Familial ties

On March 17, the former Bharatiya Janata Party member of Parliament, Varun Gandhi, set political circles abuzz after posting a family photograph with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on X. For many, the image signalled the re-emergence of “BJP’s Gandhi”, as Varun Gandhi had been known in the saffron party. In the photograph, Modi was seen with Varun Gandhi, his wife and his daughter. Varun Gandhi had largely disappeared from the political radar after the BJP denied him renomination from the Pilibhit Lok Sabha seat in the last general election. The decision was seen as fallout of his public criticism of the Modi 2.0 government, particularly over the farmers’ agitation against the now-repealed farm laws. His mother, Maneka Gandhi, was fielded by the BJP from Sultanpur in 2024, but she lost the election. Varun Gandhi’s post was interpreted as an attempt to repair ties with the Modi-Amit Shah leadership. The tone of the message was notably effusive. “I had the privilege of meeting the revered Prime Minister Shri @narendramodi ji along with my family and receiving his blessings and guidance,” he wrote in Hindi. He went on to add that there was “a wonderful paternal affection and sense of protection” in the PM’s aura and that the meeting had reinforced his belief that Modi was the “true guardian of the nation and its people”. The meeting came amid a buzz that Varun Gandhi might join the Congress, a move that would have marked a political convergence within the Gandhi family.

Middle ground

The Union defence minister, Rajnath Singh, praised the Union education minister, Dharmendra Pradhan, during his recent visit to Odisha, saying that everyone in Delhi was impressed by Pradhan’s work. He highlighted Pradhan’s role in implementing the National Education Policy, calling it a major challenge that Pradhan successfully navigated. Singh also credited Pradhan for the successful implementation of the PM Ujjwala scheme. His praise comes in handy at a time when Pradhan is facing a barrage of criticism over the NEP.

Singh made these remarks while attending the first death anniversary of Pradhan’s father, Debendra Pradhan, who was a Union minister of state. Realising that the Odisha chief minister, Mohan Charan Majhi, was also on the dais alongside Pradhan, the astute politician that Singh is, he immediately struck a balance. He went on to praise Majhi as well, congratulating him on setting an ambitious target to transform Odisha’s economy into a $500‑billion economy by 2036. “First, you need to dream, only then can you act. Majhi is doing the right thing,” Singh said.

Size matters

Moments after the BJP rolled out its candidate list for Darjeeling, ‘size’ was back in the buzz. In 2021, the Darjeeling BJP MP, Raju Bista, had threatened to expose the “shoe size” of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha chief, Bimal Gurung, hinting at secrets from Delhi’s corridors. A visibly hurt Gurung had promised to return the pair of shoes that Bista had gifted him on his birthday.

Fast forward to 2026, and the metaphor has found fresh footing. With the BJP fielding GJM leaders like Noman Rai and Lakshman Limbu and a neutral candidate, Bharat Chetri, in Kalimpong, in line with Gurung’s demands, equations have been recalibrated. “It appears Gurung has cut the BJP to size in this election,” quipped a hill watcher. In Darjeeling politics, it seems that shoes can leave big footprints.

Love spat

A farewell speech in the Rajya Sabha led to an exchange between two warhorses of Karnataka politics that echoed the bitterness of a romantic relationship gone sour. In his farewell speech for retiring MPs, the Congress president, Mallikarjun Kharge, said about the retiring Janata Dal (Secular) MP, HD Deve Gowda, “Wo mohabbat humare saath kiye, shaadi Modi sahab ke sath (he loves us but married Modi)”.

Gowda responded in an open letter: “Shri. Kharge will remember that in 2018 Congress sent Shri. Ghulam Nabi Azad and offered Shri. Kumaraswamy the chief ministership. I did not consent to this. I told in everybody’s presence that Shri. Kharge should be made Chief Minister... But after all this song, dance and a wedding what did they do in 2019? They dumped us... So to put the record straight, I did not desert the Congress alliance. It is they who walked away. They left me with no choice but to ‘divorce’ them and seek a more stable alliance.”

Run out of gas

The Delhi Police rounded up scores of Youth Congress cadre on Monday during a protest against the unavailability of cooking gas. Ironically, a CNG-fuelled bus ferrying the detained activists to lock-ups ran out of gas and broke down in central Delhi. The Youth Congress members then resorted to making social media reels from the spot, expressing solidarity with the police and mocking the government for its inability to even fuel it own vehicles.