Slow and steady

Taking on the party leadership can sometimes work to a politician’s advantage — and the veteran Bharatiya Janata Party member of Parliament, Rajiv Pratap Rudy, appears to be a case in point. Kicking off the BJP’s campaign for the Bihar elections, the Union home minister, Amit Shah, referred to Rudy as “my friend” while addressing a rally in the latter’s constituency, Saran. The remark brought a soft smile to the face of the seven-term MP, who has long been on the fringes of the party’s mainstream affairs. Rudy was once unceremoniously dropped from the council of ministers and has since struggled to regain prominence within the party. His recent political journey, however, reflects a quiet resurgence. In August, Rudy faced a serious challenge when a powerful faction within the BJP tried to remove him from the leadership of the Constitution Club of India — an elite institution for current and former MPs. A former BJP MP, Sanjeev Balyan, was fielded against him in the club election, but Rudy survived with the backing of Opposition members. The victory reinvigorated him and, since then, he has worked actively to reassert his position. Rudy has been undertaking yatras across Bihar to project himself as a Rajput leader, a move he admits has enhanced his standing within the party. His efforts seem to have paid off — Shah has now entrusted him with key responsibilities in the BJP’s Bihar election campaign.

Wrong move

The governor of Odisha, Hari Babu Kambhampati, going to the house of the chief minister, Mohan Charan Majhi, to greet the latter on Diwali has not gone down well. Majhi tweeted about the governor’s visit to his residence. As per protocol, it is always the CM who goes to the governor’s house to greet the latter, not vice-versa.

Hari Babu Kambhampati

This is not the first time that the governor has visited the CM’s residence. Earlier, he had also visited the deputy CM’s house and other ministers’ houses. Even ahead of Diwali, the governor interacted with the media and urged them to write on various welfare schemes. Although Kambhampati earned praise from the media for his frequent interactions, his going to CM’s house has invited criticism.

Fraught territory

A former Jawaharlal Nehru University students’ union president, Dhananjay, has replaced Jitendra Paswan as the Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Liberation’s candidate from Bihar’s Bhorey, a seat reserved for scheduled castes. Paswan was arrested as soon as he filed his nomination for allegedly attacking a police station in 2017. Bhorey has a bloody history with a former CPIML-Liberation candidate, Umesh Paswan, being allegedly killed in caste violence in 1997 — the same year in which Chandrashekhar Prasad, another former JNUSU president and CPIML-Liberation member, was killed by men linked to the former Rashtriya Janata Dal MP, Mohammad Shahabuddin, in Siwan. CPIML-Liberation is currently aligned with the RJD, which has fielded Shahabuddin’s son, Osama, from Raghunathpur in Siwan district. Dhananjay’s main opponent is the JD(U) member of the legislative assembly and ex-director general of police, Sunil Kumar. In 2024, All India Students’ Association’s Dhananjay became the second JNUSU president from the Dalit community — after the Students’ Federation of India’s Batti Lal Bairwa, who won in 1996 and 1998.

Caught on
camera

From time to time, virtual court proceedings have drawn attention on social media due to instances of misconduct by lawyers and litigants. Recently, a video went viral on social media platforms where a lawyer was caught on camera kissing a woman during a virtual proceeding in the Delhi High Court. Few social media users thought that it was a judge and did not miss a chance to target the judiciary. One user who mistook the person as a judge commented, “welcome to Digital India Justice”. While other users said that if this has been caught on camera, then imagine what is happening behind the doors and under the table.

However, later it was clarified that the man was a lawyer and the incident reportedly happened when the court was not in session and litigants and advocates were waiting for the judge to come and start the proceedings. The errant lawyer was not identified. However, a social media user said that “DHC proceedings are now peak entertainment. From serious judgments to unpredictable courtroom theatrics, it’s a show
every day!”