Rahul’s loss, Selja’s gain
The Congress may have failed to resolve the Haryana Assembly Leader of Opposition impasse between its warring factions, but Kumari Selja, face of the anti-Hooda lobby, has gained an advantage on one front.
Selja, the party’s senior MP from Sirsa, has moved into 12, Tughlaq Lane, the previous Lutyens’ Zone address of Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi. The Congress scion had moved out of the bungalow, where he spent nearly two decades, following his disqualification as an MP due to a conviction in a defamation case in 2023. Even after the conviction was stayed and his Lok Sabha membership restored, Rahul did not return to the bungalow and chose instead to stay with his mother, Sonia Gandhi, at 10, Janpath.
Following his takeover as the LoP, Gandhi was allotted a Type VIII spacious bungalow on Sunehri Bagh Road near Parliament. However, he is yet to move into the new address.
Digvijaya shuns the dais
A political drama unfolded Saturday at Congress party’s ‘Jai Hind Sabha’ in Jabalpur. Senior party leaders including Kamal Nath, Bhupesh Baghel, Jitu Patwari, Vivek Tankha, MLAs and others were seated on the stage. But two-time chief minister and senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh sat amongst the crowd in the front row—to send a message about growing indiscipline amongst party workers often seen fighting to find a seat on the dais.
On 28 April 28, a rift broke out amongst Congress workers over seating arrangements at the party’s ‘Samvidhan Bachao Rally’ in Gwalior. A party spokesperson who found a seat on the dais refused to get off despite repeated requests to make space for another senior leader. The episode annoyed Digvijaya who declared that he would not sit on the dais at any party event in the future.
As Singh sat amongst the crowd instead of the dais Saturday, Jabalpur’s Congress MLA Lakhan Ghanghoria held his feet pleading to him to take his place on the dais. But Singh politely turned down his plea.
Digvijaya Singh told The Print that he chose to sit amongst the workers to ensure there was no discontent amongst workers who are not on the dais. “Sitting amongst workers is a practice which Rahul Gandhi himself promotes. It will keep the workers happy,” he said.
For the IPS, business as usual
Days after Supreme Court ruled that the deputation of IPS officers to central armed police forces (CAPFs) would be “progressively reduced,” the central government Friday appointed two senior IPS officers as inspector generals (IGs) of the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB).
The Centre’s order has come as a relief to anxious cadres of the IPS, who have been hoping that the government would devise a way to maintain the status quo despite the unfavourable order from the apex court.
Friday’s order, some officers hoped, is a sign that it would be business as usual for the government—at least in the absence of a contempt case.
Civil services associations find a voice
For many years, associations of civil services like the IAS, IPS, IRS, etc. have been conspicuous by their silence. Such has been the hesitation among civil servants of being seen as unionising against the government, that many associations would not even hold elections for key posts.
Be it lateral entry, the controversial 360-degree reform, etc., most associations refrained from commenting on anything that could irk the government. Instead, the X pages of most associations had become a platform for trite self-congratulatory posts.
But of late, some of the associations have seemed to gain their voice back.
Be it the online trolling of Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri or the communal jibe by Karnataka BJP’s N. Ravikumar aimed at Kalaburagi deputy commissioner Fouzia Taranum, several associations have taken a firm stand against attacks and trolling faced by officers.
There is also the example of the Madhya Pradesh chapter of the IFS association, which directly challenged the state government in court for making IAS officers responsible for their appraisals, and won the case.
On Haryana campuses, it’s all in a name
The Chaudhary Devi Lal University (CDLU) in Haryana’s Sirsa finds itself at the centre of a political storm. Days after Vice-Chancellor Professor Narsi Ram Bishnoi named campus buildings after Hindutva icon Vinayak Damodar Savarkar and Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader Ashok Singhal, the state government swiftly replaced him with Dr Vijay Kumar as full-time V-C.
Bishnoi, juggling dual roles as V-C of Guru Jambheshwar University (GJU) and CDLU, had stirred the pot by renaming the student activity centre, sparking accusations of political overreach.
The move echoed a past misstep during the Hooda regime, when a hall at CDLU was named after Ranbir Singh Hooda by then V-C Dr K.C. Bhardwaj. Then chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda was reportedly furious at the naming of a hall after his father at a university named after his longtime political adversary Chaudhary Devi Lal. The decision drew sharp rebuke, with Bhardwaj facing public scolding and the name being promptly reverted.
History seems to repeat itself at CDLU, where naming buildings is less about legacy and more about igniting ideological battles.
Bishnoi defended his choices, claiming they honoured “national service and cultural pride,” but critics, including JJP’s Digvijay Chautala, cried foul, alleging Bishnoi had sidelined a prior plan to honour former Punjab chief minister late Parkash Singh Badal.
This saga isn’t just about names on plaques—it’s a microcosm of Haryana’s charged political landscape. As Dr Kumar steps in, the question lingers: will he navigate the naming game with more finesse, or will CDLU remain a battleground for symbolic turf wars?
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