Troubled waters

The Union home minister, Amit Shah, is known to be a 24x7 politician. People close to him claim that Amitbhai eats, drinks and sleeps politics. On the day of Shivratri, Shah was at the Isha Yoga Center, Coimbatore, belonging to the spiritual guru, Jaggi Vasudev. He shared the stage with the Congress’s deputy chief minister, DK Shivakumar. This has sparked a huge uproar inside the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party. There is speculation that the master strategist could be up to something. In BJP circles, Shivakumar has long been seen as a potential Himanta Biswa Sarma. The latter had deserted the Congress over differences with the party’s leadership in Assam. Similarly, Shivakumar’s differences with the Karnataka CM, Siddaramaiah, are well-known as is his ambition to become the CM. He is learnt to be frustrated with the Congress leadership for not fulfilling his wish. Indications of Shah’s effort to fish in troubled waters are visible as Central probe agencies have not been hounding Shivakumar much of late.

Virtual treat

You might not have heard of the term, ‘virtual eating’, but the Bihar CM, Nitish Kumar, recently demonstrated it in the legislative assembly. While the budget was being presented, Opposition members were trying to express that it was just hyperbole intended to confuse and mislead people because a large part of it was going to be towards providing salary, pension and governance. The Rashtriya Janata Dal leader, Tejashwi Yadav, indicated this by showing a toffee to the Treasury benches. Much to the astonishment of the people present in the House, Kumar started gesturing back that he had lapped it up and was chewing it.

Nitish Kumar.

While this spread some mirth, many found it awkward. Once again, some indicated that it could be one of the symptoms of dementia. But given Kumar’s deft political posturing, one never knows what hides behind his gestures. A virtual toffee is rarely just that when it comes to Kumar.

Too many cooks

The BJP has 101 spokespersons in Bihar, where elections are scheduled later this year, and the number might increase. The party had thought that they would publicise its policies and work on the media. However, having so many spokespersons has been counterproductive as they keep squabbling among themselves. The main reason behind this is the competition for visibility on TV screens and in newspapers. They also want to outdo each other to be in the good books of senior leaders for greater benefits. Since there are spokespersons from various castes, each with their own lobbies and leaders, it is creating friction within the party. Top BJP leaders have now understood the meaning of the adage, ‘too many cooks spoil the broth’.

Divided house

Efforts to unite anti-BJP parties by a civil society group before next year got off to a discouraging start following a heated altercation between the Congress member of Parliament, Pradyut Bordoloi, and the Raijor Dal member of the legislative assembly, Akhil Gogoi. They went after each other over past acts of omission and commission. Bordoloi hit out at Gogoi for taking potshots at the Congress despite pushing for unity. Things came to a head when Gogoi described the Congress as fascist, leading to Bordoloi storming out of the unity meeting. The state Congress president, Bhupen Kumar Borah, stayed back and Gogoi withdrew his comment to put the unity talks back on track but the damage was done with the ruling BJP taking potshots at the Opposition’s flop show. Since such an embarrassing show of disunity will only hurt the Congress, the party’s central leadership should take a firm stance on the Opposition alliance before it is too late. The Congress has already lost the momentum it had gathered in the Lok Sabha polls.

Diversionary tactic

The Assam CM continues to push his state as a key investment destination even after the recent two-day Advantage Assam 2.0 mega investment summit inaugurated by the prime minister, Narendra Modi, and attended by over six Union ministers. At a function in Delhi this week, Sarma said that the upcoming Guwahati airport, run by the Adani Group, is set to give a tough competition to the Bengaluru airport. Two days later, he uploaded the design of the airport terminal with a caption, “By September 2025 , the entire Guwahati airport experience — from aircraft to the city — will be as good as Bangalore or other major cities.” Sarma has been hard-selling Assam for weeks now, making the development plank a major part of his speeches and social media outreach. Most feel it is part of his strategy to divert attention from the Opposition’s attack against his ‘misrule’.