Popular figure

• The governor of Odisha, Ganeshi Lal, has, once again, proved his popularity among citizens. Recently, on his way to attend a meeting in Balasore, he dropped in at the house of one of his staff members at Khairabad in Jajpur district. The employee, Sagarika Behera, works as a nurse at the Raj Bhavan. No one of Lal’s stature has ever visited the village. As a result, almost all of Khairabad turned up to get a glimpse of the governor. Lal spent more than 15 minutes at Behera’s house and spoke to her family members. Behera, who was elated by the governor’s gesture, said that he treats her like his daughter. “Whenever I get to know about his health issues either in daytime or at night, I rush to attend to my duty which was noticed by him. My sincere duty has won his love and trust.” Behera’s family served the governor coconut water during his brief visit. Not only did Lal interact with each member of Behera’s family but he also obliged the villagers with selfies. Lal’s simplicity and humility have earned him much admiration.

Weighty presence

• The prime minister, Narendra Modi, has given the Rashtriya Janata Dal leader, Tejashwi Yadav, a piece of advice: lose weight. Modi, who was in Bihar to attend the centenary celebrations of the state legislative assembly, said to the leader of the Opposition, “Thoda wajan kam karo.” Modi also enquired about the health of Yadav’s father and the former chief minister, Lalu Prasad. Tejashwi has recently gained some weight and has been seen sporting a paunch so he could not help but smile at the PM’s remarks. While Modi is known to practice yoga regularly, Tejashwi, who was a cricketer when he was younger, has given up exercising of late. Sources close to the RJD leader mentioned that the latter has put on weight only after his marriage last year. Others were more optimistic. “The prime minister also knows that our party is the weightiest among all the parties in the assembly. Hope he wishes it gains more weight,” a senior RJD leader quipped.

Double trouble

• Two noteworthy incidents occurred during the centennial celebrations of the Bihar legislative assembly, leaving everybody curious. First, the leader of the Opposition, Tejashwi Yadav, who has grown into a seasoned politician in the absence of his ailing father, Lalu Prasad, floundered badly in the course of his address at the event which was attended by several dignitaries, including the prime minister. He fumbled not just once or twice but half-adozen times during his four-minute speech, even though he was reading out from a paper. The second incident involved the CM, Nitish Kumar. In his speech, Kumar went out of his way to express his happiness at the centennial being graced by Narendra Modi. A senior politician pointed out that Tejashwi, who is only 32 years old, could have just been nervous on the occasion given the number of political stalwarts present. “However, it is not clear whether Nitish was nervous or meant the opposite by repeating the same words. After all, politics is full of irony, word play and satire. It would be better to leave it to Modi to understand what it meant,” he said.

Precarious balance

• K Muraleedharan, a senior Congress leader and member of Parliament from Kerala, is among the leaders who are miffed with the reorganisation of the party’s state unit. The shuffle came at a time when Congress’s morale is high after winning a crucial by-election — the party recently retained the Thrikkakkara assembly constituency, overcoming an all-out offensive by the ruling Left Democratic Front. Muraleedharan essentially warned his comrades not to send the party back to the intensive care unit. Muraleedharan, a former state Congress chief, insisted that the party learn from past mistakes and be careful about inducting new members, claiming that this will help win back people’s trust in time for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

Curious pair

• With the Karnataka state elections around the corner, the former CM, BS Yediyurappa, has set tongues wagging by meeting the Congress MLA, Laxmi Hebbalkar, who called on the veteran leader at his home. Only two years ago, Yediyurappa had orchestrated a string of defections from the then Janata Dal (Secular)-Congress coalition government in order to bring the Bharatiya Janata Party back to power. Hebbalkar, however, said that she met the senior BJP leader to discuss issues regarding their community — both belong to the powerful Lingayat sect — and to “seek his blessings and guidance”. While there is nothing unusual about discussing caste issues, it is the ‘blessings and guidance’ part that has left the Congress worried, considering the influence that Hebbalkar wields over other members of the party.

Footnote

• As gestures of goodwill, Tripura has sent som 750 kilogrammes of queen pineapples to neighbouring Bangladesh, while Mizoram has gifted a quintal of dragonfruit. This was a return gift for the Bangladesh PM, Sheikh Hasina Wajed, who has been sending special varieties of mangoes, such as Haaribhanga and Amrapali, to her Indian counterpart and CMs from the Northeast and West Bengal for some years now. This fruit diplomacy has strengthened the bonding between the two countries, which have a long, shared history.