Will the BJP finally get a new chief?
Speculation about the BJP’s new chief has been rife ever since June last year, when J.P. Nadda’s term came to an end. He was then given an extension till end January and since then the rumours have picked up momentum, especially post Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Nagpur last month. However, that announcement, for some reason, is yet to happen. The delay could only be for one reason—that the name is still to be finalised, though the inevitable shortlist is doing the rounds. The names range from M.L. Khattar to Rajnath Singh, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Bhupendra Yadav and Dharmendra Pradhan. Each name has its own significance vis-à-vis the RSS and BJP stakes. One is told that the new chief will be announced in the coming week, but again, nothing is final till the official announcement.
Shashi Tharoor of Bihar
Is Kanhaiya Kumar emerging as an outlier in the Bihar state Congress? Most of the senior leaders in the state are reportedly unhappy with the centre’s decision to project Kanhaiya as one of the party’s star faces in the state, especially given his lacklustre performance at the hustings. For instance, his “Palayan Roko Naukri Do” yatra did not find many takers within the state Congress, though for the record the objections were to the timing of the yatra being held during the month of Ramzan. But unofficially, the rumblings extend to the fact that Kanhaiya seems to have the backing of the headquarter honchos and his plans are often crafted without taking the state unit into confidence. This irks, as his was a lateral entry into the party as opposed to some of the home-grown cadre in the state. In fact, when asked to comment upon the fact as to whether Kanhaiya was emerging as Bihar’s “Shashi Tharoor”, a senior Congress leader retorted, “at least Shashi wins elections”. Oh dear.
Why Gujarat?
There was a lot of speculation as to why the Congress chose Gujarat for its AICC session last fortnight, especially since there are other election bound states that should have got prominence. Apart from Bihar, Bengal and Tamil Nadu, where the Congress doesn’t have much stakes in the sense that it is a junior partner, elections are also due in Kerala and Assam over the next two years. In both Assam and Kerala (where elections are due in 2026), the Congress is a strong stakeholder. However, it was Rahul Gandhi who explained to the cadre his reasons for choosing Gujarat, for as he pointed out, in martial arts you go for the strongest part of the body and clearly for the BJP, Gujarat is Narendra Modi’s stronghold and a loss there would have both an electoral and a psychological impact for the party. There are others who disagree, but in the end, Rahul has had his way. The pilot project of his experiment of strengthening the organisation from the level of district presidents is also going to begin from Gujarat.