A coffee-flavoured olive branch tampers in AP’s succession row
A great many deals have been sealed and bitter discords settled between rivals across the world over a hot cup of coffee.
In Andhra Pradesh, though, the mere act of sharing a social media post about coffee seems to have done the trick—at least for now.
Earlier this week, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and Jana Sena Party (JSP) members sparred over the demand within Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu’s party to elevate his son Nara Lokesh to the deputy CM post, which will bring the education and IT minister on the same pedestal as Deputy CM Pawan Kalyan.
Jana Sena leaders, in response, expressed their desire to see Pawan as the next CM, which raised political tempers in the state
The demand within TDP is seen as a counter-attack to Pawan’s public criticisms of the functioning of the coalition government it leads—which may have upset CM Naidu and his son Lokesh.
The father-son duo, present on the same dais at the 2025 World Economic Forum in Davos, did not object nor intervene, when Andhra Pradesh Industries Minister T.G. Bharath Monday went even further and publicly declared Lokesh the future CM, “whether some people like it or not”.
Amid the cold war brewing between the two National Democratic Alliance parties—particularly between their leaders Kalyan and Lokesh—the JSP chief seemed to have offered a coffee-flavoured olive branch.
On Wednesday, Kalyan reshared a post by Nara Lokesh on social media, where he said, “Of course we’re serving Araku Coffee at the Andhra Pradesh pavilion in Davos. And it’s clearly winning hearts!”
Araku is a brand of coffee sourced from the Visakhapatnam forests and Naidu has been promoting it since his previous tenure. The bean plants are cultivated by the local tribes.
Putting a lid on the uneasy succession row, for now, both parties have issued strict instructions to their respective leaders not to talk about or comment on the matter anymore.
A ‘royal’ traffic jam in Bangalore
Bharatiya Janata Party MP Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar, the custodian of the erstwhile royal family of Mysore, was caught in a traffic jam Friday evening while trying to enter the Bengaluru Palace.
This, despite the royal family’s willingness to part with 15 acres of land around the palace for widening and decongestion of the road—a measure successive Karnataka governments have delayed implementing.
Yaduveer has been forced to endure traffic snarls even as the Siddaramaiah-led government is deliberating on ways to circumvent a 2014 Supreme Court order to acquire approximately 15 acres of land without having to pay around Rs 3,000 crore to the royal family.
The government has now decided to take the ordinance route, but remains unclear on whether it will widen the road. On Friday, in Bengaluru, Karnataka’s Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs H.K Patil said, “We will decide that at a future date.”
Until then, royal or not, all Bangalore residents share the same fate.
Kejriwal’s Yogi vs Shah redux
During Lok Sabha elections last year, Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal, in his typically canny style, set the cat among the pigeons in the BJP by repeatedly claiming that Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath would soon be shown the door by the party’s central leadership.
While the tensions between Yogi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah were no secret, these whispers had largely remained confined to the corridors of power in Delhi and Lucknow.
Now, as Delhi heads into the assembly polls on 5 February, Kejriwal has brought the issue up once again. This time, it is in response to Yogi’s charge that the AAP has allowed the settlement of illegal Bangladeshi infiltrators in the city.
Never one to shy away from a sharp retort, on Friday, Kejriwal quipped that Yogi might want to offer Shah some guidance on how to improve Delhi’s law and order which comes directly under the Ministry of Home Affairs.
“Yogi Adityanath must explain to Amit Shah that fixing law and order requires time and attention. Delhi cannot be left at the mercy of gangsters. Please sit with him, guide him, and make sure the people of Delhi can live in peace,” Kejriwal said at a campaign pitstop.
Yogi puts allies on the spot
Over the past few weeks, Uttar Pradesh leaders Ashish Patel (Apna Dal-Soneylal), Sanjay Nishad (Nishad Party) and O.P. Rajbhar (Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party) have been questioning government officials. Patel even targeted two senior officials—perceived to be close to the CM—for trying to tarnish his image.
Last week, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath took the opportunity to put the leaders on the spot.
After a meeting with state cabinet members at the Maha Kumbh and before taking a dip at the holy Triveni Sangam at Prayagraj, while interacting with the media, Yogi invited the three leaders to come forward for a photograph.
As Patel, Nishad and Rajbhar hesitated, Yogi smiled and said, “Ashish Patel ji, Nishad ji, Rajbhar ji… Peche kyun chhupe hain? (Why are you hiding at the back?) Where are you hiding? Come forward.”
After Yogi’s comment, other cabinet ministers began smiling and asked them to come forward. When the leaders stepped forward, Yogi said, “Don’t hesitate.”
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