Man of his word

The former Union minister, RK Singh, lost the Lok Sabha election from Arrah in Bhojpur last year due to the alleged machinations of some senior Bharatiya Janata Party leaders in Bihar. This despite working efficiently in the ministry and for the people of his constituency. Still smarting from the defeat, he asserted that the slogan raised at his public meetings seeking him as the chief minister of Bihar in the 2025 assembly polls had upset and unnerved some top BJP honchos in the state. Singh said that those senior BJP leaders conspired against him and funded the Bhojpuri actor, Pawan Singh, to contest as an independent candidate from the nearby Karakat constituency due to which the NDA’s votes got divided. “I requested them to ask Pawan Singh to withdraw from the polls, but they did not do so,” he said. The former Union minister has now vowed retribution at a public meeting and said he would ensure the defeat of those leaders and their stooges in the forthcoming assembly elections. The development has left the BJP top brass worried because they know that Singh is a man of his word.

Easy target

With the Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology University in the eye of a storm following the fracas over the suicide of a Nepalese student and the alleged misbehaviour of the authorities towards Nepalese students, the ruling BJP has got an opportunity to target the Opposition and its main political rival in the state, the Biju Janata Dal. State BJP leaders have alleged that KIIT’s founder and former BJD member of Parliament, Achyuta Samanta, built his educational empire during the 24-year uninterrupted rule of the BJD in the state.

Achyuta Samanta.

Samanta’s close link with the BJD chief and leader of Opposition, Naveen Patnaik, is no secret. Patnaik gave Samanta a party ticket in 2019 from the tribal-dominated Kandhamal seat and ensured his victory. In 2024, when Samanta lost from Kandhamal, he announced his retirement. However, the past continues to haunt him as it has become impossible for him to shake off the tag of a former BJD MP, making him an easy target of the BJP.

Olive branch

Last Friday, the prime minister, Narendra Modi, participated in a Marathi literature conclave in Delhi where he heaped praises on the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. It is quite natural for Modi to applaud the ideological fountainhead of the BJP. But his words raised eyebrows in political circles, given his cold relations with the current RSS leadership in recent years. “It has been my privilege, along with millions of others, to be inspired by the RSS to live for the country,” Modi said, hailing the Marathi founder of the outfit, KB Hedgewar. Modi had rarely indulged in this kind of glorification of the RSS in the last decade. The RSS had disliked Modi’s ‘ abki baar chaar sau paar ’ slogan for the 2024 general elections, opining that the line reeked of arrogance. The RSS was vindicated when the BJP’s tally in the Lok Sabha dipped below the majority mark. The PM’s words of admiration were thus seen as extending an olive branch towards the party’s ideological parent. BJP insiders, however, said that Modi could be trying to please the RSS leadership to get his way in the appointment of the new BJP chief.

Special invitation

A Noida-based couple designed their wedding card based on the logo of the Bharat Jodo Yatra. Titled “Bharat Jodo Vivah”, the card was custom-made to invite Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi to the wedding on February 21 and 22. The couple — Abhilasha Kotwal and Vinal William — introduced themselves on the card as the “daughter of Jammu and Bengal” and the “son of Punjab and Kerala”. The invitations were dropped off at the residency of the Gandhis and the couple received a letter from Rahul Gandhi wishing them well.

Confusion personified

Various parties are finding it hard to assess Prashant Kishor, the new politician on the block in Bihar and the head of the Jan Suraaj party. It is equally hard for them to gauge his intentions. This is because he keeps slamming all other political parties in rapid succession, including the BJP, the Congress and the Rashtriya Janata Dal. He also makes tall promises, like that of nominating 40 women candidates and 40 Muslim candidates for the elections to the 243-member assembly. He has assured people of land reforms since 60% of people in Bihar are landless and two-thirds of all the land is owned by just eight castes even though Bihar has around 215 castes. Moreover, while Kishor sometimes comes across as arrogant and impetuous, he can also be an affable person. This was demonstrated when the Tamil actor-turned-politician, Vijay, roped in Kishor as a political adviser for the 2026 assembly elections. “Kishor is confusion personified. We are still wondering about his aims and objectives,” a senior leader of Janata Dal (United), of which Kishore used to be the vice-president, shared.