BJP is currently writing the script for a political blockbuster in South India. The prime minister himself tweeted to congratulate actor Chiranjeevi on receiving the award. Amit Shah held a meeting with Chiranjeevi’s brother Pawan Kalyan. Shah also met Jr. NTR. Renowned music composer Ilayaraja has been appointed to Rajya Sabha and actor Suresh Gopi is already in BJP. This means that the BJP can produce an entire film with this star cast if it wishes to do so. In fact, BJP is all too serious about releasing its political film beyond Karnataka. The script is ready.
Non-member, ticket holder
In the run-up to the MCD elections, there was a lot of resentment in the BJP ranks about issues related to ticket distribution. Ultimately, the decision was made to take back the party symbol from eight persons. Seven of them complied with the party’s directive, leaving only one. He was warned that if he does not return the symbol then he might lose the party’s membership. In response, he said he cannot lose the party membership because he is not a member. Now, the entire state unit of BJP is in a fix trying to figure out how such a person was given the ticket. Anyway, an investigation is underway.
The Telugu Effect
In Telangana, a former Congress leader has recently joined the BJP. His name is S. Reddy. In his joining speech, he referred to Telangana as a rashtra (nation) instead of a rajya (state). After his speech, the BJP apologised for the gaffe. Word is out that Reddy has also been instructed to keep his father— who was the former chief minister of Andhra Pradesh —out of his speeches. If you are protesting dynasty politics in the state, you can’t mention your family’s political lineage.
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Leader of the party is leader of the opposition
The winter session of Parliament starts on 7 December and the Rajya Sabha Chairman has called for a meeting of all party leaders on 6 December. Mallikarjun Kharge has been called to the meeting in his capacity as leader of the opposition. So, will Kharge attend the meeting as Congress President or by then someone else will be the leader of the opposition and a new letter will be sent out or the entire process will start afresh?
Sailing in the same boat
While campaigning for the Gujarat elections in Surat, the Congress party has camped in the same big hotel which was almost entirely occupied by the Aam Aadmi Party. Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann was staying in the same hotel along with a huge gathering of AAP leaders and workers. Then came Team Congress in Surat. Earlier, the state unit of Congress had made lodging arrangements in some other hotel. But as soon as the General Secretary of the party got a hint about the AAP-occupied hotel, he made his wish clear about following the broom. Several rooms in that hotel were booked in a great hurry. Congress members stayed in the same hotel to send a message. Now there has been a new entry of a prominent central minister in the hotel. Congress members have started to say that their competition is with BJP only. By the way, the number of party flags, caps, leaders and workers of different political parties present in the hotel call for a counting of their own.
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Mithun Magic
Once upon a time, Amitabh Bachchan used to be the Bollywood messiah of the poor class. But now this mantle has been passed on to Mithun Chakraborty who is also an important BJP leader in West Bengal. Panchayat elections in West Bengal are to be held soon and the BJP has decided to appoint Mithun as the leader of its ‘cadres’ in the state. Mithun enjoys a massive support base, especially among the rural subaltern masses. He will soon start a district-wise campaign for the BJP. Once a TMC MP, Mithun will now make speeches about why the masses should go against TMC. BJP hopes for ‘Mithun’s Magic’ to work. Mithun has already started his campaign tour. By dining with labourers’ in their huts, Mithun has also hinted at his strategy.
At least, he called
Nobody knows what happened in the aftermath of the spat between Rahul Gandhi and Uddhav Thackeray over the former’s comments against Hindutva icon, VD Savarkar. We don’t know if the patch happened or not but a call from Rahul baba himself has made Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut very happy.
Bharat Agrawal is Executive Director, Dainik Bhaskar Group, and a columnist.
By special arrangement with Dainik Bhaskar and translated by Ram Lal Khanna from the original in Hindi.
(Edited by Ratan Priya)