes against the ruling Trinamool Congress. Further, internal frictions persist, including discomfort between CPM leaders and former Congress state chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, while AICC organisational chief KC Venugopal’s focus on Kerala is seen as affecting Bengal alliance efforts. With no talks between the two parties, the 2026 Assembly elections could once again see a direct fight between the Trinamool Congress and the BJP.  

Nothing has hurt DMK ego or the Dravidian model more than the announcement of the Google’s decision to create the AI hub in Andhra .AIADMK leader and former minister Thangamani criticised the DMK-led Tamil Nadu government for failing to attract Google’s investment to the state, “Despite Google CEO Sundar Pichai being a Tamil, Google has gone to Andhra Pradesh and not Tamil Nadu,” he said on the floor of the Tamil Nadu assembly. Responding to the jibe, Tamil Nadu Minister TRB Raaja said the state was set to receive Foxconn’s investment worth Rs 15,000 crore which will create several jobs. He also highlighted that 14,000 engineering jobs were generated under the DMK government and urged parties to stop ridiculing ongoing efforts. Most people however feel foreign investments are moving away from TN as the DMK first family – particularly – chief minister MK Stalin’s son-in law’s is known to seek a partnership with firms wanting to invest in the state. This has hindered investment from coming into the state. Sources point to impediments faced even by committed entrepreneurs like Zoho CEO Sridhar Vembu. It is in this light PM Modi during his visit to Andhra this week congratulated the people of the state for Google’s massive AI Hub investment, hailing CM Chandrababu Naidu’s visionary leadership. Modi noted the hub will position Visakhapatnam as a global AI and connectivity centre, serving not just India but the world. Google is set to invest $15 billion to build a massive data centre cluster in Visakhapatnam—a project that could mark its largest direct investment in India’s digital economy, according to a ET report. The 1 GW-capacity data centre hub will comprise three campuses and the facilities are expected to become operational by July 2028.

The Odisha government has finally enforced a “no gift” policy this Diwali festival in state undertakings and government offices. This includes purchase of gift items, their distribution among officials, and the acceptance of presents. Call it an austerity drive… curbing non-essential spending. Simply put, the Central government wants to ensure prudent use of public money. It has given stern warning to the states not to give Diwali gifts with public money henceforth. It seems the Odisha government is complying to the finance ministry’s directive which had issued an office memorandum to all central ministries, state governments, departments including PSU enterprises banning the use of public funds for festive gifts. In doing this the government intends to bring in fiscal discipline and curbing non-essential spending. The respective departments have now been asked to monitor adherence to the policy and ensure that no violations occur. Odisha’s deputy chief minister Pravati Parida has already communicated the government policy on social media and has requested citizens and visitors not to bring gifts to her office. The Odisha government has declared a two-day holiday on October 20-21 for Diwali across the state for Diwali festival except those who are engaged by the poll bound Nuapada district. However, the government officers will have to work on October 25 which is a fourth Saturday.  Many feel this gifting culture should stop as costly Diwali gifts are given by people to decision makers to gain favours. According to a report by EY, a reputed global consultancy firm, there is a need for serious action as the increasing value of Diwali gifts, day by day, can turn out to be a tool of favouritism; please the person in the decision-makers seat.

Maharashtra intends to transfer about 50 leopards to private wildlife rescue and rehabilitation centre Vantara, established by Ambani’s Reliance Foundation. Most of these leopards are from the Manikdoh Leopard rescue centre, where leopards involved in human-animal conflicts from around the sugar belt of Junnar region near Pune are rescued and kept. Forest department officials view the emergence of the private forest like Vantara as a huge relief and see this transfer as a win-win solution for its rising cases of man-animal conflicts. “We have more than 100 leopards and about 40 tigers in our various rescue centres across the state. Currently our rescue facilities are already saturated and we are finding it difficult to handle more animals that need to be necessarily rescued from conflict situations including injured animals that need to be treated, says Jitendra Ramgaokar, chief conservator of forests (wildlife). Shifting some leopards over to Vantara, not only frees up space at government facilities but helps them accept animals that are rescued from emergency situations. Also, unlike tigers which are much sought after by various zoos across the country, there are few takers for leopards. Maharashtra’s leopard population has risen from 1690 in 2018 to 1985 in 2022 – – leading to increasing instances of man-animal conflicts. Between Jan 2024-Feb 2025, about 61 persons were killed and 648 injured in wild animal attacks in Maharashtra thus leading to public uproar. The state also intends to increase capacity of its leopard rescue centres and has initiated programs like reproductive control of leopards and even setting up AI-based alert systems, installing solar fencing and taking up awareness campaigns in high-risk villages. A similar strategy is also being considered for tigers, which has increased from 101 in 2020 to 444 in 2022.

U.S. President Donald Trump finds himself in the midst of the ongoing controversy about electoral rolls in Maharashtra. As the state’s Opposition with allied parties demanded revised scrutiny and verification of electoral rolls before the upcoming local self-government elections, alleging glaring errors and ascribing it to access by politically connected third party agencies, they found Trump could help drive home their point well. NCP-SP MLA Rohit Pawar, nephew of Sharad Pawar displayed an Aadhaar card in Donald Trump’s name alleging how legislative constituencies had witnessed more than 30,000 outsiders in many electoral constituencies in the recent 2024 assembly elections after illegal entries in rolls. These allegations come in the wake of open admission at a Dharashiv public meeting by an Eknath Shinde legislator Vilas Bhumre that getting 20,000 migrant voters to vote for him had got him the winning edge in his election. Persistent Opposition allegations range from large-scale illegal entries bearing the same address, of names disappearing from electoral rolls within hours of errors being pointed out, of ruling BJP workers having third party access to electoral rolls and thus enjoying an unfavourable edge in polls. Former finance minister Jayant Patil pointed out how an erroneous entry disappeared from online rolls at 6 pm, within three hours of it being detected and pointed out. Not surprisingly, the Opposition has been insisting on no local polls till the rolls are corrected and even challenging to take polls on ballot papers.

Followers of Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and deputy CM Eknath Shinde have started clashing openly over the proposed seat sharing for the coming local body elections in Thane despite assurances by both leaders that they will fight the polls jointly under the Mahayuti banner. A stronghold of the saffron forces for a long time, Thane has occasionally proved to be the bone of contention between the BJP and the Shiv Sena even when Balasaheb Thackeray and Pramod Mahajan were alive. However, the differences would vanish once a directive was received from above for both camps. That camaraderie has evaporated after the emergence of Shinde as a power centre. The BJP has asked its powerful leader Ganesh Naik to ‘look after’ Thane while Shinde’s Man Friday Naresh Mhaske, Thane MP, is in the vanguard of the Sena (Shinde) campaign. Thane city’s MLA Sanjay Kelkar of the BJP has repeatedly warned the Sena of a serious fallout if his demand for 70 seats in the civic house of over 130 is not honoured. On the other hand, Mhaske is firm on his stand that his party must get at least 80 seats. While Fadnavis has made it clear that winning the election for the Mahayuti is crucial, Shinde is yet to shed his reticence. Surprisingly, the INDIA Bloc is yet to spell out its plans for the third most important municipal corporation in Maharashtra, after Mumbai and Pune.

BJP’s aggressive MLA Gopichand Padalkar has once again stirred a hornet’s nest by asking Hindu girls not to go to gyms. Addressing a public rally in Beed, Padalkar said, “Hindu girls should practise yoga at home. They don’t know that a larger conspiracy is being hatched.” Naming a section of the population, Padalkar alleged that ‘they’ are trying to lure Hindu girls. The MLA, an erstwhile right hand of Republican leader Prakash Ambedkar, has found himself in soup time and again due to his shocking utterances. For instance, at a recent public meeting, he had made disparaging remarks in connection with the parentage of senior NCP(SP) leader Jayant Patil. He was immediately chastised by chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and was lying low for a short while. However, his Beed remarks have roused the Opposition parties. Padalkar said Hindu girls shouldn’t go to the gyms in which they did not know who the trainer is. They should be wary of such places.” He also demanded verification of the identity of college-going youths. Those without identification, too, should be checked and their entry into colleges should be banned, he suggested. Padalkar said a formidable preventive machinery would have to be created to curb such incidents. Padalkar’s Beed visit has gone viral on the social media since he has warned that various place names will be changed. His object was the names with Mughal dynastic history. In this connection, he mentioned Ahilyanagar, which was earlier Ahmednagar. Opposition leaders have started castigating him for his statements.

Even before the Mahagathbandhan — coalition of RJD, the Congress and CPI(M-L) parties — could clinch a deal on the number of seats it would contest in Bihar, allegations were flying thick and fast about sums of money that were being charged for declaring candidates in the Congress. Even as the party released its first list of 48 candidates, there were chaotic scenes at Patna airport on October 15 evening after Bihar Congress president Rajesh Ram, Bihar Congress in-charge Krishna Allavaru, and senior leader Shakeel Ahmed Khan returned from Delhi following seat-sharing discussions. Shakeel Ahmed Khan was surrounded by the protesting crowd before he managed to escape in his car. Some protesters claimed that Congress leaders had sold tickets for Rs 5 crore. Were such sums of money really paid to get a single assembly seat? Party sources concede that seats like Buxar where Congress chief Kharge wanted to change the sitting MLA Sanjay Kumar Tiwari at the CEC meeting because enough crowds had not turned up for his meeting had to be reversed. So was the decision to replace incumbent Kishenganj MLA — but then he didn’t ultimately figure in the first list of 48 MLAs. At the same time, party sources say Bihar Congress workers were feeling terribly frustrated that the party tickets were being given for a price. It was being said that Rahul Gandhi’s activism in the state and the Voter Rights Yatra had raised expectations of Congress leaders and workers in Bihar. State Congress in-charge Allavaru’s efforts to identify three to four potential candidates for candidacy on nearly all seats in the state had raised lots of hopes. Ticket contenders had spent lakhs of rupees from their own resources, but now they have been left in the lurch, and more importantly Allavaru had also failed to answer their phones.

Barely a month after his closed-door meeting with Trinamool Congress national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee in September, former Kolkata Mayor and ex-Minister Sovan Chatterjee has once again stirred Bengal’s political cauldron. This time, he reportedly held a two-hour long private meeting with West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee during her recent visit to Darjeeling to oversee the aftermath of a natural disaster. Interestingly, while Sovan’s earlier meeting with Abhishek took place in the presence of his long-time companion Baisakhi Banerjee, his latest conversation with Mamata happened privately — despite Baisakhi being in Darjeeling on vacation. Though both camps have remained tight-lipped, sources close to Sovan claim he may re-enter active politics within the next couple of months, marking a potential return to the TMC fold. Speculation about Sovan’s comeback has surfaced multiple times. But, this time, insiders say the talks appear far more serious. Political observers believe the timing is crucial — hinting at possible internal rebalancing, especially amid mounting criticism of Kolkata Mayor and State Urban Development Minister Firhad Hakim, who is one of the closest aides of Didi. Hakim faced severe backlash, even within the party, over the city’s September deluge that killed 10 people and left large parts of Kolkata waterlogged for nearly 48 hours. His removal as HIDCO Chairman and his uneasy equation with Abhishek Banerjee have further fuelled speculation. Sovan’s history with Hakim is well-known. As Kolkata Mayor in 2010, Sovan worked alongside Hakim, then his deputy, but their relationship remained strained. Later, as Mamata consolidated power, Hakim rose to a cabinet position overseeing municipal bodies — including KMC. After resigning from both posts in 2018, Sovan briefly joined the BJP but soon withdrew from politics. Now, it is learnt that ‘ghar wapsi’ has begun, Sovan has been inducted as NKDA chairman which is basically under...

After much speculation, the Central Govt cleared Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s foreign travel on October 14. However, the MEA removed Saudi Arabia from Vijayan’s itinerary. Initially Vijayan had appeared sceptical about whether he would get the Centre’s nod for the official trip. For obvious reasons, the opposition Congress has assailed Vijayan’s Gulf tour as “a political stunt “aimed at influencing the assembly elections” due in May next year. Congress leader Cherian Philip alleged that Vijayan was touring the Gulf to raise election funds at the behest of the ruling CPM. Philip said the government had dipped into the “cash-strapped State treasury” to fund the CM’s overseas trip to mobilise funds at the behest of ruling CPI(M).It is interesting to note that Vijayan will be visiting Gulf countries which are home to the Lulu Group, which has been close to the Marxists and has preferred to invest in Kerala as well as the rest of India.

After successfully pushing through GST-2 reforms, PM Modi had been looking for innovative ideas for governance. It was this search for ideas to further fuel his Viksit Bharat that led to him to interact with about 85 secretary-level officers of the government on October 6. About two dozen secretary-level officers heading various ministries and departments actively participated in the discussions. It is learnt officers were thrilled with the personal interaction they had with the PM. Three days after the meeting, Cabinet Secretary TV Somanathan was already acting on their suggestions. On October 9, he wrote to the secretaries and asked them to roll out their ideas. Among the key points of action was promoting “indigenous development” of digital and social media platforms. The directive on digital platforms is significant as the number of internet subscribers in India as on March 2025 stood at 969.1 million, with most using foreign platforms like Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, YouTube and X. Significantly, PM Modi pushed for use of local platforms coinciding with the launch of Arattai, the messaging app developed by Tamil Nadu-based Zoho Corporation. Earlier, IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw posted on X that he was switching to Zoho’s homegrown office suite software. Likewise, Home Minister Amit Shah too switched his official email service to Zoho Mail. In his letter, the Cabinet Secretary had also dissuaded ministries/departments from avoidable litigation and filing unnecessary court cases and wasting resources. Officials were also told to reorient PhD programmes to promote innovation and development of new ideas, and technologies, through topics that fit the emerging needs of the country – and conceptualise awards at the international level to recognise excellence in various fields. Overall, the ministries have been asked to promote “Atmanirbharta” and reduce imports.

Recruitment scam seems to be the new normal. Now, the state of Odisha is rocked by the Sub-Inspector Recruitment Scam. The Opposition parties, BJD and Congress, have been staging demonstrations against the ruling BJP government demanding a CBI probe into the alleged irregularities in Combined Police Service Examination (CPSE) 2024. It is said that the written examination for recruitment of sub-inspectors conducted by the Odisha Police Recruitment Board was postponed after Berhampur Police busted a major recruitment racket with the arrest of 114 aspirants and three middlemen from the Odisha-Andhra Pradesh border on September 30. Subsequent investigation revealed the role of an “organised criminal syndicate” was in place to subvert the entire examination process and give job to people who were willing to pay speed money. Sources say such a scam cannot happen without the blessings of senior government officials. It is alleged that each Sub-Inspector post was being sold for Rs 25 lakh. Informed sources say the scam could be worth around Rs 200 crore. So far Vanik Coaching Centre in Odisha is in focus. In the last 15 months, 16 recruitment exams have been cancelled at the last moment, leaving job aspirants frustrated. The BJP-led government by chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi says the recent recruitment scam in police is the legacy of the previous Naveen Patnaik’s BJD government. When Short Post contacted DGP Y B Khurania he refused to comment saying, “he was going on leave”.  

Each time Kerala’s ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) attempts to appease Lord Ayyappa, something horribly goes wrong. With elections around the corner, first municipality in December 2025 and assembly elections in early 2026, the CPM-led LDF has been doing its best to appease Lord Ayyappa. The Kerala government held a Global Ayyappa Sangamam on the banks of river Pamba last month, in the name of commemorating the platinum jubilee of Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB), which manages Hindu temples across the state. The meets agenda also included promotion of pilgrim tourism and exploration of investment opportunities. The meet failed miserably when the Opposition Congress-led UDF and BJP opposed the meet. It ended in a whimper with very low attendance. The hype behind the meet led to the focus shifting to release of Ayyappa devotees arrested in the 2018 Sabarimala protest against the Supreme Court judgement permitting women of menstruating age to worship at the shrine. While devotees and people at large ignored the Supreme Court ruling, the LDF took special interest in implementing the Apex Court order by forcefully taking young women to the shrine with full police protection. This act left LDF not only alienating the Hindus in the state but also families of CPM cadres. The Left-oriented cadres, at least on paper may be atheists, but not their families.

Women journalists were conspicuous by their absence at a press conference by Taliban foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi at the Afghan embassy in New Delhi on October 10. The participation was limited to less than 20 reporters. The exclusion of women journalists sparked political outrage nationwide. Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra demanded that PM Modi clarify his position on the incident, calling it “an insult to India’s women journalists.” In a post on X she asked “If your recognition of women’s rights isn’t just convenient posturing from one election to the other, then how has this insult to some of India’s most competent women been allowed in our country, a country whose women are its backbone and its pride.” In a statement, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) clarified that it had no involvement in Muttaqi’s press interaction. The press conference was organised at the Afghanistan Embassy in New Delhi following bilateral talks between External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Muttaqi. TMC MP Mahua Moitra in a post on X attacked the government saying, “How dare our government allow Taliban foreign minister Amir Muttaqi to exclude women journalists & hold a ‘male-only’ news conference on Indian soil with full protocol? How dare @DrSJaishankar agree to this? & why did our emasculated spineless male journos remain in room?” Former Union Home Minister and senior Congress leader P Chidambaram also expressed shock and disappointment, saying “male journalists should have walked out in solidarity with their female colleagues.” During his bilateral meeting with Muttaqi, Jaishankar had announced that India would upgrade its Technical Mission in Kabul to the status of the Embassy of India. The Taliban minister will continue to be in India until October 16.

Janata Party President Navneet Chaturvedi filed his nomination for the lone Rajya Sabha seat out of seven from Punjab that became vacant when Sanjeev Arora resigned from RS after he was elected MLA from Ludhiana West seat on AAP ticket. Interestingly, unlike assemblies, Rajya Sabha nomination mandates sponsorship by 10 sitting MLAs and Chaturvedi claims support of 10 MLAs from AAP that currently rules Punjab. AAP officially announced the candidature of billionaire Rajendra Gupta, chairman Trident Group, with two decades as Punjab minister under erstwhile Akali Dal and then Congress state governments. Gupta recently resigned his post as vice chairman of the State Economic Policy and Planning Board and chairman of the Kali Devi temple advisory board in Punjab. Chaturvedi has little confidence that 60 AAP MLAs of the 92 MLAs (out of 117 totally elected MLAs of Punjab) would actually vote him to the upper house and yet, feels his nomination upsets the existing trend of two decades when the Rajya Sabha seats from the state have been an unopposed political affair thus far. “RS candidates should also reflect the people’s aspirations in Punjab, be well versed with peoples’ issues rather than business people to whom political parties literally sell Rajya Sabha seats. There is certainly an undercurrent within AAP about its party chief Arvind Kejriwal holding de facto CM post while dominating over official CM Bhagwant Mann. My consistent endeavor is to revive and rejuvenate the Janata Party that once boasted its own Prime Minister through then chief Morarji Desai,” says Chaturvedi.

RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav is apparently keen to move beyond the RJD’s traditional support base — the Yadavs and Muslims. It is being said that he is planning to contest the upcoming Bihar Assembly Election from two constituencies. Tejashwi currently represents the Raghopur seat. He is also toying with the idea of contesting from the Phulparas Assembly constituency in Madhubani district. The seat is currently held by Sheela Kumari of the JD(U). Phulparas is seen as a JD(U) stronghold. Significance of the Phulparas assembly seat is that it was once represented by notable OBC icon and former Bihar CM Karpoori Thakur — both incumbent CM Nitish Kumar and Lalu Yadav were seen as his followers. The Modi government had posthumously awarded Thakur Bharat Ratna in January 2024. His son, Ram Nath Thakur, is a MoS in the Modi government. Phulparas holds historical significance because Karpoori Thakur contested from the seat after becoming Chief Minister in 1977. Tejashwi believes that if he also contests from Phulparas, it could significantly influence the support of extremely backward castes in the Kosi and Seemanchal regions. In January this year, the RJD held a grand event in Phulparas to mark the birth anniversary of Karpoori Thakur, which Tejashwi attended. During the event, local leaders and supporters urged him to contest from the constituency. Meanwhile, CM Nitish Kumar’s son, Nishant Kumar, could enter the electoral fray in Bihar. The supporters of the CM have reportedly urged him to field Nishant in the upcoming elections, and speculation is rife that Nitish Kumar may heed their demand. According to party insiders, JDU leaders and workers are keen for Nishant to contest from the Harnaut Assembly seat in Nalanda. The final decision, however, rests with Nitish Kumar.