The equation between the prime minister, Narendra Modi, and the home minister, Amit Shah, continues to draw attention in Delhi’s power corridors. Occasionally there are whispers of Shah not enjoying the same kind of trust of the PM as he once did. Each time, however, the whispers fall flat. After the Bharatiya Janata Party’s drubbing at the Bengal elections, similar chatter had begun once again; more so because Shah had removed himself from public and media glare. But after lying low for a bit longer than usual, Shah resurfaced and dashed the hopes of his critics. Shah was the first leader that the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, Yogi Adityanath, drove to meet after landing in Delhi.

Adityanath was in Delhi to meet the top leadership amid murmurs of discontent against him. He met Shah to present his case so that he did not have to take up much of the PM’s time the next day, party insiders said. Again, Shah’s residence saw considerable activity when members of parliament came in groups to meet the leader amid growing expectations of a cabinet expansion. The buzz was that Shah had loosely conducted an interview of sorts to fill vacancies in the council of ministers. All this has once again gone to show that Shah remains Modi’s confidant and the real number two in the power structure.

Ramesh Chennithala Facebook

Deep connection

The trip down memory lane that the Congress leader, Ramesh Chennithala, recently went on has not come as a surprise. He tweeted his gratitude to the Nehru-Gandhi family along with pictures of Indira Gandhi campaigning for his first election in 1982 and Rajiv Gandhi making him the national president of the National Students’ Union of India the same year, and even attending his wedding reception and appointing him the secretary-general of the Non-Aligned Youth Conference in 1985.

With a younger crop of leaders taking charge in his home state, Chennithala reportedly said he felt ‘betrayed’ since some of those who worked against him were hand-held by him. Since the party cannot afford to leave him out for long, the high command agreed to meet him in Delhi and discuss his future role. Now there is every indication that the Congress would leverage his organizational abilities and elevate him to a national role. But leaving his home state would certainly be a tough call for Chennithala. After all, he has become synonymous with the party’s state unit.

New target

Having won Bengal quite convincingly in May, the Trinamul Congress now seems to be targeting BJP-ruled Tripura — the state is going to the polls in 2023. That something is cooking can be gathered from a ‘rumour’ that several disgruntled BJP members of the legislative assembly are planning to defect to the TMC, and the fact that the BJP tried to dismiss the claim as a rumour. The party’s anxiety, however, is clear from the way senior leaders rushed to Agartala to sort things out within the Tripura unit and with the ally, Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura. After two days of exhaustive deliberations, the party admitted that there were differences but everything has been sorted out ‘100 per cent’.

The TMC’s victory in Bengal and the ghar wapsi of the senior BJP leader, Mukul Roy, seem to have sparked off the rumour. Several BJP MLAs in Tripura are close to Roy. The TMC’s claim that over 11,000 members of the BJP and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) joined the party recently helped the rumour gain traction. Whatever the truth to these claims, the battle for Tripura has begun. The BJP has a lot at stake, having won the state with a great amount of hard work, deft planning and its usual pre-poll defection to end the Left’s reign of 25 years. The TMC, on the other hand, has everything to gain after having lost all its MLAs to the BJP in 2017 and being unable to win a single seat in 2018. With the Opposition — the Congress and the Left — struggling to stay afloat, a resurgent TMC sees a scope to seriously bid for power in a state which shares an affinity with Bengal. It would not be surprising if the TMC’s ‘khela hobe’ war cry became a common refrain in the run-up to the polls in Tripura.

Hidden truth

There is a widespread perception in the Congress that Rahul Gandhi is engaged in back-seat driving, making all organizational appointments on his whim. Party leaders in Maharashtra were allegedly convinced of this when Nana Patole was appointed state unit chief in spite of their strong objection. Even Kerala leaders were said to have felt this way when K Sudhakaran was handed over the reins after the Congress’s defeat in the recent election.

But the truth behind such perceptions is usually different. Sources in the party revealed that Sonia Gandhi, not Rahul, asked the general secretary in charge of Kerala, Tariq Anwar, to conduct an elaborate consultation to find the new state unit chief. Anwar talked to all senior leaders, every MLA, MP and district president as well as other important leaders and found that the majority of them favoured Sudhakaran. He then submitted a report to Sonia and the decision was announced. Rahul was not in the picture at all in the initial stages and he went by the majority decision. Insiders believe that Sonia was happy with the exercise as few general secretaries complete the process with such speed. The party apparatus usually slips into a coma after an electoral rout and it takes years to replace the leader. Kerala is probably the first state to have a new leader only a month after the election result. Bihar went to polls much earlier but the decision on the new state chief is still pending.

BY Vijayendra YouTube

Footnote

The Karnataka CM, BS Yediyurappa, usually hogs the limelight. But of late his youngest son, BY Vijayendra, has become the topic of discussion in the state: the ambitious man who has slowly emerged from his father’s shadow is causing trouble in the BJP. Vijayendra allegedly ‘pokes his nose’ in all departments, leading to dissent from lawmakers. But Yediyurappa cannot just wish him away: he is seen by many as the CM’s successor. But can he function without the support of his 78-year-old father who would not have another chance at the top office?