India has had a woman prime minister. It also has several mercurial women politicians. But the First Ladies — wives of chief ministers at least — are, more often than not, expected to essay benign roles. However, it seems that this may be changing, that too in the Bharatiya Janata Party which is often accused of endorsing traditional roles for its naari vahini. Three wives of state chiefs of the BJP are making their presence felt in the social and political arenas: Amruta Fadnavis, the wife of the CM of Maharashtra, Devendra Fadnavis, Sadhna Singh Chouhan, the better half of Madhya Pradesh’s CM, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, and Sadhana Thakur, who is married to Jairam Thakur, the man who helms Himachal Pradesh.

Amruta is known to be a regular fixture in events related to Bollywood and fashion in Mumbai. Shivraj is followed by a ‘shadow’— that of Sadhna. Her ‘influence’ on official and political responsibilities is the stuff of lore in the corridors of power in MP. Sadhana Thakur, meanwhile, is said to be working in a dispensary that functions from the state assembly. Is that because Mrs Thakur is keen to keep an eye on the CM’s office? It is also being reported that a janata durbar that used to be held on the premises of the Raj-era building in which the CM would meet his subjects without a prior appointment has now been cancelled. The dogs in the Thakur residence, it is said, would get nervous by the sight of the throng. But the word is that the janata durbar would resume after the cold season comes to an end. Now is that because Mr and Mrs Thakur are worried about the prospects of their party in the general elections?

Rahul Gandhi Telegraph file picture

Many mixes

Is the Congress, notoriously laggardly when it comes to transformation, changing at long last? The list of star campaigners for poll-bound Madhya Pradesh happens to include Naseemuddin Siddiqui, the Bahujan Samaj Party leader who crossed over to the Congress some months ago, but the names of homegrown Muslim leaders like Salman Khurshid and Shakeel Ahmed are missing. Although Ghulam Nabi Azad, who recently lamented that no candidate now wants a Muslim leader to campaign, has been included, the BSP leader’s inclusion shows that the party feels he has a greater connect with the community than Congress veterans.

Some other names also bear out the changing face of the party: Raj Babbar, Navjot Singh Sidhu, Nagma, Mohammad Azharuddin, Randeep Surjewala, Ragini Nayak, Acharya Pramod Krishnam and others. Among the older names, Sonia Gandhi — she does not campaign now — Manmohan Singh, Sushil Kumar Shinde, Anand Sharma and Kapil Sibal remain. But the heavy lifting is largely being done by younger leaders while Rahul Gandhi is the chief campaigner. The inclusion of Acharya Pramod Krishnam, the firebrand sadhu who spews venom on Narendra Modi, looks like a conscious decision to counter BJP’s ‘monopoly’ on Hinduism.

Party pooper

Murli Manohar Joshi’s pre-Diwali party has always been a great hit among Lutyens’ news hunters. Apart from the authentic Banarasi snacks like chaats and poori-bhaji, Joshi’s free and frank engagement on political issues is eagerly awaited by journalists covering the saffron party.

This year, however, as the scribes were getting ready to feast at Joshi’s residence, a message suddenly beeped on their mobile phones. It said that the finance minister, Arun Jaitley, and the defence minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, would hold ‘informal’ interactions with reporters at the newly-built BJP headquarters. Joshi’s pre-scheduled bash was at 4 pm. The BJP’s ‘informal’ meeting appeared to have been timed carefully. Given the physical distance between the two venues, the journos couldn’t have attended both events. They couldn’t afford to miss the interaction since it featured the party heavyweight Jaitley. Most of them muttered silently and headed towards the BJP office.

Family first

In MP, the BJP has denied tickets to over 40 sitting MLAs. But this is unlikely to cause heartburn in those who have missed the poll bus. In most cases, their kith and kin have been accommodated. Thus, Babulal Gaur may have found his name missing from the list of candidates but his daughter-in-law has stepped in to contest from the Govindpura seat. Akash, the son of Kailash Vijayvargiya who is in charge of Bengal, has been fielded; Mudit Shejwar, the son of another minister,too, has made the cut. Politics remains a family business in the BJP which seldom misses an opportunity to target its rival, the Congress, for endorsing its own dynasty.

Actress Poonam Dhillon at SAARC Business Summit in New Delhi. Telegraph file picture

Footnote

Politicians love to hop, skip and jump, changing their stripes at an alarming pace. Take the case of the abhinetri-turned-netri, Poonam Dhillon. The siren of yesteryear had joined the Congress in 1998-1999 at a time when Sonia Gandhi had taken over the reins of the Grand Old Party. In 2004, however, Dhillon switched sides to join the BJP. As luck would have it, she found herself to be a member of a party that was sitting on the Opposition bench. Perhaps that forced her to lie dormant for all these years. She has joined the BJP again. In Congress circles, the move is being seen as a silver lining. Dhillon, the Congress thinks, has a special knack for betting on the wrong horse.