Perfect timing
The disclosures surrounding the land parcels acquired by family members of the Madhya Pradesh chief minister, Mohan Yadav — which the Opposition Congress allege and political circles widely believe were leaked by Bharatiya Janata Party insiders — have set tongues wagging. Yadav’s elevation as CM after the BJP’s victory in the 2023 assembly elections had surprised many. A low-profile Other Backward Classes leader, Yadav was seen as the central leadership’s choice to keep its authority over the state unit intact. He replaced veteran Shivraj Singh Chouhan, a contemporary of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Chouhanwas shifted to Delhi as Union agriculture minister despite his reluctance to leave state politics. Interestingly, on the very day the exposé on Yadav appeared, Chouhan shared the stage with the Union home minister, Amit Shah, at a National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India event. In an unexpected departure, Chouhan spoke about fitness, urging the audience to emulate Shah’s healthy lifestyle. “To learn the principles of staying healthy, we should take lessons from the honourable Amit Bhai Shahji,” he said, recalling one of Shah’s earlier speeches. He went on to describe Shah as the ideal embodiment of Modi’s Fit India Movement. The lavish praise appeared to catch even the HM by surprise. In the BJP’s power corridors, Chouhan’s unusually effusive praise was interpreted by some as a reflection of his enthusiasm following the revelations involving Yadav.
Trigger point
Nara Lokesh, a minister of the Andhra Pradesh government and Telugu Desam Party leader, recently lavished praise on the former Tamil Nadu CM, MK Stalin. This has got the goat of Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam supporters as well as a section of industrialists, including the head of Zoho, Sridhar Vembu, who is considered close to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.
Speaking at a newspaper event, Lokesh lauded Stalin for running a corruption-free industrial promotion system that gave Andhra Pradesh stiff competition. His comments came on the same day that the TVK minister, Keerthana S, accused the previous Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam government of corruption that led to the potential loss of at least 245 investors who were willing to put in 3.3 lakh crores rupees in the state. Vembu then joined the debate, launching a social media campaign amplifying complaints from school owners and others who alleged that they had to pay bribes to operate under Stalin’s administration.
Suspicious shift
The Jharkhand government’s investor summit in Delhi has been abruptly postponed, under pressure from the Centre. The Taj Palace hotel, where the July 1-2 event was to be held and for which invitations had gone out to leading manufacturing and mining companies, requested that it be rescheduled to July 8-9.
According to a Ranchi newspaper, the hotel cited a Union government event scheduled for the earlier dates. The Jharkhand government, despite having booked the venue months in advance, agreed to the change. In political circles, there is speculation that the postponement may have more to it than meets the eye, particularly in the wake of recent cross-voting in the assembly in favour of a BJP-backed candidate in the Rajya Sabha elections.
Rift widens
Ties between the Assam PCC president, Gaurav Gogoi, and the state youth Congress chief and MLA, Zubair Anam, have been strained since the debacle in the April polls. This is not helping the party’s cause. Anam confronted Gogoi at a party meeting for reprimanding him for arriving late. The friction is being used by the detractors to question Gogoi’s hold on the state unit.
