THE POST HARYANA DOMINO EFFECT
Call it the post Haryana effect or a strategic step back, but Rahul Gandhi is not so visible on the campaign field during the current round of Assembly elections and bypolls. His focus this time around was mainly on the Wayanad bypoll, a seat that he has vacated in favour of his sister. Apart from that he has given the Uttar Pradesh bypolls a miss, especially since the Congress is not contesting a single seat in the Hindi heartland. Though the I.N.D.I.A bloc partner and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav has made it clear that it is the alliance that is contesting and not the SP alone, he is yet to hold a joint rally with his ally. Equally interesting is the state of Maharashtra where the Congress seems content to let another of its allies, the Shiv Sena (UBT) chief and former Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray lead the campaign. In fact, sources within the Sena claim that there is a tacit understanding in place that should Maha Vikas Aghadi win, then Uddhav would get to be CM again. That apart, it is Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge who seems more active and is leading the Congress campaign rather than Rahul Gandhi. Apart from his (much needed) clarification via a newspaper editorial regarding his stand on big business and corporates, Rahul has not engaged in any narrative setting. It is Kharge, for instance, who is taking on Yogi Adityanath and the Prime Minister’s campaign rhetoric, being present at manifesto releases and doing all things presidential, while Rahul seems content to play the role of one of the star campaigners.
IT’S SENA VS SENA IN MUMBAI
Interestingly, while neither alliance in Maharashtra has announced its Chief Ministerial candidate, the battle seems to be boiling down to an Uddhav Thackeray vs Eknath Shinde battle. As the sitting Chief Minister it is but natural that the Mahayuti’s campaign has both Narendra Modi and Eknath Shinde on its posters. But on the ground, it is Shinde’s schemes that are being debated as is his governance record. In fact the Sena (Shinde) is quick to distance itself from the Gujarat “hegemony” that has the opposition claiming that all big ticket projects have gone to Gujarat and not Maharashtra in the recent past. Of course if the BJP chalks up a sizable chunk of seats then Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis will stake his claim for the CM’s chair. But there are those within the BJP who would be happier to see Shinde at the helm rather than Fadnavis. Wheels within wheels, as they say.
WHY THE HECK NOT?
K.P. Singh, the man who built DLF has come out with his autobiography (co-authored with Aparna Jain) with a very catchy title—Why the Heck Not? It’s a must read on so many levels. One, as the blurb promises, it’s a blueprint of success, straight from the desk of one of India’s most successful (and flamboyant) billionaire businessmen. Two, it’s an engaging vignette of the times that were with some insights for the times that are. Lastly, if not for life’s earnings, just read it for the sheer delight of a life well lived and a tale well told. The anecdotes, and KP’s jugaad for each hurdle, are what make this book come alive as it tells the story of India’s urban and infrastructural growth beginning with the DLF City in Gurgaon. How K.P. Singh took on his father-in-law’s business, how he acquired land from the farmers, spending each evening dressed in a kurta, shawl and his Army beret, sipping tea with them on their charpais, negotiating each piece of land, case by case, for each had a different reason for not selling (and how he nearly ended up running a matrimonial agency), how he used simple mathematics of profit and loss to counter Arun Nehru’s charge that he had bribed a sitting Chief Minister, how he ignited Jack Welch’s India connection…each episode is narrated with a wry chuckle. It’s also an insight into the corridors of power, where negotiations can be made and broken, not in ministerial offices, but at social evenings where the taste of a khaas kheer served to a khaas guest turned sour, albeit through no fault of the host. Something tells me that the next edition is but a page away. Though in his early 90s, K.P. Singh clearly still has his eye on that road still to be built.