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The inaugural function of the Congress Party’s new headquarters at Kotla Road last week was an occasion for old timers to compare the circumstances under which they shifted to 24 Akbar Road in 1978. The move was necessitated following a split in the Congress. As in that case, the Congress organisation today is weak and is facing a severe financial crunch. But the difference is that Indira Gandhi had a plan to revitalise the party which she succeeded in doing by travelling across the country and reaching out to the grassroots. Today, there appears to be no roadmap to rebuild the party which is non-existent in large parts of the country. In fact, the Congress leadership is struggling with basics: For instance, it has been unable to reconstitute its Himachal Pradesh state unit and name the Leader of Opposition in the Haryana Assembly. A senior leader summed up the situation aptly: New Building, Old Challenges.
In the Hindi movie Luck by Chance, superstar Shahrukh Khan has a piece of advice for Farhan Akhtar, playing the character Vikram, who has just made a big splash with his first film. “Fame and power can be intoxicating but never forget those who knew you when you were a nobody,” Khan tells Akhtar. If no one else, external affairs minister S. Jaishankar appears to have been influenced by Khan’s suggestion. Last June when sports journalist Harpal Singh Bedi passed away, Jaishankar made it a point to come for the funeral as the two had studied together at Jawaharlal Nehru University. Jaishankar also put out a heartfelt tweet along with an old photo from their student days. A week ago, the minister again ensured that he made it for the cremation of another friend from JNU. His university friends were surprised to see him there as they believed he was out of the country. Jaishankar had been travelling but came directly from the airport on learning of the funeral. “You cannot forget your old friends,” he is said to have told his university contemporaries.
Will any member of the Gandhi family visit Mahakumbh Mela at Prayagraj? Congress leader Surendra Singh Rajput has hinted at the possibility of Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra attending the ongoing Mela in Prayagraj. If the latter performs the holy dip, it will be seen as an auspicious start to her first innings as an MP in Wayanad. Senior Congress leaders recall Sonia Gandhi’s decision to go for the Kumbh Mela in 2001. Not only did she take a dip at Triveni, she also performed a series of pujas. Sonia Gandhi was then under constant attack on the issue of her foreign origins and this was an attempt by her to silence her critics. These days, Rahul Gandhi has been paying obeisance at major temples during his travels across the country in an effort to counter the BJP charge that the Congress is anti-Hindu. If the duo travels to Mahakumbh Mela ahead of the upcoming Delhi Assembly elections, will it improve the Congress’s electoral prospects? That answer only time can provide.
Uttar Pradesh political circles have been abuzz ever since state minister Ashish Patel, husband of Union minister of state Anupriya Patel, took on the Yogi Adityanath government. Though he has not targeted chief minister Adityanath directly, Mr Patel has made a series of public statements against UP director of information Shishir Singh and Amitabh Yash who heads the Special Task Force. Both officers are known to be close to Yogi. Mr Patel is from Apna Dal, an alliance partner in the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance. A variety of reasons are being given for Mr Patel’s outbursts. According to one explanation, the ongoing feud in the Patel family has triggered this outburst. However, political pundits in Uttar Pradesh see this as an extension of the longstanding battle between Yogi and Union home minister Amit Shah. It is being whispered that Mr Patel is being encouraged by Mr Shah to take on Yogi and make things difficult for the chief minister who has emerged as a leader in his own right. However, Mr Patel is learnt to have been advised by Delhi that he should not mention Prime Minister Narendra Modi in this context. Mr Patel has remarked on several occasions that as a member of the NDA, the Apna ministers work under Mr Modi’s leadership and it was for him to decide their fate. These references to Mr Modi have not been received kindly by the party bosses.
The Bharatiya Janata Party appears to have met its match in Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal. As the campaign for next month’s election in Delhi picks up speed, charges and counter-charges between the two political rivals are flying thick and fast. After accusing BJP candidates of distributing Rs 1,000 each to voters, AAP leaders have gone a step further, saying the cash-rich BJP had actually given Rs 10,000 for each voter but the candidates pocketed Rs 9,000 as they realise they are not going to win this election. This has created a fresh problem for BJP campaigners. Now when they set out to seek support for the BJP, many of them are invariably asked by voters to first pay up the Rs 9,000 sanctioned for them by the party. Needless to say, BJP leaders and workers have a tough time clarifying that there was no truth in this charge and that this is propaganda spread by the AAP.
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