Raw nerve
The chief minister of Delhi, Rekha Gupta, recently expressed hurt over becoming the subject of multiple memes on her public gaffes since assuming office last year. The CM’s gaffes include her claim that her ministers go to the city’s garbage hills every fortnight and plead with the waste piles saying, “You have to go, brother”; her describing the AQI as “temperature”; referring to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose as “Netaji Subhash Palace” — a commercial hub; and claiming that Bhagat Singh and other freedom fighters threw a bomb against the “deaf Congress government”. In the assembly last week, Gupta claimed that the Opposition resorts to making memes about her as it “can’t stand to see a woman CM work”. Gupta seems to have overlooked the fact that the city has had three women CMs before her, two from the Opposition.
Son rises
Ever since the Siddaramaiah government assumed office in Karnataka in 2023, there has been a power struggle between the CM and his deputy, DK Shivakumar. This tension was evident at the recent Congress Legislative Party meeting at the Lalit Ashok Hotel in Bengaluru, where large numbers of supporters from both factions had gathered. Yet, it was one individual who stole the spotlight. It was none other than Yathindra, the CM’s younger son, who is a pathologist cum former Congress legislator from the Varuna assembly constituency. Certain people who came to seek favours from the CM were asked to meet his son instead.
The grapevine has it that Siddaramaiah, who recently surpassed the record of D Devaraj Urs as the longest-serving CM of Karnataka, is unlikely to contest another assembly election. Having already anointed Yathindra as his political heir, Siddaramaiah is keen to counter the challenge posed by Shivakumar by placing his son firmly at the centre of the political stage.
Aggressive ally
The two partners of the ruling Mahayuti in Maharashtra — the Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party — are increasingly feeling the squeeze as the Bharatiya Janata Party asserts its dominance on the ground. In the civic body elections, an aggressive BJP is pushing hard to capture panchayat and municipal bodies at the expense of its allies. The BJP’s hardline approach has forced the Ajit Pawar-led NCP to join hands with the party’s Sharad Pawar faction to defend its traditional stronghold in Pune. Ajit Pawar had split the party in 2023 to align with the BJP.
Eknath Shinde’s position is even more precarious. After the BJP helped him split the Shiv Sena in 2022, it now appears determined to marginalise his party. In the civic polls, the BJP is going solo and targeting Sena bastions in Mumbai’s suburbs. Earlier this week, it orchestrated the defection of all 12 Congress councillors in the Ambernath municipal council in Thane district — a move aimed at keeping the Sena out of power.
Birthday wishes
The Odisha CM, Mohan Charan Majhi, and his followers are on cloud nine after the prime minister, Narendra Modi, and the Union home minister, Amit Shah, wished him on his birthday. Modi described Majhi, who turned 54, as a hardworking person who is making outstanding efforts to enhance the state’s growth. Modi has visited Odisha seven times in the past year and a half — a record of sorts. This has significantly elevated Majhi’s political stock. Majhi responded by saying that under the PM’s leadership he would serve the people of Odisha with even greater dedication. His supporters now claim that he is Modi’s favourite.
Expansion plans
Reeling from the cancellation of thousands of domestic flights last month, IndiGo has welcomed India’s first airbus, A321XLR, which will enable it to operate on longer international routes. A321XLR is being seen as a game-changer in the narrow-body segment for long-haul travel and is part of the fleet of several international carriers. Traditionally, wide-body aircraft are preferred for long journeys. The A321XLR aims to offer passenger comfort while opening new possibilities for narrow-body operations on extended routes. With the induction, IndiGo seems poised to accelerate its global expansion.
Justice, at last
A Delhi High Court ruling brought relief to a government employee whose pension benefits were withheld for showing his live-in partner as his wife. The court quashed a departmental order withholding 50% of his pension on grounds of gross misconduct. The court noted that the petitioner never concealed his relationship. According to the petitioner, his wife deserted him two years into their marriage and, later, he began cohabiting with his live-in partner. His wife refused to grant a divorce and remained absent for several years before suddenly filing a complaint accusing him of neglect which led to the initiation of departmental proceedings against him.