What next for Scindia?
Is Jyotiraditya Scindia throwing a royal sulk? He certainly seems miffed at the fact that he has no position within the Madhya Pradesh Congress set-up and is playing on the apparent rift between Chief Minister Kamal Nath and Digvijaya Singh. In the past, both had teamed up rather effectively against Scindia. His recent behaviour—especially his statement supporting the abrogation of Article 370—has not gone down well with the party leadership, especially since his stand, like that of many others within the party, was at variance with the line taken by Rahul Gandhi (and later the Congress Working Committee). What is also interesting is that the resignations of both Scindia and Milind Deora (another one who supported the PM’s stance on Article 370) have been accepted. Both, if you recall, had resigned from their posts as General Secretary UP (West) and Mumbai Regional Congress chief respectively after Rahul had put in his papers. With Priyanka Gandhi Vadra now tipped to take charge of entire Uttar Pradesh (note, unlike the others, she did not resign from her post as general secretary), it is clear that Scindia is looking to carve some sort of a role for himself in his home state. But the key question is, will the party leadership play ball?
Say it with Acronyms
It seems as if the acronym bug has not just bit to our Prime Minister but others seem to be following suit. Recently Congress member Jairam Ramesh posted on Twitter that: “Ever know what NITI in Niti Ayog stands for? It’s clearly Not In Touch With India.” Given the current economic slowdown, his pot-shot at the policymaking body clearly got him a better response than some of his other tweets.
Next Stop Telangana
While the Congress is still to get its act together for the coming three Assembly elections—for while it has placated former Chief Minister Bhupinder Hooda in Haryana, the state of Maharashtra still remains rudderless—the BJP is already way ahead and is planning for 2021 (West Bengal state polls), and even further to 2023 when the next round of elections are due in Telangana. Keeping the latter in mind the party has planned to commemorate 17 September as Hyderabad Mukti Day. This is the anniversary of the day the state acceded to the Indian Union, following a face-off between the Nizam of Hyderabad and the Indian Army. Part of the BJP’s plan is to hold a mega rally in the state, which will be addressed by Amit Shah, the main architect of this plan. Interestingly, and perhaps obviously, neither the TRS leader and state CM, Chandrasekhar Rao, nor Asaddudin Owaisi, the AIMIM leader is keen on a “celebration”, worried about how this would impact the 12% Muslim population in the state. And those who know Shah claim that their discomfort only adds the icing to his plans!