Power broker
The Bharatiya Janata Party member of Parliament, Nishikant Dubey, has emerged as a key figure in the unfolding split within the Trinamool Congress parliamentary party. Last week, the Godda MP was seen leaving the residence of the Union environment minister, Bhupender Yadav, where a group of TMC MPs had gathered. The following day, Prakash Chik Barik, the third TMC Rajya Sabha MP to quit the party, addressed the media outside Dubey’s official residence. Dubey’s role in engineering the TMC rebellion, alongside another BJP MP from South India, has become a major talking point in political circles. Known for his aggressive attacks on the Nehru-Gandhi family, Dubey had also spearheaded the campaign against Mahua Moitra in the cash-for-query case that led to her expulsion from the previous Lok Sabha. Dubey is regarded as a politician who inspires both loyalty and hostility. He maintains friendships across party lines and is known among several Opposition MPs as someone who can get things done. But those who fall out with him often find themselves in his crosshairs. The BJP MP, Rajiv Pratap Rudy, experienced this during the Constitution Club of India elections, when Dubey backed fellow BJP leader, Sanjeev Balyan, against him. Rudy ultimately retained the post with support from Opposition members. Moitra, too, was once considered part of Dubey’s circle before becoming one of his most prominent targets.
Romantic manifesto
Social media has been flooded with meme-driven political outfits, especially after the Cockroach Janta Party attracted a huge online following. Many of these digital outfits emerged from trending topics. The latest entrant is the Ishq Karo Party launched by the former Supreme Court judge, Markandey Katju, known for his outspoken views on social media and public platforms.
Katju’s digital party sparked curiosity. With the slogan, “Make love, not war”, he also appealed to the youth to forget the CJP and join his initiative. According to Katju’s post on X, the party is creating a website and has Instagram and Facebook pages. He wrote, “The aim of the IKP is to combat this evil, and promote unity of our people. We must have love (Ishq) for all our people, irrespective of caste, religion, race etc.”
Survival strategies
The chief minister of Odisha, Mohan Charan Majhi, appears to be in high spirits, convinced that he has successfully thwarted the attempts by the camp of the Union education minister, Dharmendra Pradhan, to replace him. Speculation has been rife that Pradhan might be asked to resign amid growing resentment over the NEET-UG question paper leak, paving the way for him to succeed Majhi.
However, Majhi, who has honed the art of political survival, managed to bounce back. Just ahead of completing two years in office, an attempt was made to tarnish his image by raising the issue of missing files from the CMO. Majhi responded swiftly, directing the home department to lodge a case. The police promptly launched an investigation. Majhi challenged his critics to cite any instance in which his administration had failed to act against culprits. His confidence was evident during a presser on Friday where he spoke about his government’s performance. He even declared that the prime minister has endorsed his work and would visit the state as part of the celebrations marking two years of the government.
Risky climb
At least seven Congress legislators from Madhya Pradesh were injured while scaling police barricades outside the party’s old office at 24 Akbar Road on Friday. The MLAs had planned to march from the party office to Rashtrapati Bhavan to protest against the rejection of Meenakshi Natarajan’s Rajya Sabha nomination. While the police did not have to lift a lathi to stop the MLAs, scaling three layers of barricades proved challenging for the elderly MLAs. However, younger leaders like Vikrant Bhuria and the MP Congress chief, Jitu Patwari, did so effortlessly. A senior member remarked wryly that he had been a member of the assembly before most of his colleagues were born. The police eventually made a gap in the barricades for the protesters.
Pragmatic shift
The Karnataka CM, DK Shivakumar, attended the 11th edition of the annual NITI Aayog governing council meeting chaired by Narendra Modi in Delhi. Shivakumar’s predecessor, Siddaramaiah, had stayed away from the last two such meetings, citing neglect towards the state in the Union budget and prior commitments. This had drawn flak from the Opposition BJP. Shivakumar said that the discussion in the governing council meeting focused on Karnataka’s growth agenda, expressing confidence in working closely with the Union government.