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Olympian Wrestler Vinesh Phogat joined the Congress and is all set to contest Haryana assembly elections from Julana seat. Famous for missing the silver medal by 100 gm in the Paris Olympics as she had breached the category in which she entered the contest, Vinesh had received a hero’s welcome as soon as she returned to India. She was given a grand welcome at Delhi airport by the Haryana Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda and his son, Deepinder. Her name was finalised as soon as she formally became a member. While wrestler Bajrang Punia has been appointed as working president of All India Kisan Congress. Entry of the wrestling icons, who are both Jats, means consolidation of Jat votes behind the Congress. Former CM Hooda is determined to make a comeback with Jat vote power after 10-year BJP rule in Haryana. Phogat termed her political innings as a new chapter and said that she will continue to work for the rights of other athletes. Referring to the ongoing sexual harassment case against former WFI chief and BJP leader Brij Bhushan Singh, she made it clear that only the Congress had understood “our tears”. “I will work for other athletes so that they don’t have to go through what we went through,” Phogat said. “I could have quit wrestling at Jantar Mantar because the BJP’s IT cell was publicising that we were spent forces. They said I did not want to play in the nationals but I did; they said I did not want to do trials, I did that… They said I could not go to the Olympics but I did… Unfortunately, it was not God’s will,” she said.
Maharashtra BJP president Chandrashekhar Bawankule’s latest allegation against NCP MP Supriya Sule has enraged her supporters. Supriya herself has vehemently refuted the charges and challenged him to produce the evidence to substantiate it. A staunch follower of BJP heavyweights Nitin Gadkari and Devendra Fadnavis, the BJP leader has stunned the state polity with his so-called disclosure. According to Bawankule, she had said, “If Fadnavis comes back to power, we will be nowhere and this will be the last election for Sharad Pawar and Uddhav Thackeray.” Different versions of Supriya’s directions to her party’s spokespersons regarding the coming elections are floating around. The general tenor of the reports is that she has indicated to them to go soft on chief minister Eknath Shinde and avoid any statement on Maratha leader Manoj Jarange but zero in on Fadnavis. Referring to these news stories, Bawankule has attacked Supriya while making his allegation. Taking him to task over his remarks, Supriya has challenged Bawankule to produce proof that she had asked her party spokespersons to hit only Fadnavis. “Show me a video making such a statement,” she has said. Fadnavis and Supriya are the two names which are repeatedly making rounds of the political grapevine as the next CM choice. Hence Bawankule’s advocacy of Fadnavis is hardly surprising. Other major parties in the state have so far kept away from this slanging match.
In the backdrop of the Modi government releasing a Rs 100 coin to mark birth centenary of DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi on August 18 and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh hailing him as “titan” of Indian politics, Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin has always been anxious to assure his allies in the secular INDIA Bloc that he is not inching close to the BJP. Away in the U.S. since the end of last month along with his wife Durga to pitch for foreign investment in his state, Stalin has been making it a point to enjoy ordinary things like working out at a gym in San Francisco or a bike ride near Lake Michigan in Chicago. His post on X, “Evening’s calm sets the stage for new dreams”, somehow caught the attention of Congress Leader Rahul Gandhi who replied to Stalin’s post with a playful comment, “Brother, when are we cycling together in Chennai?”. Responding to Gandhi, Stalin proposed a leisurely ride to explore the heart of Chennai. “Dear brother @Rahul Gandhi, whenever you’re free, let’s ride and explore the heart of Chennai together! A box of sweets is still pending from my side. After our cycling, let’s enjoy a delicious South Indian lunch with sweets at my home.” Incidentally, Rahul will also be briefly in the U.S. — September 8-10 — to interact with the Indian diaspora as well as key business and academic figures. This will be his first visit to the U.S. since the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, after the Congress made significant gains. His visit precedes PM Modi’s planned appearance at the UN General Assembly later in the month. Gandhi will visit Dallas and Washington DC during his time in the U.S.
Nationalist Congress Party president Sharad Pawar’s choice for the next Maharashtra CM will not be Uddhav Thackeray. This sensational claim made by DCM Devendra Fadnavis has further dented the campaign started by the Shiv Sena leader’s followers to project him as the future chief minister. Pawar and state Congress president Nana Patole have publicly negated Uddhav’s demand to declare the name of the next Maha Vikas Aghadi CM in advance. Both have reiterated that a decision in this regard will be taken at an appropriate time. The Sena (UBT) has maintained a stoic silence ever since on this issue, unlike its practice to react to any development, big or small, instantly. Using the opportunity of his interview taken by a private news channel, Fadnavis ridiculed the efforts being made to project Uddhav as the unanimous MVA leader in Maharashtra. Fadnavis did not mention any other name in this connection but left his remark hanging, so that enough suspense pervades the opposition camp. Pawar himself has added to the guessing game. Though he had claimed that his party would not be in the race for the post, he has now added another rider by stating that the party with the largest number of MLAs will stand the chance. Fadnavis rubbed Uddhav the wrong way by remarking that the three-day recent visit of the Sena leader to Delhi had failed to obtain Sonia Gandhi’s backing to his name for chief ministership. Uddhav’s backlash is awaited.
Six decades have gone by since it was incorporated in 1959 as a company with charitable objects under Section 25 of the Companies Act, 1956 (now Section 8, Companies Act, 2013). Ostensibly, it was set up with the object to promote the spread of knowledge across assorted areas – such as politics, culture, art, history, sports and the like – and disseminate news to the general public both about Indian and foreign affairs. United News Of India (UNI) is a multilingual news agency. Once upon a time, it was one of the largest news agencies in India with several hundred subscribers across the length and breadth of the country. Today, it is a shadow of its past. Struggling to survive, UNI has now come under the IBC (Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code) resolution process. A process to invite resolution was initiated in August last year. However, based on a decision taken by the Committee of Creditors, a “Round 2” of the entire Resolution Process for inviting EOI (Expression of Interest) for submission of Plans has been now initiated. With just about 175 employees and revenue of less than Rs 7 crore, this once iconic news agency is on the verge of extinction. With the whole media industry going through tough times, UNI is hoping for a light at the end of the tunnel. Will the resolution process throw up a Good Samaritan? Fingers are crossed, indeed.
Amid a series of electoral failures, including a hat-trick of zero wins in major elections, the CPI(M) in Bengal is facing growing internal pressure to reconsider its approach and hire an external political strategist. Alimuddin Street, party’s headquarters, has received feedback that the organization’s current state is “disgraceful” and it must consider “alternatives.” Most political parties – BJP, Cong, TMC, AAP and DMK — have from time to time roped in political strategists/consultants. For instance, the Trinamool Congress’s 2021 victory was largely credited to IPAC, led by Prashant Kishor. Likewise Congress party has benefited from strategic insights provided by Sunil Kanugolu. CPI(M) State Secretary Mohammad Salim stated that though the party cannot afford to hire a professional agency, professionalism must be increased. The party had hoped that its alliance with Congress for the Lok Sabha polls would increase its vote share. Leaders had predicted a three-way contest between Trinamool, BJP, and the Left-Congress combine. However, the reality was a two-way fight between Trinamool and BJP, leaving CPI(M) without a seat, and Congress lost key constituencies like Baharampur, where five-time MP Adhir Chowdhury was defeated by TMC’s Yusuf Pathan. Party insiders have highlighted organizational failures, including an inability to deploy agents in polling stations. Again, in the RG Kar incident relating to rape-murder of doctor, where the CPI(M) youth wing DYFI, led protests in Kolkata, the party failed to mobilize at the district levels. Also, it has alienated women voters in the state by terming the Lakshmi Bhandar scheme as “alms”.
Vishwajeet Kadam, who jolted the MVA alliance in the recent Parliamentary polls, is set to ruffle feathers again in the forthcoming Maharashtra assembly elections. Kadam, who backed Congress rebel Vishal Patil to victory over the MVA’s official Sena nominee, now seems to have the backing of the Congress high command this time too. The message was sent loud and clear when Rahul Gandhi flew down on September 5 to unveil his father –Patangrao Kadam’s statue in the presence of the entire top brass of Congress and even NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar. The prominent positioning of rebel Vishal Patil MP on the dais at the event, between the state Congress and NCP chief — Nana Patole and Jayant Patil — signalled Vishwajeet’s insistence to have things work his way. The high-profile event estimated to cost over Rs 50 crore, with over 1.5 lakh people housed in a Rs 8 crore canopy spread over 20 acres, was also meant to pitch Vishwajeet for the top slot in state politics. The absence of Uddhav Thackeray from the event clearly signalled that the friction between the Congress and Sena, is here to stay. Currently, of the eight legislative assemblies in Sangli, only two are held with Congress. Another two seats are held with the BJP, which is keen to wrest control of the prosperous sugar belt. The Congress, which has sensed victory in Maharashtra, after emerging with the highest tally among MVA partners in the recent LS polls, is in no mood to relent to their coalition partners’ demands. The NCP has been tamed while the recalcitrant Uddhav is being ignored. The Congress which wants to play the big brother could give Vishwajeet a free hand to chart party’s revival in the state.
Raja Randhir Singh may have triggered a fresh debate on whether administrators’ maximum tenure of 12 years is good for developing sport in India. India’s National Sports Development Code (NSDC) 2011 specifies terms, tenures, age, and cooling-off rules for sports federations. A five-time Olympian, several-time Asian Games participant in the Trap and Skeet shooting event, a gold and bronze medal winner has been an administrator for around four decades at the national and international sports bodies and is all set to become the 44th President of the Olympic Council of Asia wef September 8. In recent interactions, the 77-year-old former member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has said that Yoga will become a medal sport from the 2030 Asian Games, but more significantly, he touched upon an essential aspect of the governance structure and strict rules. He believes more than 12 years is needed for administrators at the sports bodies. While the NSC stipulates a 12-year time restriction for national sports federations, the Justice Lodha Committee report that the Supreme Court has endorsed stipulates a maximum period of nine years together at the State and BCCI and with a cooling off period after six years that was initially three years. Being an experienced hand, Raja Randhir may have a point that will only get full support from the BCCI, but the Apex Council of the country believes that sports federations cannot be a fiefdom for an individual or group of people. The BCCI has been lucky to get relief from the Supreme Court on the cooling-off period restriction, but they may hope for further ease in restrictions. Given a chance, both the BCCI and the sports federations would like the cooling-off period and tenure restrictions, junked!
Now that N Srinivasan-headed India Cements has changed hands, the focus is clearly on what will happen to Chennai Super Kings Ltd. Once a division of India Cements, CSK was spun off into an independent entity following the conflict of interest issue. Post-India Cements sale, the focus obviously has turned to CSK. Where is it heading? Well, Srinivasan and his family have now consolidated their holding in CSK. They have increased their stake in CSK to nearly 42% from just above 28% in March 2023. The promoters now hold 158,016,303 shares. They had 86,726,373 shares in March 2023. The equity share has a face value of Rs 0.10 (ten paise). CSK Ltd. is the owner of the Chennai franchise of the IPL (Indian Premier League) T-20 cricket team. With the player auction for the upcoming IPL season coming up soon, the consolidation of holdings by the Srinivasan family in CSK reflects the commitment and passion of the promoter group to the cause of cricket. Not surprisingly, the board of CSK has decided to elevate K Viswanathan, popularly known as Kasi, a close loyalist of Srinivasan, as the managing director for a three-year term. Well, the context may have changed following the sale of India Cements. Srinivasan and Co, nevertheless, is focussed like a blinkered-horse on furthering the cause of cricket.
Caste dynamics has political formations of India in a tizzy for the imminent Haryana state assembly elections with the BJP set to also launch a new poll strategy to dampen the Congress dream of a clean sweep in the Nuh belt of the state along with others where the minority vote plays a dominant role. The AAP and Congress vowed to fight solo after the zero-voter verdict their alliance evoked in Delhi’s seven Lok Sabha constituencies, then kissed and yet, to make up. While AAP wants 10 seats, Congress is willing to part with only seven. The SP too wants seats to field candidates in Muslim proliferated constituencies. Congress believes minority votes will accrue to itself, particularly in three assembly constituencies in Nuh region dominated Muslim voters. Only former Congress CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda appears worried over his political future. The BJP too, worried over anti-incumbency, wants to buck the political tide and announced 16 OBC candidates, 13 from Jat community with 17 reserved SC seats. Though the OBC community is the majority voter segment in Haryana, Jat community always holds sway over political affairs be it the Lal clan troika (Bansi Lal, Devi Lal) or the Chautala clan among dominant segments of farmer leaders. The BJP elevated another community leader Kiran Choudhary to the Rajya Sabha and will also accommodate her daughter for state assemblies. Similarly, late Jat leader Ajit Singh’s son Jayant Choudhary was inducted into the NDA alliance for the Haryana assembly. The BJP has topped up its poll plans by clearing a slew of farmer packages in the state before the elections were notified in the state to include most of the crops sown in Haryana under the ambit of its MSP protection.
Telangana Chief Minister and TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao wants to rebrand his party as Bharat Rashtra Samiti on the premise that he wants it to grow nationally. The whispers inside his own party are that their chief honcho is guided by astrologers who seem to have picked on the name ‘TRS’ as the reason why it won’t do well in the next polls. In fact, short of saying he may be heading for defeat for the first time since the State of Telangana was formed and the party its leading votary formed sweeping the polls twice, soothsayers may have warned KCR that the stars don’t foretell a great future beyond the elections that are due in 2023 in the state. By rebranding his party through a change to Bharat, KCR believes he can build on his national ambitions by seeking to expand beyond Telangana boundaries. While it is moot if the party can so much as seek to do well even in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, it’s likely KCR is thinking of projecting himself in the Hindi belt, towards which he would like to take on the avatar of a national leader, beginning with an active role in the Presidential polls in July. What the stars portend may be a fear driving him but KCR is convinced that a national role awaits him.
BJP has woken up to the harsh reality of difficulty in dividing Bengal politically. This realisation saw BJP Chief JP Nadda telling partymen not to rake up the Bengal bifurcation issue in public. Some BJP leaders were pushing for a separate state/Union territory status for North Bengal from the state’s western plateau. This change of heart comes even as TMC postures on unity in political diversity making BJP top leader thinks it is inopportune time to be treading on the statehood landmine and getting perceived as dividers of Bengal. BJP’s MLA numbers are down owing to cross-overs to the TMC. Nine local BJP MLAs have written a letter to Nadda expressing displeasure over recent organisational changes in the state. More importantly, with the Presidential election in July, 2023 panchayat elections and 2024 Lok Sabha elections, BJP’s top brass won’t risk slicing Bengal politically for the time being. BJP has also realised that there is no common cause among political parties in North Bengal. “The splitting of Bengal is far from being over, BJP has pressed the pause button for now”, analysts say. So, for now the party is focussed on consolidation fearing its anti-Mamata and divide Bengal politics may boomerang.
A lot of meaning is being read into the way NCP Chief Sharad Pawar praised BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis for winning all the 3 seats his party contested. Pawar praised Fadnavis for succeeding in working the “miracle” of weaning away independent MLAs from rival camps using “different means”. He said that there was nothing shocking in the election results, in which a Shiv Sena candidate Sanjay Pawar lost to BJP’s Dhananjay Mahadik. “One has to accept the miracle in which BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis succeeded in weaning away independent MLAs and also those from smaller parties, who would have otherwise supported the MVA. He was successful in bringing people (independent MLAs) close to him by using different means,” said Pawar. Congress sources said the two AIMIM MLAs who extended support to the MVA Government didn’t vote for Sena candidate Sanjay Pawar but only Cong-NCP. Sena MP Sanjay Raut, who scraped through the polls, however down played BJP’s accomplishment. Political buzz is that the NCP could soon stake its claim to lead the government in Maharashtra. It is being said Pawar would like to see his daughter Supriya Sule installed as the state CM. The MVA Government under Uddhav Thackeray has completed two and half years in office. Guess it must be NCP’s turn now at the top.
Maharashtra Congressmen simply cannot get over the fact that they had to elect AICC minority cell head Imran Pratapgarhi to the Rajya Sabha. It was a tough call to elect an outsider for the single seat that fell vacant in the state. But then it was a whip from Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. So all the 44 MLAs duly voted Pratapgarhi. Yet what is riling many party seniors is how Pratapgarhi, a well-known poet-qawwaali singer, had played hard to get during the 2019 assembly election campaign. State party managers recalled when asked to do some shows in Muslim-majority pockets in western Maharashtra, the snooty poet had quoted Rs 2 lakh per show. It was a price the state unit found too high to afford. Pratapgarhi had lost from Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. Today, Maharashtra has quietly sent him to Rajya Sabha, hoping he may not send a huge bill for the campaign again. In this context, old timers recall how when veteran Ghulam Nabi Azad was sent to the Rajya Sabha for one term in the 90s there was a howl of protest. That too after he had already been twice elected to Lok Sabha from Washim in Maharashtra.
The term of the first ever President from BJP-RSS, Ram Nath Kovind, is getting over and the race for succession has been throwing up interesting names. While the Modi-Amit Shah-RSS chief trio may come up with an outreach name of their own choice to spring a surprise as they did last time, the importance of the person holding the post in 2024 in having to decide who to call to form the government is not to be underestimated. The odds are the name will be acceptable to allies on whom the BJP will be relying to get its candidate past the post. Kovind got more than two-thirds of the vote, which may not happen in these more polarised times. But the BJP is certain it will seal the numbers as the Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party(YSRCP) will be its banker. YS Jagan Mohan Reddy is an ally who has never stepped out of line, maybe because of his experience with the central agencies before sweeping the polls to become Andhra CM. The result is not in doubt thanks to Jagan deciding to stick with the rulers. The UPA has been toying with various names, including that of Nandan Nilekani whose brainchild is Aadhaar, but it lacks the numbers to make any great impression on Presidential polls that have always been won by the candidate of the ruling dispensation.
Post the embarrassment of fire-fighting utterances of the now sacked party voices Nupur Sharma and Naveen Jindal, the BJP has come up with new guidelines for its spokespersons appearing on TV shows. As per the new guidelines, only the official spokespersons and panelists will now be allowed to appear on TV debates. The party’s media cell has been charged with assigning spokespersons for the talk shows on TV channels. The party will once again go back to the old system when spokespersons were briefed by senior leaders or ministers such as the late Arun Jaitley or Sushma Swaraj. Looks like the media cell will once again be guided by senior party leaders or ministers. For a while spokespersons have been operating autonomously, relying on their own understanding of the subject. The media cell has been sorely missing critical inputs of someone like Shrikant Sharma — now a minister in the Yogi Government — who used to give briefs to spokespersons before they went on air. Sharma used to ensure that no one crossed the line or made any controversial comment. As per the new advisory, spokespersons have been advised to research on the topic of debate before they go on air and prepare themselves keeping in mind the party line.
A message has gone out to DMK party members from the Stalin household to mind their language in public. A full licence has been given to keep knocking the Centre over Hindi and NEET but don’t get into caste politics by dragging names of communities is the message. Stalin has mastered the art of saying it nicely even if he is diametrically opposed to the Centre and its Governor but many down the line may have lost their way in packaging their messages. The DMK MP TKS Elangovan’s rant against Hindi imposition would have been fine with the party except for the twist given in dragging caste into it with the word “shudras”. The higher education minister K Ponmudy had also raved against Hindi and he also overstepped in calling all Hindi speaking people as “Paani-puri wallahs” but the humour had struck home. Having won the battle against caste hierarchy long ago after having come to power in 1967, the DMK would like to keep social justice as an ideological peg and not give it a spin by airing caste politics. Their high command may have enjoyed the divisions among the AIADMK over the BJP trying to take over, at least in voice, as the main opposition in the State but it does not wish to get tangled in rhetoric taking over practical politics.
Ever since election strategist Prashant Kishor walked out on the Congress, many tried filling into his shoes. Even his understudy turned rival, poll strategist Sunil Kanugolu has now become part of the Congress task force for the 2024 general elections. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi constantly seeks someone to give him an edge over PM Narendra Modi. It is in this light that a recent tweet by Sudheendra Kulkarni caught the attention of Congressmen in Karnataka. On May 22, Kulkarni tweeted that he had conducted a training camp for Congress karyakartas in Bengaluru in Sarvagnangar assembly constituency of party MLA KJ George. IIT-Bombay educated Kulkarni was a speechwriter for former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee. A native of north Karnataka, he also handled senior BJP leader LK Advani’s 2009 election campaign. He is credited for Advani’s praise of Jinnah’s speech in May 2005 during the Pak visit. Congress sources say Kulkarni is yet to join the party. Kulkarni was a student of Jairam Ramesh’s father at IIT, Bombay and it is possible Jairam may have introduced him to Rahul Gandhi. In the 2009 Lok Sabha polls, after BJP failed to win, Kulkarni exited the BJP. Then, BJP leader Muktar Abbas Naqvi had said Kulkarni was never a member of the BJP.
Days after popular Punjabi singer Sidhu Moose Wala was murdered, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi visited his family in Mansa district on Tuesday, June 7, to offer his condolences. Sidhu Moose Wala had joined the Congress in December 2021 and unsuccessfully contested from the Mansa seat in the 2022 Punjab state assembly elections. Rahul’s visit to the singer’s family in their native village of Moosa was interesting in the backdrop of Moose Wala’s parents meeting with Home Minister Amit Shah on June 4 at Chandigarh airport. At the meeting, Moose Wala’s father Balkaur Singh had demanded a probe by central intelligence agencies into the brutal murder of his son in Mansa on May 29. Rahul Gandhi was abroad at the time and returned over the weekend. His sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra had also planned to visit the Moose Wala family. But it was finally decided that it would be Rahul. With a number of Congress leaders joining the BJP in Punjab, Rahul’s visit to the state assumes importance, party sources said. Rahul was accompanied by several Congress leaders including Punjab Congress chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring and LOP in the Punjab Assembly Partap Singh Bajwa. Yet some MLAs, apparently those close to Priyanka Vadra, like Suhkpal Singh Khaira felt miffed as they were not included in Rahul’s itinerary.
Playing a master stroke is a habit with Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. But, the latest one caught his band of ministers by surprise. Emboldened by the recent bypoll win in Brajrajnagar and the Panchayat polls earlier, Patnaik did the apparently unthinkable –asking all his ministers to resign en masse on Saturday (June 4) and rejigged the 21-member new cabinet with new faces the next day. Non-performers were shown the door. Surprisingly, Governor Ganesh Lal approved the entire exercise without quibbles. In simpler words Modi’s dispensation did not throw any spanners in the works. Seasoned politicians from Odisha say no Odisha Chief Minister ever, including Naveen’s father Biju Patnaik, had the audacity to do what he did at such a short notice. His decision was with some purpose. Naveen babu clearly wants his party BJD to sweep the 2024 Lok Sabha election in Odisha. To ensure the win, he did away with deadwood, controversial ministers and sycophant advisors. While 20 ministers quit, Naveen gave cabinet berths to only nine. Five women and, seven people elected from western Odisha, considered a stronghold of BJP were also accommodated. Some political analysts are calling it a shock therapy while others are saying it’s Patnaik’s winning strategy. There is no denying that Patnaik remains an undisputable hero for some time to come.
It seems wives in the Samajwadi Party have lost out on party tickets, whether for the Rajya Sabha or, even for Lok Sabha by-elections. SP men simply aren’t willing to risk their better halves in UP under Yogi. First it was Dimple Yadav, wife of SP chief Akhilesh Yadav who couldn’t win a nomination to Rajya Sabha as the RS ticket went to RLD chief Jayant Chaudhary. No wonder when Akhilesh Yadav met senior leader Azam Khan in the hospital, after the latter’s release from jail, a clash ensued between the two over the question of fielding candidates for two upcoming Lok Sabha by-elections. Akhilesh wanted to field wife Dimple from Azamgarh, the Lok Sabha seat he vacated to retain his assembly seat of Karhal, even as Azam Khan was against it during their couple of hours long meeting. Finally, Akhilesh picked his first cousin Dharmendra Yadav to contest from Azamgarh. Similarly, Azam Khan initially proposed his wife Dr Tanzeem Fatima but, later opted for SP city president Asim Raza for the Rampur Lok Sabha by-polls. “Earlier it was Dr Tanzeen Fatima but Raza will be contesting now. He is one of the loyal workers we have,” Khan said in Rampur. The BJP has fieIded Dinesh Lal Yadav, who is asking for a vote for “your development”.
A day after receiving flak for all out appeasement of Gulf countries and suspensions of BJP spokespersons Nupur Sharma and Naveen Kumar Jindal, over controversial statements regarding a religious entity, India is standing its ground while dealing with the Organisation of Islamic Countries (OIC). The Ministry of External Affairs on June 6 cited an OIC statement asking it to stop pursuing a “communal approach and show due respect to all faiths and religions”. “The Government of India (GoI) categorically rejects the OIC Secretariat’s unwarranted and narrow-minded comments. The GoI accords the highest respect to all religions,” the MEA statement stated adding that “offensive tweets and comments denigrating a religious personality were made by certain individuals. And that they do not, in any manner, reflect views of the GoI.” The MEA had earlier referred to Sharma and Jindal as fringe elements on June 5. BJP sources say Nupur, an Arun Jaitley protégé and Naveen Jindal were too ambitious and not in sync with the official party line; while perpetually competing to impress party bosses. During TV debates Nupur flaunted her skills in shaming fellow panellists. Only this time, her one upmanship blemished efforts by the PM to improve India’s ties with Gulf nations. The ‘y’ category security accorded to Sharma, however, remains unchanged particularly in view of threats issued to her.
The BJP has devised a master plan for the three southern States that are the last bastions against the right – Andhra, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The party has been stepping on the toes of regional parties, predominantly in Tamil Nadu, where they have been showing a tendency of setting the cat among the pigeons. The latest friction concerns former Jayalalithaa confidante VK Sasikala. When asked whether the BJP would accept her into their party, Nainar Nagendran said that indeed they would. This set off tremors with senior AIADMK leader C Ponnaiyan wondering whether the growth of BJP was good for the State’s two Dravidian majors who have been ruling the roost alternately over the last 55 years. BJP chief Annamalai stepped in to clarify that the comment represented an individual viewpoint and that only the BJP’s Parliamentary board may decide on high-profile political entrants. So long as the two former CMs – EPS and OPS – stay glued together, there is little threat of BJP admitting the eternal political wannabe Sasikala – a backroom manipulator until her attempt at becoming CM was shot down by the top court. PM Narendra Modi also wants the AIADMK honchos to stay united and not be drawn into divisions. But, in case a split does come about, the BJP might just use the Sasikala card.
The Tata IPL-15 came as a welcome breather for quarrelling factions within the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) who shifted their focus to conducting the 21 league matches. The MCA was able to deploy its resources to run the games virtually incident-free. The association earned much praise from BCCI Secretary Jay Shah and Rs 12 plus crore for bailing out the BCCI in these pandemic times. However, an uneasy calm prevails now in MCA’s corridors of power over the matter of accepting Justice (Retd) Dilip Babasaheb Bhosale as its Ethics Officer and Ombudsman (EOO). Multiple sources caught in the vortex of the sensitive matter told shortpost.in that former MCA President Sharad Pawar, who still commands a lot of clout in matters of the association, is in favour of Justice Bhosale’s appointment. He is the son of former Maharashtra Chief Minister Babasaheb Bhosale and a former Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court. The reason for rancour is that Justice Bhosale was appointed at an AGM, the present MCA Apex Council had actually called off, but still conducted by a fair number of members, who elected a chair and obtained post-facto validation from senior advocate Darius Khambata. Now, the Apex Council, due for elections in a few months, is showing the barndoor defence to all persuasions!
Following singer Sidhu Moosewala’s broad daylight murder, the Punjab government has been directed by the High Court to restore the security cover of 424 people, which it had earlier withdrawn. During a hearing in the Punjab & Haryana High Court, the AAP government had claimed it had withdrawn the security of 424 people only for a few days. Responding to a PIL moved by a Congress leader OP Soni against his security down-grade, the government told the court that the security covers of the 424 VIPs would be restored after Ghallughara Diwas on June 6, which is observed as a day of protest against Operation Blue Star. Incidentally, a day before Moosewala’s murder, the AAP government had highlighted it as ‘crackdown on VIP culture’ on social media. But then the government got cornered only because of Moosewala’s death. In a plea against his security downgrade, Congress leader Soni wanted to know how a report of security withdrawal with a list of VIPs came into the public domain. It is being said that Punjab police is being stretched beyond state borders to provide security cover to Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal; also special cover for his key aide for Punjab area — Raghav Chadha. Chadha, a Rajya Sabha MP almost functions like a de facto Punjab CM.
BJP’s firebrand and outspoken Odisha MP Aparajita Sarangi, who is also BJP’s National Spokesperson, well known for her high decibel opposition pitch against BJD CM Naveen Patnaik missed out on a berth in the BJP’s newly constituted 17-member Odisha Core Committee. BJP President JP Nadda heads the committee. Only long serving senior BJP members with relevant experience apart from others the BJP thinks will add value and insight have been inducted. Some core committee members include: Baijayant Panda, Dr Sambit Patra, Jual Oram, Pratap Sarangi, Dharmendra Pradhan, Ashwini Vaishnaw, Biseswar Tudu, Suresh Pujari, Samir Mohanty and Sangeeta Kumari Singh Deo. This Odisha Core committee has been formed to prepare for the 2024 general election. The purpose of this committee is to chalk out BJP’s blueprint for the state to win as many seats from Odisha in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. The Committee will sit together, think together and work together taking stock of progress made on a monthly basis. Clearly, BJP has understood the need to reinvent itself since the agenda of criticizing Naveen Patnaik and his party Biju Janata Dal BJD did not cut much ice with the people or even taken them anywhere.
On May 26, Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Chennai, where he launched Rs 31,000 crore worth of centrally-funded projects in Tamil Nadu despite which, Chief Minister MK Stalin tried to humiliate him. Two days later, Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu went all out to praise late DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi while unveiling his statue in Chennai. As soon as Naidu agreed to unveil the Dravidian stalwart’s statue, BJP cadre had opposed the move on social media. Naidu accepted the DMK invite as it seems the end of the road for him as his term ends in August. The DMK was elated. The party’s mouthpiece Murasoli, in its editorial showered encomiums on Naidu over his speech. The paper also dwelt on Karunanidhi’s long and strong association with Naidu. It said he had replied to the party’s critics during his speech. It recalled his comments when Karunanidhi was arrested in 2001 by the erstwhile AIADMK-led government. It was equally happy that Naidu had taken pot-shots at the step-motherly treatment that the BJP led government was meting out to the state governments led by Opposition parties. “If the States grow, the country grows,” he said. What does Naidu gain by pandering to DMK? He will never be Modi’s candidate for Rashtrapati. So, is he trying to position himself as the Opposition candidate for Raisina Road?
After an all-party meeting when Bihar CM Nitish Kumar announced a caste-based survey in the state, he appeared a bit triumphant. He could not conceal his happiness that he had driven a wedge between the state BJP and the Centre on the issue. The Centre had expressed its inability to conduct a caste census after the experience of socio-economic survey of 2011 census. He had the satisfaction that Bihar BJP leaders were fully backing the caste survey. Bihar BJP chief Sanjay Jaiswal denied there was difference between the Centre and the state unit on the caste survey. “Let us get one thing clear: what the Bihar government is going to undertake is a caste survey, not a census. Census comes under the Seventh Schedule and that it falls within remit of the Centre. As for Caste survey, Bihar is not the only state to undertake such a survey. Telangana, Karnataka has already done it.” He pointed out that BJP’s support for the caste survey was incumbent on keeping out Rohingyas and Bangladeshi Muslims. Also keeping out certain Muslims from claiming OBC status. Politically, of course, it is seen that Nitish Kumar has pushed the caste survey idea because the Centre had introduced a quota for the economically weaker section. With the lines of social justice getting blurred among parties, the JDU has been desperately trying to push “contradictions” within the BJP and failing.
It is amazing how Chennai-based Achimuthu Shankar has transformed himself from a social media journalist to a whistle blower folk hero. He gained both fame and notoriety as Savukku Shankar, choosing a self-styled sobriquet. Savukku in Tamil means whip. Shankar who started his vigilante career in the TN Directorate of Vigilance & Anti-Corruption, had extraordinary talent to sniff out corrupt deals. Naturally, this angered a vast array of bureaucrats and politicians in TN. Savukku paid the price; he was jailed and tortured for two months. Currently he is once again in the news for the wrong reasons though. His name along with BJP leader Maridass appear in a hastily filed FIR by overzealous TN police against the 90-year-old media house, Ananda Vikatan and its sister publication Junior Vikatan. Junior Vikatan, a bi-weekly tabloid, exposed the phenomenally murky growth of a real estate conglomerate, G Square, alleged to be close to the first family, which turned sensational. The FIR indirectly warned “zealous “journos and vigilantes of certain Lakshman Rekhas they should not cross. This police action saw journalists across Chennai raising a storm of protest. These protests coincided around the time of the Prime Minister’s planned visit to the state. Top police officials, fearing journalists may greet the PM with black bands, quietly withdrew the FIR against Vikatan Press, Shankar and Maridass.
There is much disquiet within the Congress over its list for Rajya Sabha elections next month. Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Vadra have nixed senior Congress leaders including Ghulam Nabi Azad and Anand Sharma, the torch bearers of the G-23 grouping, in their quest for a Rajya Sabha berth from Rajasthan and Haryana. Sharma, confident that friend Bhupinder Hooda would get him elected to RS finds himself stranded, as Rahul has thrust AICC in charge of Rajasthan Ajay Maken, who partly handled Punjab upon Hooda. Chattisgarh CM Bhupesh Bhagel, who publicly pitched for Priyanka as a RS candidate was told to get Rajiv Shukla elected. Party sources say Baghel’s aversion to giving another term to retiring MP Chhaya Verma had prompted him to accept the Bihari candidate Ranjeet Ranjan. Of the 10 candidates, only P Chidambaram is contesting from home ground Tamil Nadu. Priyanka has imposed Imran Pratapgarhi, an AICC Minorities Cell chief, a young rabble-rouser from UP on Maharashtra Congressmen. Priyanka also sent another favourite from UP Pramod Tewari to Rajasthan. Rahul got fanboy Randeep Surjewala a RS berth from the same state. All this rush made Sanyam Lodha, an MLA in poll-bound Rajasthan to raise the son of soil bogey. AICC functionary Jitendra Baghel wants a break-up of candidates as the UP BJP list represents an array of castes.
Bihar politics is apparently on the cusp of an implosion with Chief Minister Nitish Kumar refusing to nominate to Rajya Sabha Union Steel Minister RCP Singh, his one-time number two in Janata Dal United (JDU). By denying Singh a third term in Rajya Sabha, Nitish has ensured that he will have no one from his party in Narendra Modi’s cabinet. With RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav further getting embroiled in the IRCTC scam and the CBI registering FIR against Lalu Prasad Yadav his wife Rabri Devi, daughters Misa and Hema, for taking land from candidates in exchange for jobs in Railways between 2008-2009, Nitish Kumar’s option of walking out on the BJP to join hands with a tainted RJD also don’t exist. At present, his party with 44 MLAs is supported by BJP which has 77 MLAs. JDU sources said RCP Singh got into trouble because of his public praise of PM Modi. “Nitish wants slaves. If only RCP Singh had praised Nitish along with Modi, he would have remained a minister,” rued a JDU leader. Modi may use him in Bihar. Probably why Singh actually expressed his “gratitude” to Nitish after being denied a Rajya Sabha seat. “I am grateful to him. Whatever he has decided is in my interest.” Of the 44 JDU MLAs, Singh holds sway over a majority.
Is Rajasthan too going Punjab way for the Congress ahead of the 2023 assembly polls? In a grim reminder to what used to be complaints against Capt Amarinder Singh for excessively relying on bureaucrats, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot is facing similar complaints from one of his ministers who publicly offered to step down. In a tweet, Sports Minister Ashok Chandna said: “Honourable Chief Minister, I have a personal request to you, that by freeing me from this cruel ministerial post, the charge of all my departments should be given to Kuldeep Rankaji, because anyway he is the minister of all the departments. Thank you.” Chandna’s protest should worry Gehlot as it comes ahead of Rajya Sabha elections next month — he is the second MLA to raise a banner of revolt. The first dissenting note was struck by tribal leader and MLA Ganesh Ghogra who had a row with the state bureaucracy over land deed distribution. Ghogra resigned on May 18 saying that despite being an MLA of the ruling party, he is being ignored. Turbulence in the Congress is of course sweet music to the BJP. Yet it will be important to see how Gehlot survives this attack within. That too when it’s not coming from a usual suspect like Sachin Pilot.
Former Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu, who has been sentenced to one-year rigorous imprisonment for a case of road rage that ended in death of a person, will now be working as a clerk at the Central Jail of Patiala. And believe it or not the test cricketer has to even undergo a training of three months for this job. He will be paid a daily wage of Rs 30-90 which will be credited to his bank account. He will essentially be taught how to brief lengthy court judgments to prison inmates and compile jail records. It might indeed seem quite an effort for a man who wanted to be Chief Minister of Punjab. Yet at the same time Sidhu has been spared the travails of having to eat jail food. That is because of his special medical condition. According to media reports, since Sidhu has been diagnosed with obesity and metabolic disorder such as pulmonary embolism and left-leg deep vein thrombosis, he has been advised to follow a diet chart. He has been advised a high fibre, low carbohydrate and low fat diet primarily comprising fruits and vegetables. Early in the morning, he will be given Rosemary tea, white gourd juice or coconut water, while for breakfast he will be served a cup of lactose-free milk with one tablespoon of flax, sunflower, melon and chia seeds mixture.
India has extended more than just emergency aid, arranged for finance from the IMF, door delivered medicines, foodgrains and fuel to our trouble-torn neighbour, Sri Lanka. The scale of this spontaneous and timely humanitarian aid is now overshadowed by raising the issue of repossessing the Kachchatheevu island, a 285 sq km land area in the Palk Straits, a mere 17 km south of Rameshwaram. In 2013, the Tamil Nadu Assembly passed a Resolution about reclaiming Kachchatheevu, and now the DMK government headed by MK Stalin is pushing for it. Reason: Recurring skirmishes between the two nations, incidences of arrests of Indian fishermen. They are regularly detained and punished by the Sri Lankan Navy. Reportedly, the new Sri Lankan PM is planning to accede Kachchatheevu to India for a 99-year lease. India ceded Kachchatheevu in 1974, but has not succeeded in getting Sri Lanka to sign a mutually advantageous deal. As recently as March 5, 2022, when both countries held a virtual meeting of the 5th Working Group of Fisheries, India requested a humane approach to this issue. It is learnt that during PM Narendra Modi’s visit to Tamil Nadu and Stalin may bring this vexatious issue up with him.
Bihar is undergoing political sickness, with the BJP and JDU drifting apart. The alliance came apart due to Nitish Kumar’s newfound love for Lalu Prasad Yadav. CBI raids followed and recovered hard evidence against the Yadav family, in the land-for-railway-jobs scam. The CBI, sources point out, may arrest multiple family members among Laloo’s big family. Tejaswi Yadav was in London with RaGa when the raids occurred. Union Home Minister Amit Shah has felled many birds with one stone, cutting Nitish Kumar down to size for breaking ranks and for sleeping with the enemy is nothing new for him. The CBI actions have cut off political options Kumar planned with the RJD due to the railway scam where job aspirants parted with 5 to 10 bighas of land for government jobs. Clearly, Nitish Kumar finds himself between the devil and the deep blue sea. No Congress option to go to, since Bihar’s Congress party will likely switch over to the BJP with his own party facing an imminent collapse. Shah has underlined his remote control over the Bihar government from New Delhi and emphasized plans by BJP to take over Bihar’s political administration, sooner than later. And the Congress is silent for the moment.
In a major setback to the Congress, senior leader Kapil Sibal quit the party and filed his nomination for the Rajya Sabha as an independent candidate backed by the Samajwadi Party. SP Chief Akhilesh Yadav was present when he filed his papers. Sibal said he now wishes to be an independent voice in Parliament and added that he resigned from the Congress on May 16, a day after the Udaipur Navsankalp Shivir concluded. Sibal is the third Congress leader to quit after Sunil Jakhar and Hardik Patel. Interestingly, Sibal’s move to quit came a day after Congress President Sonia Gandhi accommodated most of the G-23 leaders in two panels she set-up as a follow-up on the Udaipur declaration. Sibal, who was the main brain trust behind the G-23 leaders’ move to demand accountability and transparency of Congress leadership two years ago, had skipped the Udaipur meet. It is being said Sibal was actually spoiled for choice as far as Rajya Sabha seat goes — RJD leader Lalu Prasad Yadav and JMM chief Hemant Soren were both keen to field him. Sonia Gandhi was not keen to sponsor Sibal as party candidate in the wake of his recent public averment on the leadership of the party. Gandhis are presumably upset with Sibal because of the reverses they have suffered in the National Herald case.
In a bold move, the BJP national leadership has decided not to accommodate BY Vijayendra, second son of former Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa, to the Karnataka Legislative Council for the upcoming June 3 Legislative Council elections. The BJP can win four of the seven seats of the Legislative Council for which MLAs will elect the members. The party has picked up former Deputy CM Laxman Savadi, secretary of the BJP state unit Hemalatha Nayak, president of BJP SC Morcha Chalavadi Narayanaswamy and S Keshavaprasad. Interestingly, Vijayendra’s name was recommended by the state BJP core committee. But central leaders decided against it. With one son BY Raghvendra, already a Lok Sabha MP, Yediyurappa himself a MLA, the BJP was not keen to give ticket to one more family member. It was felt Yediyurappa’s every wish had been accommodated – including his close aide Shobha Karandlaje being made a Union Minister. Of course the reason for denying MLC ticket to Vijayendra is because he had been exploring the possibility of setting up a breakaway political group – revisiting Karnataka Janata Paksha set up by his father during 2013 assembly polls. Reports of his meetings with Congress leader Siddaramiah have also emerged. With this action, the BJP has sought to grow out of Yediyurappa narrative. The party is betting on Bommai’s governance and Modi’s leadership.
At first it just seemed ambitious Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, popularly known as KCR, was taking a leaf out of the play book of his Tamil Nadu counterpart MK Stalin. Just as Stalin had visited Delhi in April, met with AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal and visited a Delhi Government school to learn about “innovation in education” KCR followed a similar schedule. Except that the Telangana leader added an extra dimension to the Delhi visit — reaching out to farmers. He made pay-outs to families of farmers who died during the course of the agitation against the now-repealed central farm laws. He travelled with Kejriwal to Chandigarh to hand over cheques worth Rs 3 lakh to 24 farmer families from Punjab and five from Haryana. The two CMs were joined by Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann. Would these pay-outs help Telangana farmers? Of course, not. Rao lauded Punjab farmers for fighting the farm laws that were rolled back “If farmers want, they can change government. It is not a big thing. From where the power comes, it comes from us,” he said. Ironically, farmers in Punjab are now up in arms against the AAP Government for a whole range of issues including a bonus on wheat, MSP for maize and waiving of loans.
Former CMs of Tamil Nadu Edappadi Palaniswami (EPS) and O Panneerselvam (OPS) have agreed upon one seat each for the Rajya Sabha elections due on June 10 but, the process got held up as EPS shot down one name proposed by OPS. While EPS’ choice is senior party leader S Semmalai, the proposal of OPS to nominate Syed Khan from Theni district is a problem because he had convened a district meeting calling for Sasikala’s return to the party fold. Meanwhile, sensing an opportunity, senior leader and former minister Jayakumar from Chennai has sought a nomination to the Rajya Sabha. With ongoing investigations against him by the DVAC besides charges being pressed by the ruling DMK, Jayakumar has pleaded for the seat in a bid to ease off the heat on him once he becomes a member of the Upper House. A vocal critic of the Stalin rule and one of his party’s spokespersons, the senior member was under pressure lately. There are other former ministers too seeking the seat and fomenting tensions in the ties between the two senior leaders, currently in total control of the party and in harmony after settling the Sasikala issue by agreeing to keep her out. While Semmalai seems a shoo-in, the second candidate could be just about anyone.
Changing names of roads, landmarks is the favourite pastime of Indian politicians. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin is no different. He plans to rename the famous East Coast Road leading to Mahabalipuram to Kalaignar Karunanidhi Road. Questions abound whether Stalin is emulating the BJP that rampantly changed names of places and cities, as Allahabad was renamed Prayagraj, notwithstanding expected protests. Stalin won’t stop at roads alone, it seems and is striking at the very roots of devotion and the Saivite culture. Thiruvarur Ther is a revered car festival that gained in grandeur and devotion over the ages from the Chola kings’ time, with the chariot of Thiruvarur Thiagaraja Swamy being Asia’s biggest temple chariot at 96 ft height and 300 tonne weight. Stalin plans to change the name of the temple car street from Thiruvarur Ther Veedhi to Kalaignar Veedhi. Thiruvarur is the birthplace of the Carnatic Music triumvirate –Thiyagaraya, Muthuswami Dikshitar and Syma Sastri. Thirukkuvalai, in the hinterland of Thiruvarur is the birthplace of the Late Kalaignar. This name change prompted a massive protest rally by dvdvideosoft premium activation key the BJP. Seeing the huge round of protest the DMK government decided to dial down for now has put the name change plan on hold. Seeing BJP’s protest a proshow producer crack italiano wag commented, sauce for the goose, is sauce for the gander. True That.
The recent strike by the 1800-odd water tankers operators in Mumbai (May 9-13) showed how Mumbai city gets its way despite contrary stipulations. The operators had stalled supply of non-potable water to the city following restrictions introduced by the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB), effective from April 1, 2022. The new stipulations cap ground water extraction by commercial water tankers to 15 tankers full water per well. Tankers must also fill water within a 200 metres radius of a borewell, set up a digital water flow meter with telemetry and get no-objection certification for water extraction. The water tanker lobby also provides non-potable water for various critical projects in the city like the Coastal Road project (300 tankers of water daily@ 10,000 litres per tanker), Mumbai Trans Harbour project (80 tankers), railways (150 tankers). They also supply water to various building construction sites and hospitals and even residential societies. Not surprisingly, Mumbai was badly hit and the state government intervened assuring them of taking up the issue with the Centre. While CGWB introduced the regulations, it does not even have an office in Mumbai and the penal/ legal action is to be executed by local Collectors, under state government jurisdiction. So, while the regulations stay on paper as of now, the tankers are back on the streets where life goes on as usual.
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Congress leaders from Karnataka are vying with each other to field Priyanka Gandhi Vadra as a Rajya Sabha candidate from the state. While it is unclear whether Priyanka has decided yet, her attendance at the birthday bash of Karnataka PCC president DK Shivakumar at Udaipur, on the last day of Nav Sankalp Shivir on May 15, was an indication. She even cut the cake and handed Shivakumar a slice. Karnataka Congressmen who witnessed the event are certain Priyanka will accept their Rajya Sabha proposal. They want Priyanka’s entry into their state’s politics to boost electoral prospects in the 2023 state assembly polls. “We have enough MLAs to elect an MP,” a senior Karnataka Congress leader said. The BJP declared candidates for all four seats from Karnataka. Priyanka’s baby steps into parliamentary politics in Rajya Sabha would see her emulate grand-mother Indira Gandhi, who became a Rajya Sabha MP, in the initial years of her politics. It is quite another matter that Indira Gandhi represented Uttar Pradesh (between Aug 1964 and Feb 1967) in the Rajya Sabha, served as I & B minister before ascending to the PM’s post. With Congress winning two assembly seats and registering a mere 2.3% vote share in the UP 2022 polls, Priyanka may feel inclined to venture into electoral polls as an MP in 2024.
Rahul Gandhi is apparently upset over the DMK Government’s handling of the AG Perarivalan case. One of the convicts in former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination, Perarivalan, served 31 years of his jail term before being released by the Supreme Court on May 18. The verdict may pave the way for the release of six other convicts in the case. An upset Rahul asked close aide Randeep Surjewala to issue a statement against the judgement even as he was traveling to the UK to speak at the “Ideas for India” conference and “India @75” at the Cambridge University. Tamil Nadu Congressmen are questioning Surjwewala’s attack on the Modi Government over the case, not DMK. “At least Delhi delayed it out of respect for Rajiv Gandhi. It is the DMK which has not cared for assassination of Rajiv Gandhi,” said an anguished Congress leader. Congressmen were particularly upset with the manner in which Chief Minister MK Stalin immediately felicitated Perarivalan and his mother in his office. “What was the rush? Does the life of a PM have no value in this country? If we had any self-respect, we should have snapped ties with the DMK. Why should we cling to them for the sake of a Rajya Sabha seat?” asked a partyman.
It was a double whammy for the Punjab Congress. First, former Punjab PCC chief Navjot Singh Sidhu got sentenced to a one year jail term by the Supreme Court in a 34- year old road rage case, after leading the Congress in the state with disastrous results in the assembly polls two months ago, paving the way for AAP’s rule. In an equally interesting development former PCC chief Sunil Jakhar enrolled with the BJP. In a massive setback, Sidhu was forced to surrender before court to serve out his year-long “rigorous imprisonment”. “Will submit to the majesty of law…,” he tweeted. The apex court was responding to an appeal against its own order of 2018 which set aside Punjab & Haryana High Court order saying there was no evidence the man could have died of a single blow. But it held the cricketer-politician guilty of causing hurt to a senior citizen. In 2006, the Punjab and Haryana High court had convicted Sidhu of culpable homicide and sentenced him to three years in jail. In 2018, Sidhu approached the Supreme Court, which set aside the order. Meanwhile, with Jakhar joining BJP, Punjab Congress leaders say others are set to leave the party as well. PCC chief Amrinder Singh Warring is being blamed for the exits.
Filing nominations for 57 Rajya Sabha vacancies spread across 15 states will begin next week and continue till May 31. Yet, in the Congress informally, there is a sense that opportunities will be far and few and spread in a way no one feels they have got a raw deal. The buzz so far is that prominent G-23 leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, who is keen on a Rajya Sabha seat, will be accommodated from Rajasthan. Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot is willing to accommodate Azad from the first two regular vacancies. For the third seat, the party has advised beleaguered leader P Chidambaram to go for it. This third seat will require support from independent MLAs, who are already backing the Government. It is being said that Kapil Sibal could be moving from UP to Jharkhand. Vivek Tankha could move from Madhya Pradesh to the lone vacancy in Chattisgarh. Even then there is no clarity on who would come from Maharashtra, Haryana and Tamil Nadu. While it is still possible, Mukul Wasnik could clinch the Maharashtra seat, even as Rahul Gandhi may try to push for his close aide Praveen Chakravarty from Tamil Nadu. In Haryana, Bhupinder Hooda has refused to accept Randeep Surjewala as a RS candidate. There could be a dark horse like the old party hand Janardhan Dwivedi.
Tamilians celebrated the release of AG Perarivalan, aka Arivu, from incarceration by the Supreme Court that invoked its special powers under Article 142. Terming Perarivalan totally innocent in the conspiracy to assassinate former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi on May 21, 1991 would be untrue. A known LTTE sympathiser Arivu actively involved in small jobs like ferrying cassette tapes of regional news about ongoing events in Tamil Nadu. He was a member of the team that made dry runs to meetings of Rajiv Gandhi and PM VP Singh in Chennai. He was not part of the innermost circle that planned the assassination considering the many layers of secrecy existing in the militant organisation, LTTE and, how its Chief Velupillai Prabhakaran operated. He procured two 9-volt batteries for the one-eyed member of the assassin squad, Sivarajan, who may have used these in the belt bomb, taking a leaf right out of a Frederick Forsyth novel, which the assassin wore and triggered when ostensibly garlanding Rajiv Gandhi. Arivu was a model prisoner, who served more than a life term for his role in the LTTE sponsored political assassination. Having paid his debt to society he may not be begrudging his freedom now. Most LTTE sympathisers then harboured ill will against Rajiv Gandhi, for ordering Indian Peace Keeping Forces to intervene in Sri Lanka during the ethnic crisis.
Scratch a politician and foreign accounts will pop up. This is not a particular Indian phenomenon. From the day Indira Gandhi was heard asking about Sanjay Gandhi’s watch after he died in a light plane crash it has been known Indian politicians revelled in stashing money away from prying Indian eyes. But it must be said it’s not particularly bright to keep stashing money when it can act better as capital, which is what smart businessmen keep telling politicians. The troubles the Chidambarams, father and son, are going through are not new to them. They may be the cleverer lawyer types knowing that money should be shrouded in several layers to make it difficult for snooping bureaucrats, no great shakes when it comes to analysing hidden money games, to ferret out. At a time when Chidambaram is trying to convince the Congress high command (read Sonia Gandhi) that his Rajya Sabha innings must continue through the seat so magnanimously offered by Tamil Nadu’s ruling DMK, the latest set of CBI raids may be just an inconvenience. In fact, the grand old party might honour PC with a longer run in the Upper House thanks to these perennial raids, one of which was so poorly handled that some operatives were hanging from the roof of the former finance minister’s house in New Delhi when he was to be arrested.
When news of Thrissur MP TN Prathapan’s resignation as National Chairman of the All India Fishermen Congress came in, everyone felt an idea of NavSankalp Chintan Shivir — about fixed tenure of 5 years — had kicked in. But then senior Congress leaders were quite surprised. Was Prathapan jumping the gun? After all, Congress President Sonia Gandhi had announced a compact Task Force that would be set up to drive the process of internal reforms that “are essential and that has been discussed in different groups at Udaipur.” The task force was to cover all aspects of reforms with focus on the 2024 Lok Sabha polls including appointments to party posts. The composition of the Task Force was to be notified in the next ttwo-three days. Prathapan’s colleagues felt he was probably trying to grab some five minutes of fame. “Don’t take Prathapan seriously — this is just his antics. The task force will take a call on all aspects of what Soniaji has said,” said a senior Kerala leader. Incidentally it was AICC general secretary Mukul Wasnik who had proposed a 5-year tenure freeze for party posts. Wasnik feels everyone must get a chance at the top. “I have put in 24 years — held various positions; I have been a general secretary for 20 years. I held it even as a Union Minister in the UPA Government.”
In an unexpected move, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar nominated a low-profile Janata Dal (U) office-bearer Anil Hegde as the candidate for the by-election to his party quota Rajya Sabha seat. The seat became vacant after the death of MP Mahendra Prasad. Hegde will only enjoy a short term until April 2024. Nitish was keen to send party functionary Hegde to the Rajya Sabha to help him secure his future. Hegde was a close associate of the late George Fernandes, had functioned as JD(U)’s national election officer. Party sources say the CM wanted to ensure Hegde was able to draw a pension. Initially, Nitish considered sending him to the Bihar Legislative Council. “I have been living in the JD(U) office in Patna for the past 12 years,” said Hegde, who hails from Bengaluru. Hegde has for long been the JD(U)’s national election officer, responsible for coordination between the party and the Election Commission during assembly and parliamentary polls. In securing the party nomination, Hegde has edged out many others who were in the race including the party’s national secretary general K C Tyagi.
Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin’s decision to allow ‘Pattina Pravesam’, by which the head of a mutt is carried in a palanquin by his disciples, is practical considering its ancient traditional significance. Rationalists may baulk at such practices but, when it comes to matters of faith, it may be best to leave it to the faithful than trying to introduce mandatory reforms. Not only did the CM assess the situation as one that would add to the existing anxiety around his tendency to favour minority rights, without much caring for the majority community but, also because he has a staunch believer living at his home, his wife Durga. The CM probably felt the need to maintain a happy balance. How does the voluntary action of believers, who wish to carry a living person in a palanquin, trample upon the rights of others, activists ask? The other side of the faith and rationalism divide, which is pretty well marked in Tamil Nadu. They point to rituals of other faiths that could draw criticism in equal measure on the yardstick of human rights. The CM told the seers that the ritual may go ahead this year and that the issue would be discussed in detail later. The woke crowd may, however, may keep the pot boiling. Only, for now religious peace was allowed to prevail.
From the way the three-day brainstorming session of Congress in Rajasthan’s Udaipur took off on May 13 it was quite clear the focus would be more futuristic than post mortem — what happened early this year. It was decided that there would be no chintan over how it lost four state assembly elections. The shivir had already been renamed as Nav Sankalp Chintan Shivir. That is how the Congress could emerge with a formula to fight its challenges in the next two years. A number of ideas were floated .There was a proposal to ensure that party leaders don’t give tickets to their kin or relatives without any work in the party, at least 5 years of prior work in the party will be required. Indicating the return of Rahul Gandhi back as AICC president, senior Congress leader Ajay Maken said “Any person who is holding the post continuously has to step down and a cooling period of three years in case that person comes back to the same post.” Rahul had quit as Congress president in 2019 accepting responsibility for the party’s rout. Udaipur shivir is being touted as a bid to crown Rahul again as Congress chief. Those close to Rahul are not sure if the Wayanad MP could be easily persuaded.
Looks like the Congress is emulating PM Narendra Modi’s idea of setting an upper age limit for party posts. However these copycat ideas on age-limit simply caught Congress leaders by surprise as they were brought into the public domain even without a discussion. Senior Congress leaders were gripped by a sense of uncertainty. Now it is easy to see why a senior MP such as Kapil Sibal, 73, decided to give the Udaipur event a miss as he surely must not be depending on the Congress to find him a Rajya Sabha seat. Sibal is an MP from Uttar Pradesh where the Congress has just two MLAs. Party sources also said the guest lists to the chintan shivir seemed to have been drawn up very whimsically. “Most of the leaders from election-going states such as Himachal or Gujarat were missing. They have not called MLAs. It is as if the Congress does not want to have MLAs,” said the Telangana leader. “I would be shocked if I were invited. I know Congress leadership only wants to hear nice things. They want to put Rahul Gandhi back in the saddle. So they ensured discordant voices are kept away,” says a Himachal MLA. Yet in midst of all this pick and choose, Karnataka strongman D K Shivkumar managed to take a contingent of 50 people to Udaipur. Total number of delegates allowed: 430.
With ongoing investigations by CBI on close associates, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has deployed a new weapon to run down the probe agency. On the 161st birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore on May 7 Mamata pointed out that the stolen Nobel Prize medallion of Tagore was yet to be recovered by the CBI. “I still feel sad that the Nobel Prize has not been recovered. The incident dates back to the Left (Front) regime,” she noted. The medallion was stolen in 2004 from the museum at Visva Bharati University founded at Santiniketan in Birbhum district. The Prime Minister, is the chancellor of Bengal’s only central university – Visva Bharati. Then, CPI (M) Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee had promptly handed over the probe to CBI which permanently closed investigations in 2009, citing lack of new leads. In 2016, the CID in WB had arrested a folk singer suspecting his role in the robbery. In 2017 Mamata urged CBI to hand over the case to the state CID, which the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) had declined. However, Tagore’s Nobel medallion, a replica of the actual gold medal, is not the only one stolen in recent years. Children rights activist Kailash Satyarthi’s Nobel medallion was similarly stolen from his Delhi residence in 2017 but, recovered by the Delhi Police within five days.
Tamil Nadu BJP Chief K Annamalai is adept at ferreting out information from rival camps. Consider the impact of his ‘Breaking News’ regarding Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin’s hidden plans to carve out a brand-new state assembly complex at Mahabalipuram. Could it be similar to Putrajaya the Malaysian administrative campus, 25 km south of Kuala Lumpur? The DMK could be planning to build a rival monument to the 7th century world Heritage Shore Temple in Mahabalipuram! Grandiose dreams cost mucho money. Annamalai claims that the Government Order is already out, to acquire 6,000 acres of land, the initial smoke screen, ostensible Office of the DMK party, before embarking on the next phase of ambitious construction. Naturally, rival political parties termed the extravagant plan as a “scientific siphoning off, of the mega budget.” And already, allegations of six powerful ministers acquiring over 100 acres through benami purchases are flying thick and fast. Public memory still rankles over how J Jayalalithaa overturned all that Kalaignar built in 2006, on the Omandurar Estate by converting the massive complex into a tertiary hospital. Conflicts apart, fact is that much of the area at the Fort St. George complex belongs to the army, making it hard to expand and modernise. So, given the strong opposition, can Stalin and company still pull off his grandiose plan?
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Mumbaikars facing an intense heat wave are scrambling for the comforts of air-conditioned local trains but, shying away from taking to the AC metro network, particularly new Metro lines between Goregaon and Dahisar. Buoyed by the generous 50% drop in AC train fares from Rs 65/ km down to Rs 35 per km, the fare cut has bolstered daily passenger footfalls from an average of 3385 daily passengers in April 2022 to 9116 AC passengers on May 5. This is in complete contrast to the almost-empty AC Metro trains running between Goregaon and Dahisar. A month since its inception, daily average footfalls recorded are around 27,000 passengers — 10 times lower than its carrying capacity of 3 lakh passengers daily. It registers maximum footfalls only on Sundays. Plagued by issues like last mile connectivity, technical glitches and less frequency has meant that the office-goers find it unreliable. Failure to link with the existing popular Metro line between Andheri and Ghatkopar is also a major drawback. Activists like Vidyadhar Date attribute its lacklustre response to poor planning by planners who never use public transport. It is evident. Metro rakes are running with a thin crowd right above the congested Western Express Highway with packed BEST buses, both AC and the non-AC ones. The issue seems to be regarding intermodal passenger connectivity.
Tamil Nadu BJP, under former IPS officer K Annamalai, has turned vibrant. Despite a motley crew – only four MLAs – the issues Annamalai has raised has piqued interest for the saffron party. Even DMK leaders and relatives are keen to join BJP, many of them unsure of surviving the generational shift within DMK. With CM M K Stalin’s son Udhayanidhi assuming a bigger role, seniors in DMK are feeling side-lined. Many MPs are considering moving out. Former AIADMK MP Sasikala Pushpa Ramaswamy was first to join BJP. After that, some sitting DMK MPs evinced an interest to enrol before the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. While Sasikala Pushpa became BJP vice-president and former DMK MLA A G Sampath got a similar post. Significantly, Suriyaa Siva, son of DMK Rajya Sabha MP Tiruchi Siva, joined the BJP saying he was ignored in the Dravidian party because of the ongoing cold war within. His exit may not affect his father as they were not on talking terms. Suriyaa’s entry into Kamalalayam BJP in T Nagar Chennai will, however, shake up the DMK. What must worry the DMK leadership is talk of more seniors shipping out. All in all, Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s recent visit to Chennai has really paid off.
On May 6, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla’s office received an unusual request from the office of Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, about a handful of Congress leaders seeking access to the Central Hall of Parliament. The manner in which the request was made, when Parliament was not in session, seemed a little odd. Kharge wanted to garland the portrait of Motilal Nehru on his birth anniversary. Normally, when a portrait of a dignitary is to be garlanded, the Lok Sabha makes necessary arrangements for it. Leaders are then invited to come and join in paying tributes. For some reason Kharge decided to pay tribute to Motilal Nehru — a former Congress President in pre-Independent India — inside Parliament. It’s not clear whether he wanted to flaunt his loyalty to the Gandhi family or, if he was trying to assert his tenuous status as Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha — a position that the Congress may find difficult to hold on to beyond two months with many party MPs in Rajya Sabha set to retire. The Congress needs a critical tally of 10% of the strength of the House or, it will meet the same fate as it does in Lok Sabha.
There is a strong buzz that former Indian cricket captain and incumbent BCCI president Sourav Ganguly could be the President’s nominee for the Rajya Sabha. In that event, he will follow in the footsteps of master blaster Sachin Tendulkar, the first ever sports person nominated to the Rajya Sabha or to the Council of States in 2012 by the UPA Government. Ganguly’s nomination seems a distinct possibility as the second sportsperson after boxing champion Mary Kom was appointed to Rajya Sabha in April 2016 and has completed her term. Speculations around Ganguly as Rajya Sabha MP gained currency following Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s visit to Sourav Ganguly’s residence over dinner with his family last week. A day after Shah’s visit, Ganguly also spoke of his close relations with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. He similarly showered praise on minister and Kolkata mayor Firhad Hakim. Once elevated as a Rajya Sabha nominee, Sourav Ganguly, who is worshipped as an icon in Bengal, may no longer feel pressured to manage the balancing between the BJP and TMC. Aware of abounding conjecture, Ganguly asserted he has known Amit Shah since 2008. “While playing, I used to meet him. There’s nothing more than that”. He also pointed out that as BCCI president he worked closely with Shah’s son, Jay Shah who is BCCI secretary.
It can be announced over loudspeakers now that the BJP won the first round of battle with the Shiv Sena. Rest assured, the MNS chief won’t object to it as the credit for the BJP’s stupendous feat goes not just to the party’s astute political tactics but also to Raj Thackeray. According to experts, the BJP is fully aware that no other party uses the Hindutva card better than them, and that it is the first choice for people following that ideology. Therefore, it gave Raj Thackeray enough room to perform his stunts. Lapping up the opportunity to resurrect his outfit that was virtually becoming irrelevant in Maharashtra politics, the MNS chief managed to confuse Shiv Sena workers by invoking Hindu Hriday Samrat, the late Balasaheb Thackeray. However, seeing Thackeray’s rising stature the BJP was quick to cut him down to size. Political analysts assert that the BJP won’t allow any non-BJP leader to become the torchbearer of Hindutva. Hence, the party’s MP from Kaiserganj in Uttar Pradesh Brij Bhushan Singh was brought into the picture. Singh warned Thackeray that he will not be allowed to enter Ayodhya until he apologizes to all North Indians with folded hands. Thus, along with disturbing the Shiv Sena’s vote bank, the BJP earned the goodwill of North Indians — all thanks to Raj Thackeray.
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.