MAY THE FARCE BE WITH YOU
Rahul Gandhi may have been trolled for watching The Last Jedi on the night of the Gujarat poll results, but he got some support from a UPA ally. Omar Abdullah dug up an old tweet of Narendra Modi three years ago, when the then Gujarat CM had stated that he was going to watch a movie with all the MLAs of Gujarat at the IMAX 3D theatre. At least that put an end to some of the trolling.
THE WAY DHUMAL LOST
A fortnight back, the Dhumal family ended the Himachal Pradesh polls on a strong note—Prem Kumar Dhumal had been declared the CM face of Himachal at the last minute, and the BJP was hopeful of wresting the state away from the Congress. Dhumal has a good rapport with the PM and had his way. However, not for long, for when the results poured in, the BJP did win the state, but Dhumal lost his seat. One reason for this is that he did not fight from his usual constituency, but had been sent to the adjoining constituency Sujanpur. This was a stronghold of a former protégé of his, Rajinder Rana. And Rana contested against Dhumal on a Congress ticket. On winning, he tweeted that his win would delight Dhumal because any mentor would like to see his protégé succeed. Then again, in this case, maybe not, for Dhumal not only lost his seat, he also lost the entire state.
REGIME CHANGE AT 24 AKBAR ROAD
Rahul Gandhi’s takeover as party chief saw some subtle nuances of regime change at the swearing-in itself. The younger leaders all arrived well before the appointed time and found their way past the crowds at the gates inside the complex, but the older lot, used to being ushered in, suddenly found few takers to smoothen their path through the crowds. A former Cabinet minister arrived well after Sonia Gandhi’s speech had begun, his normally impeccably combed hair somewhat dishevelled, another former general secretary found herself on the wrong side of the locked gates, while a current general secretary looked in vain for a seat in the few front rows, but no one got up to accommodate him. Clearly, the old have to now make way for the new.