Power tussle
The National Democratic Alliance’s landslide victory in Bihar has strengthened the position of the Union home minister, Amit Shah, arguably more than that of the prime minister, Narendra Modi. Shah served as the Bharatiya Janata Party’s principal strategist in the assembly elections and the stunning success has further consolidated his grip over the party organisation. He is now learnt to be working to extend his control over the BJP in the politically influential state of Uttar Pradesh. This ambition has triggered a discreet power tussle between Shah and the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, Yogi Adityanath. The election of a new BJP state president has been pending for a long time. While Shah wants a leader loyal to him to head the party unit, Adityanath, known for his tight control over the administration and the party, is pushing for a nominee of his choice. The standoff has prompted the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh to step in to resolve the impasse. The sangh chief, Mohan Bhagwat, and other key leaders have held a series of meetings in Lucknow. Adityanath, too, is making special efforts to woo the RSS to secure his hold over the party. With Uttar Pradesh headed for assembly elections in early 2027, a third consecutive BJP victory in the state would significantly strengthen Adityanath’s claim as a potential successor to Modi. Shah, however, is keen to clip his wings.
Show of respect
The president, Droupadi Murmu, won people’s hearts during her recent visit to Odisha by going up to the leader of the Opposition and former CM, Naveen Patnaik. She bowed her head, held his hand and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder in a warm gesture. Murmu had worked with Patnaik when she was a minister in the coalition government led by Patnaik in 2000-2004. The latter had supported her candidature as the president and urged his members of the legislative assembly to vote for the “daughter of Odisha”. He had also called her his sister. Murmu grabbed Patnaik’s hand when the former CM along with the present CM, Mohan Charan Majhi, and his cabinet colleagues were welcoming the president near the state assembly.
Gossip on the menu
Kerala’s press corps in the capital was out in full strength at the premiere of the Kerala Literature Festival at the residence of the free-spirited Congress MP, Shashi Tharoor, last week. The bevy of foreign diplomats there was surprised to find a bunch of scribes brimming with the latest gossip from the corridors of power. Over hors d’oeuvres from Mahabelly, a popular Malayalee restaurant chain in Delhi, reporters discussed everything, from the intrigue around the PM’s acolyte, Hiren Joshi, to the dalliances of the disgraced Congress leader, Rahul Mamkootathil. A Moroccan diplomat, fresh off the boat, was pleasantly surprised to find a group that was hooked on football in a cricket crazy country. Tharoor held forth on Germany’s literary legends, letting slip that as a student at St. Stephen’s he was in a Brecht play.
Personal attacks
While the Assam CM, Himanta Biswa Sarma, often accuses the Pradesh Congress Committee president, Gaurav Gogoi, and his wife of having links with Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence and questions their children’s citizenship, the Congress has been focusing on “massive corruption” in the poll-bound state under Sarma. A special investigation team constituted by the state government to probe the Gogois’ alleged links with Pakistan had submitted a “damning” report to the state government in September but that has not yet been made public. Last week, the Congress leaders, Pawan Khera and Manoj Chauhan, targeted Sarma in separate press conferences. Chouhan asked, “Where is the Chief Minister’s wealth not present today? Not only in Assam, but he owns unaccounted properties across India and even abroad.” He also questioned how Sarma’s wife “accumulated” unaccounted-for wealth. Gogoi rubbed it in further: “Let him (Sarma) say whatever he wants about me. What happens in his household is what people discuss in every home of Assam. His household affairs are far more entertaining and spicy than anything about my family.” It is clear that the attacks will get even more intense and personal as the polls get closer.
In poor light
Kerala is in the news for all the wrong reasons. For the last 10 days, the youth MLA from Palakkad, Rahul Mamkootathil, has been on the run from the police after they charged him with cases of rape and coerced termination of pregnancies. It led the Congress party to expel him. Another high-profile case will see the Ernakulam Sessions Court pronouncing its judgment in the sensational actor rape case in which the actor, Dileep, is an accused. It is coming up on December 8, a day before the first phase of the local body elections.
