On June 14, Odisha chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi will be completing a one-year term in the office. Has the CM who has the backing of the PM delivered? There are mixed reports from the ground. Some are saying that Odia people are fed up with lip service of the Majhi government – the same line “work in progress and grandiose investment plans”. The general feeling is that Majhi has simply tweaked close to two dozen schemes of the BJD government led by Naveen Patnaik. It is a cut and paste job without any value addition –BJD’s colour green has been changed to BJP’s saffron in government buildings and buses. But a clued-in analyst has a different take. He points out that Majhi is considered “accessible CM” in a stark contrast to BJD’s chief minister Naveen Patnaik with whom ordinary people had no access. Besides, it would be inappropriate to compare the two CMs performances — one with 8 months governance record and the other with 290-month dream run. Adding further he says, BJD failed to fulfil their promise of giving bonus of Rs 100 per quintal to poverty-stricken farmers om Western Odisha’s Sohela in Bargarh district. Here, the Majhi government took a decision in just 24 minutes in its cabinet meeting to provide Rs 800 per quintal input assistance to farmers, apart from providing annual financial assistance of Rs 10,000 to around one crore women in the state. But the general lament is that Odia people voted for BJP, so that it effectively weeds out “mafia raj” and “percentage raj” but nothing substantial has happened in this direction. Meanwhile, the BJD has not lost the opportunity to brand Majhi as a “copycat” government.  

The game of one-upmanship between Shiv Sena’s Eknath Shinde and Maharashtra’s chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, that followed in the relief operations for the tourists affected by the Pahalgam terrorist attack, exposed the friction within Mahayuti government. Shinde duplicated the efforts of the Fadnavis government with his parallel visits and relief flights for the stranded tourists there. While Shinde was meeting tourists at Pahalgam, donating to the local Muslim victim and even holding parleys with Jammu and Kashmir’s deputy chief minister, Fadnavis was restricted to paying condolence visits to Pahalgam victim families at Pune. This wasn’t Shinde’s first attempt at duplication of governance; earlier too he had set up parallel medical relief funds in tandem with Fadnavis’ official ones. Shinde may have been cornered within Mahayuti with many of his decisions as CM either being withdrawn, stayed, kept in abeyance or simply rejected but he is not lying quiet and instead seizing the moment like he did at Pahalgam. He is also trying to assert himself as a Hindutva mascot and trying to usurp the advantage enjoyed by the Thackeray cousins even if they were to come together. Shinde’s attempt to carve out his own distinct identity in Fadnavis’ term, is clearly not going down with the man and the party at the helm. The BJP is clearly upset with Shinde’s attempt to hog the credit and not let the landslide majority government have its way. Shinde may be indispensable to the BJP in the run-up to the BMC polls to woo the Marathi manoos vote bank but remains to be seen how this open friction between Shinde and Fadnavis may play out for the Mahayuti in the forthcoming local elections.

The recent Supreme Court order invalidating the West Bengal government’s 2016 appointment of more than 25,000 teachers and non-teaching staff triggered off sitting demonstrations and agitation in the state. During the course of agitation what came to the fore was, the Trinamool Congress’ (TMC) National General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee was not countering the attack from the front. He consciously stepped away from the frontline, raising serious questions about the cracks within the party’s top leadership. It is also obvious that Abhishek’s public appearances have been reduced to congratulatory social media posts for local football clubs and the occasional endorsement of police efforts in his constituency. His last major political intervention was a virtual meeting on March 15. Since then, his near-total disengagement from party affairs has triggered anxiety within TMC’s rank and file, many of whom now openly question the party’s leadership strategy. The official narrative claims Mamata Banerjee has asked Abhishek to focus on national politics. But Abhishek’s loyal followers say that he was deliberately being sidelined from talking on the school recruitment scandal. Instead the State President Subrata Bakshi was given the job of doing all the heavy weight lifting on this front. Sure enough, his exclusion has left his loyalists demoralised. Further, Abhishek’s social media activities, particularly his praise for Diamond Harbour police during communal tensions and earlier disapproval of police actions post the RG Kar Hospital incident, are being interpreted as subtle criticism of the state government’s performance. These posts have drawn further scrutiny and are being read by Opposition parties as indirect jabs at the administration led by Didi. 

Dr P Thiaga Rajan (PTR), Tamil Nadu IT minister was seen as a wunderkind when came back from the U.S. to revive his political and family connections in Madurai. He joined the DMK and was quickly rewarded by chief minister MK Stalin with a cabinet post. But it didn’t take long for the awestruck scales to drop…his unique talent and standalone abilities created a rift with those who swore by “Dravidian” versus his hybrid talents, swung from Gesellschaft to Gemeinschaft. Not just unique, he was unequivocal too in expressing his views fearlessly, shocking entrenched party loyalists. His recent speech in the TN Assembly was the flashpoint for Stalin’s anger. The fuse was lit when someone from his party asked about his earlier projects and new ones. He apparently grumbled about the lack of adequate funding for the IT Ministry…“even as Rs 20, 000 crore allocation is sanctioned, the IT ministry got only 200 crore, now cut to Rs150 crore. Even then we used the funds prudently but faced several deficits in projects. Like other states, all IT parks don’t come under this ministry, excepting the small ELCOT …whereas TIDEL and other mega parks are under the Industries Ministry.” Was PTR holding a grudge against Rajaa? The fallout of this frankness was immediate. When PTR invited Stalin to release a book on his grandfather…after some hesitation Stalin agreed but only to pull the carpet from under PTR at the event. In his speech Stalin said: “PTR has excellent communication and strong debating talent. But these abilities often turn into weaknesses by excessive open talk” leaving PTR squirming.  Talk is rife that PTR may be sent to Delhi via the Rajya Sabha. When you are inconvenient, you become convenient…to be deputed.

When he was Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah, many decades ago called up senior leader Sharad Pawar and requested him to accommodate his son Omar in Mumbai as the situation in his own state was very bad. All the academic institutions were closed due to disturbances in Kashmir.  Farooq wanted Omar to continue his education, hence he had contacted Pawar with the request.  “Omar stayed in my house and completed his education,” Pawar told a Pune rally while speaking on the latest situation in the border state. Pawar said he was mentioning this little-known fact since the Abdullah family had close relations with his family. Pawar called up the chief minister of the state Omar Abdullah to obtain the latest updates post the Pahalgam massacre. “Omar has assured me that every person in Kashmir is of the opinion that no compromise should be made with Pakistan,” Pawar told a meeting in Pune. He appealed to the people to think as Indians and remain united by forgetting any other differences on the issue of the nation’s unity. Pawar complimented Union home minister Amit Shah for owing up any lapse on the part of the intelligence agencies in regard to the terrorist attack and reiterated that this is not the time to think about religion or caste. He lamented that attempts were made by certain elements to give a religious tint to the tragedy. 

The tour operator led mostly Hindu families to the Pahalgam terror site (aka mini-Switzerland) causing 26 male killings, well aware that visits to interior regions needed prior army sanction before tourists could be taken to the scenic meadow, nearby regions. Tour operators were intimated the area would be turned open to tourists from June 2025. The Hamas signature style terror strike upon India, preceded by public rally in Pakistan where Hamas operatives were in full view, vocally exhorting Pakistani state sponsored terrorists (including Hafiz Saeed) to carry out wanton attacks like they pulled off in Israel on October 7, 2023. In addition, terror attack fatalities included officers attached to the Indian Navy and Intelligence Bureau which has raised questions about whether local over ground workers (OGWs) were the resort of terrorists before the attack took place. The local pony operator’s death was confirmed as inadvertent since he was caught in crossfire. Scores of terrorist aiding suspects were rounded up in quick time after the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) took over investigations. “Even the 2008 26/11 attack upon Mumbai city was launched in similar pattern with local infrastructure support with then Mumbai police chief Hassan Gafoor admitting privately that 16 to 20 Indian locals were involved, before he was issued a gag order by the then state government that soon enough eased him out of his post,” sources reveal. A senior intelligence officer had then stated that the 10 Mumbai attackers only landed upon Mumbai soil with a cache of bullets and were provided weapons and hand grenades in Mumbai city itself, as revealed to this scribe back then.

PM Narendra Modi has planned something ‘big’ against Pakistan following the J&K terror attack upon innocent Hindu tourists. Pakistan’s army Chief Asim Munir, is on India’s crosshairs, like former Pakistan armed forces Chief Qamar Bajwa was after the 2019 Pulwama terror attack claimed lives of 40 Indian CRPF jawans. Then, NSA Ajit Doval employed his wherewithal to neutralize Bajwa following the Balakot strikes and soon Bajwa was eased out of service, like his predecessor General Asfaq Kayani who took refuge in Australia after being deposed. The Balakot bombings and aerial dogfight that cost Pakistan an advanced (American) F16 fighter plane brought down in aerial combat by Captain Abhinandan from the Indian Airforce operating his antiquated MIG (Russian) fighter plane even as the Balakot air strikes were concluded by his colleagues using other fighter jets. Bajwa’s exit as army chief was precipitated and he eschewed his homeland choosing France after suffering ignominy of a four-hour wait to meet Saudi Arabia’s political leader with his begging bowl seeking a $4 billion soft loan that was also declined. Asim Munir also finds himself in an unenviable position after internal strife engulfed the neighbouring country with terror attacks by Tahereek-e-Taliban against Pakistan police, army posts alongside eruptions of unrest in Balochistan. Munir’s desperation was evident when he resorted to a public forum while dwelling upon cultural differences between Islam and Hindus only days before the Hindu-religion-discriminated terror attack was launched. Bajwa got away lightly, being ousted from power but Munir’s fate will likely be worse with his very life at stake now. The political formations in Pakistan are also rallying up against Munir, whose days are surely numbered now.

All eyes are now on the Indian armed forces, as PM Modi vowed to avenge the killings of Hindu tourists in Pahalgam. Modi’s top ministers have discussed all options. But they have left it to Modi to decide on the action. They feel Modi will go for a sustained approach and not an immediate strike– because there is no pressure of any election like in February 2019. Modi had ordered the IAF to strike at the Balakot terrorist training camp in Pakistan after many CRPF men were killed in Pulwama. This time, Modi’s plan is: the end of the game for terrorists and their perpetrators. Meanwhile, the Pakistani army has begun troop movement near the borders in Rajasthan and Kashmir and tanks and heavy weapons are being shifted from Afghan border to the Indian border. Pakistani fighter jets were seen flying along with cargo planes to transport troops and weapons to the Indian border. India has defeated Pakistan in three wars. Pakistan officials are worried that many Pakistani fighter jets are in poor condition because of a lack of spare parts. Pakistani tanks do not have enough diesel for long-distance attacks. Pakistan wants to show the world that Kashmir is no longer under India’s control, but the world is watching that nothing is under control in Pakistan — neither PoK, Balochistan nor Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. If Pakistan carries out any misadventure, it must fight on four fronts. A former Pakistani army major, Adil Raja, has claimed that the killings of Hindu terrorists in Pahalgam were carried out on the directions of Army Chief Gen Asim Munir. Indian security agencies are evaluating reports that the people of Pakistan are not happy with their Army Chief, and to curb the growing voices of dissent, Gen. Munir chose the old formula to carry out a big terror attack in Kashmir to save his chair.

In an interesting move, Vice-President JP Dhankar reached Ooty to preside over as chief guest at a high-level conference of Vice-Chancellors at the Raj Bhavan with representatives from 32 universities taking part in the event. Since Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi assumed office, he has been organizing annual conferences involving V-Cs of both government and private universities. This year marks the fourth consecutive edition of the conference. Dhankar’s presence at the conference assumes significance as it comes in the backdrop of the Supreme Court order that gave Tamil Nadu government powers to appoint V-Cs. Official sources say that Dhankar could have possibly agreed to preside over the event only after some kind of suggestion from the Centre to consent to his presence. It remains to be seen what message the V-P delivers at the event. Local media reports suggested that there was pressure on several V-Cs from the DMK government to stay away from the two-day event. The main agenda of the event was to foster dialogue and collaboration among academic leaders to enhance the quality and reach of higher education in the state and across the country. Invitations were extended to 21 V-Cs from state universities, 25 from private universities, and three from central universities. Only representatives from 32 institutions had confirmed their participation.  Dhankar, who is on a three-day visit to TN, will also be visiting the Muthanad Mund Toda Temple in Ooty. He will also be addressing the students and faculty members of Tamil Nadu Agricultural University in Coimbatore on April 27.

In a strategic move ahead of the 2026 West Bengal Assembly elections, chief minister Mamata Banerjee has revived the ‘Mentor’ position within Zilla Parishads, a role previously discontinued after the last panchayat elections. The State Panchayat Department’s initiative has already been implemented in districts including Howrah, Hooghly, East Midnapore, Bankura, Birbhum, and Bardhaman. While officially recognised, the ‘Mentor’ designation was initially introduced by the Trinamool Congress (TMC) following their rise to power, primarily to accommodate influential leaders who could not be placed in formal governance roles. However, the role was quietly laid dormant after the 2023 panchayat polls. The revival of these positions is widely interpreted as a strategic move by Didi to strengthen the party’s grassroots organization. Party insiders suggest it serves to provide senior leaders with influential roles, potentially mitigating factional rivalries. Notable appointments have included figures such as former state minister Rajib Banerjee (Howrah), former minister Akhil Giri (East Midnapore), and former MLA Arup Khan (Bankura). However, objections have reportedly surfaced in at least two districts, with concerns that these mentors, despite lacking formal administrative authority, could become alternative power centres. This raised fears of potential disruptions to both Panchayat operations and internal party dynamics, given the mentors’ individual support bases. Some party leaders also believe the revival is a pre-emptive measure to manage the growing number of MLA ticket aspirants for the Assembly poll. Adding to the political complexity, the TMC has yet to implement a long-pending organizational reshuffle. Discussions indicate that Didi may soon expedite this process, which is expected to include changes within several party wings.