Kanimozhi-Udayanidhi succession war buzz in DMK
With the elevation of Chief Minister M.K. Stalin’s son Udhayanidhi Stalin as deputy chief minister in September, the succession war within the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) may be over but there’s always an underlying friction that lends itself to speculation about differences within the DMK’s first family at the slightest hint of anything amiss.
This time it was the absence of Lok Sabha MP Kanimozhi Karunanidhi, the half-sister of M.K. Stalin, at a review meeting chaired by Udhayanidhi Stalin at Thoothukkudi, the constituency from where Kanimozhi was elected.
Though speculation was rife that she skipped the meeting as all was not well within the first family, Udhayanidhi maintained that she is not in the country owing to pressing work and he would share the stage with her in another 10 days, upon her return.
Kanimozhi had flown to Singapore after attending a meeting of the Standing Committee on Consumer Affairs of Food and Public distribution department.
This is not the first time supposed friction between Kanimozhi and Udhayanidhi has been a topic of speculation. Kanimozhi was late to the swearing-in ceremony of the three MLAs, including Senthil Balaji, who were made ministers in the state cabinet after Udhayanidhi was elevated as deputy CM. At the time, too, it was speculated that she intentionally missed the event. Kanimozhi, who is active on social media, also didn’t congratulate Udhayanidhi on his elevation and did so only when he met her at her residence a day later.
Why ex-CM Jagan can’t speak in assembly
With Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP) MLAs boycotting the ongoing Andhra Pradesh Assembly session, few ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) legislators took it upon themselves to positively criticise and point some shortcomings in the budget and policy-programmes according to the liking of their bosses last week.
Their disapproval however was unrestrained over the quality of lunch served to the MLAs in the legislature building on the budget day. Receiving complaints, a furious Assembly Speaker Chintakayala Ayyannapatrudu upbraided the food supply contractor, asking if different items were being served for him, other higher ups and the legislators.
Told that rice was the only item that was different, the supplier was shown the door and a new contractor was brought in the very next day.
Meanwhile, the media in Vijayawada-Amaravati is witnessing a change in former CM Jagan Mohan Reddy’s attitude and approach to the media. Jagan who kept the press at a distance, not holding pressers throughout his term, is now conducting press conferences, and, on some occasions, like last Wednesday to react to the Chandrababu Naidu-led government’s budget, even arranged lunch for reporters at YSRCP central office.
He gave a two-hour long speech, accusing the Naidu government of reneging on its ‘Super Six’ poll promises. Once he was done, Jagan looked at his watch and remarked, “Look, it took me one hour forty minutes to expose the Naidu government’s lies and false poll promises. Now if they want to treat me like one of the 175 MLAs and ask me to finish talking in the House in 10 minutes how can we question the government properly in that time constraint?”
Jagan and his 10 MLAs are in protest, abstaining from House proceedings, demanding the Leader of the Opposition status for the YSRCP chief. The present dispensation disagrees, saying their numbers don’t merit such status in the assembly. With YSRCP knocking on the court’s doors, the matter is before the AP high court.
YSRCP MLCs, however, are still attending the upper house—the council—where they are in the majority. Ironically, five years back, Jagan as the chief minister had moved to scrap the council which was, at the time, dominated by Naidu’s Telugu Desam Party (TDP).
Vasundhara Raje keeps BJP on tenterhooks
Bypolls for seven assembly seats in Rajasthan are being seen as a litmus test for Rajasthan Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma, so much so that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) put its back into ensuring wins in maximum seats.
It even included former CM Vasundhara Raje in the list of star campaigners to ensure the party puts forward a united face. But Raje did not visit any seat where bypolls were held.
Her policy of maintaining distance from by-elections is not new. Even during the Lok Sabha elections, she had limited herself to campaigning in her son Dushyant Singh’s constituency.
Sources said Raje also kept herself away from many of the meetings held to strategise for the bypolls. BJP state president Madan Rathore and state in-charge Radha Mohan Agarwal have been busy giving clarifications, pointing out that nothing is amiss and, with her being a national leader, Raje’s role cannot be underestimated in the party.
Growing voices of dissent in MP BJP
Despite a thumping victory, winning 163 of the 230 seats in Madhya Pradesh, the state BJP is having a hard time balancing factionalism and differences among its leaders with several of its senior leaders stepping outside of party lines to raise their grievances in public.
The most recent name to join the list is Bhupendra Singh, the BJP MLA from Khurai in Sagar district. Singh, who held plump portfolios of home and urban development in Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s cabinet, has accused police officers in his district of procuring call detail records (CDRs) of BJP workers in his constituency without any ongoing investigations against them. He brought the issue to the notice of Deputy Chief Minister Rajendra Shukla.
A few days later, he targeted his party leadership for inducting Congress leaders.
In a public meeting addressing party workers in his constituency, Singh said, “In the last Lok Sabha elections, our workers were beaten up by Congress workers inside the polling booths in the presence of police. I personally went and took over 54 workers and admitted them to the hospital. Now, if people tell me to accept such people into the party, how is that possible? Party can accept or not, but I can never accept them.”
Political observers pointed out the two accusations—of procuring CDRs and the remark against Congress defectors—is a result of Bhupendra Singh’s ongoing rivalry with Govind Singh Rajput, the minister for food, civil supplies and consumer protection.
Rajput, the sitting MLA from Surkhi in Sagar, was a Scindia loyalist who switched to the BJP in 2020, bringing down the Kamal Nath-led Congress government.
He was made transport minister under Shivraj Singh Chouhan and then the minister for civil supplies and consumer protection under Mohan Yadav. On the other hand, Bhupendra Singh, who held the urban development department, was left out of the cabinet.
Many also point out that the controversy over the change in land usage in Ujjain linked with Mohan Yadav, which was overturned by then Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, has only strained equations between Yadav and Bhupendra Singh.
Scindia, strained relations, & shifting loyalties
Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia’s absence from the BJP campaign for Vijaypur and Budhni bypolls has once again brought to fore speculation about strained relations and shifting loyalties in the Gwalior-Chambal region.
The bypoll in Vijaypur was necessitated by sitting Congress MLA Ram Niwas Rawat quitting the Congress, joining the BJP, and becoming a minister. The Budhni bypoll was necessitated by sitting MLA and former CM Shivraj Chouhan becoming an MP.
Once considered close to Madhavrao Scindia, Ram Niwas Rawat refused to join the BJP along with Jyotiraditya in 2020. Over the past four years, he had been caught up with internal struggles within the local unit of the Congress party. Having burnt his bridges with Scindia, Rawat turned to Narendra Singh Tomar who in turn not only supported Rawat but also played a role in his induction into the BJP ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
With the Vijaypur bypolls, despite being made a star campaigner and his name featuring sixth on the list, Scindia did not address any rallies in the Vijaypur or Budhni.
This came at a time when both Chief Minister Mohan Yadav and state BJP president V.D. Sharma addressed 12 rallies each in both constituencies, while Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan held 11. Though Scindia remained away from the bypolls, Narendra Singh Tomar had been camping along with V.D. Sharma in Vijaypur.
(Edited by Sanya Mathur)
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