Curious gestures
The chief minister of Bihar, Nitish Kumar, surely knows how to spark speculation. At the same time, he feigns ignorance when the media and the political fraternity make a hue and cry about his gestures. Sample these. He visited the house of a prominent Bharatiya Janata Party member of the legislative council who is known for his proximity to the Union home minister, Amit Shah, to partake in Chhath Puja that happens during the spring Navratra celebrations. He also recently attended a Ramnavami procession organised by BJP leaders, as well as the last rites of the mother of the BJP leader and former deputy CM, Tarkishore Prasad, and, on the request of a BJP delegation, sent a team of senior officers to Tamil Nadu to enquire into the alleged attacks against migrant workers from Bihar. He even had telephonic chats with both Shah and the defence minister, Rajnath Singh. Although Kumar has called them routine administrative gestures, political analysts believe otherwise. This is because Kumar’s aforementioned gestures are in stark contrast to his silence on the raids conducted by the Central agencies against ally and Rashtriya Janata Dal chief, Lalu Prasad, and his family, including the deputy CM, Tejashwi Yadav, as well as on the disqualification of the Congress leader, Rahul Gandhi, from the Lok Sabha. Although Nitish has clarified that he is not in the habit of commenting on raids or court decisions, this was not enough to quell the speculation.
Pointed advice
The president of the Assam Pradesh Mahila Congress, Mira Borthakur Goswami, has a piece of advice for the CM, Himanta Biswa Sarma. She has said that instead of “being a spy [he should] be a good chief minister.” Known for speaking her mind, Mira took a dig at Sarma for his comment in the state assembly during a discussion on Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification. While hitting out at the Congress for discussing a judicial decision in the House, Sarma revealed that he had been informed by some members of the state Congress about a plan to raise a stink in the House over the matter. Sarma had switched over to the BJP from the Congress in 2015. It is against this backdrop that Goswami took to social media to remind Sarma that students and other sections would be better served if Sarma kept himself abreast of developments in the education and health departments instead of gathering inside information on the Congress.
Read between the lines
Nitish Kumar recently held up his palms and asked politicians sitting around him to notice the large gaps between his fingers. “Long ago a palmist told me that I would never become wealthy in life. Money would just pass through my hands quickly...” Kumar said. While everybody conceded that Nitish was untainted when it came to money, some questioned his belief in astrology. A senior leader recalled an incident to prove his point. “An astrologer came and told Nitish that he would stay chief minister as long as he wished to. However, he became upset and shooed him away.” This left everyone wondering. Perhaps the 2024 general elections can reveal the reason behind Nitish’s annoyance.
Double disqualification
Not one, but two Rahul Gandhis were disqualified from contesting elections last month. Besides the Congress leader, who was disqualified after his conviction in a 2019 defamation case, the Kottayam resident, Rahul Gandhi KE, has been barred from contesting polls by the Election Commission of India. The ‘Kottayam Gandhi’ was barred for three years for not submitting an account of his election expenses after he unsuccessfully fought the 2019 general elections from Wayanad against the Congress leader as an Independent candidate.
Contrasting picture
During the ongoing budget session of Parliament, a curious contrast has been noticed. The visitors gallery in the Lok Sabha has been packed to capacity while the press gallery remained almost deserted. But it was not as if journalists felt less inclined to be physically present because the House kept getting adjourned owing to protests by both the treasury and the Opposition benches. Rather, it’s because pandemic curbs are still in place for journalists at Parliament. The same restrictions do not apply to visitors.
Anger management
The Lok Sabha member and former Kerala Congress president, K Muraleedharan, is an angry man. When the party held an event to mark the start of the year-long centenary celebrations of the Vaikom Satyagraha, Muraleedharan expected to be one of the speakers. Instead, two other former state presidents were invited to speak at the event inaugurated by the Congress president, Mallikarjun Kharge. He wasted no time in airing his grievance.
