Varsha bungalow’s littlest celebrity
The Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai concluded Tuesday, and among the most-watched visarjans (deity immersions) of any household Ganpati was the one at Varsha—the official residence of the Maharashtra chief minister.
This year, though, the photos and visuals from Varsha bungalow went especially viral, not because of the scale of the event or any political activity in connection with the upcoming state polls. This year, the VIP was not CM Eknath Shinde himself, but his toddler grandson, Rudransh.
Shinde was the 3-year-old’s man Friday the whole evening. When little Rudransh wanted to play the dhol, CM Shinde carried him to one of the dhol players and handed him the drum stick. Shinde also carried Rudransh on his shoulders, ensuring the boy had an unobstructed view—whether during the Ganpati aarti or the visarjan procession.
DMK stargazing
In Tamil Nadu, the latest political buzz centres on the possible elevation of Udhayanidhi—DMK leader and CM M.K. Stalin’s son—to deputy CM. However, whenever there are whispers of his promotion, many DMK members don’t turn to party documents or consult senior leaders, they look at Udhayanidhi’s horoscope.
On 18 September, when there were rumours suggesting that his elevation will be announced at 11.30 am, some DMK members were confident it won’t happen, claiming the timing was “inauspicious”. Playing astrologer, they consulted Udhayanidhi’s horoscope and predicted that this won’t occur until 28 September, when his stars align for success.
Notably, DMK’s leaders—ranging from former Chief Minister C.N. Annadurai to the current Chief Minister M.K. Stalin—have been atheists. Nevertheless, their family members and party workers have been spiritual.
Some in the DMK, born out of the rationalist legacy, now seem more interested in their star signs than in the party’s affairs.
When asked about this, a senior DMK leader chuckled and said, “Auspicious time for elevation? Let me check it too,” before dismissing any suggestion that such practices influence party decisions.
Nadda’s hands-off approach in running the health ministry
J.P. Nadda’s tenure as Health Minister in Modi 3.0 has been notably different from his predecessor Mansukh Mandaviya’s. While Mandaviya was deeply involved in every project—small or big—Nadda has opted for a more decentralised approach, giving bureaucrats greater autonomy and more room to work freely.
This style of functioning, say old-timers, is similar to Nadda’s previous term in the ministry (2014-2019), when he was open to new and big ideas but did not choose to do everything himself. Mandaviya, on the other hand, was so deeply invested in every aspect of the ministry’s functioning that he would even decide what snacks were served during meetings.
Under Nadda’s leadership, senior bureaucrats now handle key ministry announcements and press briefings, a shift from Mandaviya’s tenure when he personally engaged with the media—albeit off-the-record—while instructing officials to refrain from interacting with journalists.
This shift has even resulted in the Drug Controller General of India, who is known to be media-shy, facing the press on at least two occasions.
Just one call from Akhilesh
Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav knows how to assert control over the administration when he has to.
This was evident when a single call from Yadav prevented the cremation of Mangesh Yadav’s body without the family’s consent. Mangesh, an accused in a dacoity case in Sultanpur district, was shot dead in a controversial “encounter” by the UP Police Special Task Force (STF) on 5 September.
While the encounter took place in Sultanpur, Mangesh’s body was transported to his native village in Jaunpur just hours later. According to his family, the Jaunpur administration and police attempted to cremate the body quickly, but a call from the Samajwadi Party chief halted the process.
With the SP district president yet to reach the spot, a group of young party workers reached Mangesh’s house and briefed Akhilesh about the incident over the phone.
The call, an audio of which has since gone viral, made by Akhilesh to a young party worker has lifted the spirits of the youth brigade of the SP which has earlier voiced concerns about the party leadership communicating largely with office bearers. In the call recording, Akhilesh can be heard asking the young leader, identified as Dhananjay Yadav, if Mangesh’s injuries suggest that he was shot at close range.
When informed by Dhananjay that the police were trying to “forcefully cremate the body as soon as possible”, the SP chief asked whether the district magistrate (DM) or superintendent of police (SP) were present, to which Dhananjay replied they were not. Akhilesh then directly spoke to the deputy SP at the scene, warning him that if the administration pressured the family to proceed with the cremation, he would personally head to Jaunpur immediately.
Dhananjay remembers Akhilesh saying, “main abhi nikal padunga agar zabardasti ki to” (I’ll leave immediately if you force the family). And that was that. The pressure to go ahead with the cremation disappeared.
(Edited by Zinnia Ray Chaudhuri)
Also read: Modi govt’s ‘generosity’ towards Azad, bungalows for Yadav family and new roles for Gauba, Kant