The Battle of Bihar is moving from its old formulation of a Nitish vs Lalu legacy battle, to a powerplay amongst the Gen-Next. Given Bihar Chief Minister and JDU leader Nitish Kumar’s ailing health, a succession war has broken out amongst the Gen-Next. From the I.N.D.I.A bloc there is of course Tejashwi Yadav, who remains the tallest leader, though the Congress is keen to start building its leadership, which is why it is insisting on the post of Deputy CM (should the alliance come to power). Within the NDA camp, the powerplay got a little interesting recently, when Chirag Paswan played hard to get during the seat sharing and eventually managed to walk away with a large chunk of seats. In fact, to accommodate Chirag’s chunk of 29, the JDU had to make do with fewer seats this time, climbing down from 115 in the last Assembly to 101. Both the BJP and the JDU are contesting 101 seats each. Given the kind of media attention he is getting, the fight really seems to be between Tejashwi and Chirag, and not Nitish Kumar. Then there is Prashant Kishor, who has all the makings of a challenger. Currently, he is occupying the mind space but could soon take up ground space as well given the response he is getting. Within all this one should not forget the BJP, which finally sees its dream of having the first CM from its party in Bihar, within grasp. Current Deputy CM Samrat Chaudhary could well occupy the CM’s chair, if the NDA is in a position to form the government in a timeshare arrangement with Nitish. The posturing and the strategising amongst the Gen-Next has begun. The mood on the ground in Bihar seems to be veering towards the NDA. Not so much because of a nostalgic vote for Nitish Kumar, as this will in all likelihood be his last election, but more so because of the recent announcement of the Mukhyamanti Rozgar Mahila Yojana that gives Rs 10,000 per month to the women voters. Prashan Kishor has called this a last minute bribe, but having said that, the mood on the ground has welcomed this bounty on the eve of Diwali. This is exactly what happened with the women-oriented Ladli Behna and the Ladki Behin Yojana schemes in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra as well.
Sundeep Bhutoria, the affable founder of Prabha Khaitan Foundation hosted his annual Diwali gala in the capital last week. A patron of arts, Bhutoria has cultivated an enviable niche for himself by organising cultural events and book launches in the smaller towns of the country, thereby ensuring that the hinterland gets to interact with big ticket names that are usually confined to the capital. In addition, he hosts some finely curated soirees in the capital where he invites thought leaders from all walks of life. However, his annual Diwali bash is a much grander affair, with an interesting mix of Delhi’s “poweratti”, along with the city’s cultural czars. There were over 60 Padma awardees along with diplomats, musicians, writers and politicians cutting across party lines—Shashi Tharoor, Sachin Pilot, Salman Khursheed, Ram Gopal Yadav, Akshay Yadav, Gurdeep Singh Sappal, Sangeeta Singh Deo, Dharmashila Gupta, Sudanshu Mittal, Priyanka Bharti, Shazia Ilmi, Priyanka Kakkar and Yasir Jilani. Of course, there was the usual selfie rush when Shashi Tharoor walked in, but he was given some competition by Sachin Pilot. That, along with the good food and festive cheer, made the afternoon a perfect Instagrammable event.
Dr Manisha Varma, a 1995 batch Indian Information Service (IIS) officer took charge at the beginning of this month. Prior to this she was with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, as the ministry’s media officer handling communications. Given that the Covid pandemic took place during her tenure, added to the gravity of her portfolio. She takes over from Ajay Singh, a seasoned journalist and author, who had been in office during President Kovind’s tenure since 2019. Before Ajay Singh, another former journalist and geostrategic expert Ashok Malik was occupying that office during President Kovind’s tenure. The press secretary post is usually held by the Indian Foreign Service, with current External Affairs Minister, S. Jaishankar having served as press secretary and speechwriter to President Shankar Dayal Sharma. Later Pranab Mukherjee had Venu Rajamony (IFS). Interestingly, Dr Manisha Varma has also handled social media for the Press Information Bureau, and in this age of digital communications this is a crucial experience in her portfolio.
