Shift in priority

Two book events took place in the capital at 6 pm on Thursday — the release of Shashi Tharoor’s biography of Sree Narayana Guru and a discussion on Sowmiya Ashok’s book on the Keeladi excavations in Tamil Nadu. The former was released by the vice-president of India at the prestigious India International Centre. The latter event, which took place at the humbler Press Club of India, featured Ashok discussing her book with The Wire’s Jahnavi Sen. Notably, Jairam Ramesh, the Congress communications head and Tharoor’s party colleague, chose to attend the latter as a member of the audience. The presence of Ramesh — a key intellectual of the Congress — at Ashok’s event instead of Tharoor’s book launch raised speculation about whether all was well between the two leaders, especially after the Kerala parliamentarian’s rapprochement with the party leadership ahead of polls in the state.

Pass the buck

Veena George, Kerala’s health minister, has been under fire over a series of discrepancies during surgeries performed at various government medical colleges in the state. When the Congress expressed its ire, the minister said that she was not the doctor who performed those surgeries. The latest mishap for which George is being targeted is the case of artery forceps being discovered in the abdomen of 51-year-old Usha Joseph, who had undergone a hysterectomy at the Alappuzha Medical College Hospital in 2021.

While the surgeon and the unit head doctor denied wrongdoing, Opposition leaders have vented their fury against George, especially since the minister had earlier blamed the frequent medical mishaps on “system failure”. Other recent cases of medical lapse include a woman patient who also lived with scissors inside her intestine after a Caesarean, a botched ortho surgery that left a child’s hand bent, and an elderly accident victim whose wound was dressed with broken pieces of glass.

Verbose leader

People have begun comparing the styles of the former chief minister of Odisha, Naveen Patnaik, and his successor, Mohan Charan Majhi, particularly their efforts at public outreach. While Patnaik preferred delivering short speeches and connecting with people through his trademark smile and by waving his hand, Majhi is known for giving long speeches that often last an hour to explain his position and the government’s stance on various issues. At one public meeting, when a senior scribe requested the CM to shorten his speech, Majhi reportedly grew irritated.

Insiders say that Majhi believes that problems stem from inadequate communication. He often sets aside speeches prepared by the CM’s office to speak impromptu on matters he deems important. During the presentation of the state’s budget on Friday, Majhi, who holds the finance portfolio, delivered an exhaustive speech that lasted for nearly two hours and also addressed a lengthy presser, detailing the finer points of the budget.

Clear
message

The Congress MP and general-secretary, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, was on a two-day visit to Guwahati from Thursday — her first since being appointed chairperson of the screening committee in January to select candidates for the upcoming state polls. She used the visit not only to gauge the party mood following the departure of several senior leaders, including the former PCC president, Bhupen Kumar Borah, from the party but also to flip the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s script of attacking the Assam PCC chief, Gaurav Gogoi, over his alleged links to Pakistan.

The messages she sent to partymen as well as the BJP are that the Congress will mount a strong challenge in the electoral battle, that party-hopping is nothing new before an election, and that Congress leaders should consider the attacks from the BJP or the Assam CM, Himanta Biswa Sarma, as a “badge of honour”. She said Gogoi’s “positive” politics has rattled the BJP. Her “apolitical” visit to the Zubeen Garg Memorial to pay her respect to the singer-composer received traction. She also reminded Sarma to move on and talk about how he can better Assam’s future instead of raking up old issues. Political observers, however, said that it will take more such visits by Gandhi Vadra to sustain the momentum.