Overlooked leader

The chief minister of Odisha, Mohan Charan Majhi, is still struggling to find acceptability as the ‘top BJP leader’ of the state. This was evident during the inauguration of Odisha Parba 2024, a showcase for the art and culture of Odisha at the national level in New Delhi. The focus during the inauguration at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, clearly, was on the Union education minister, Dharmendra Pradhan, who shared the dais with the president, Droupadi Murmu, Majhi and the Bharatiya Janata Party member of Parliament from Cuttack, Bhartruhari Mahtab. Although he mentioned the CM during his speech, Mahtab reserved most of his praise for Pradhan, whom he extolled to the skies. In their speeches, Pradhan and Murmu tried to salvage the situation by referring to the CM and his work. But it was evident that Majhi still had a lot of work to do before he is accepted by all factions in the state BJP as their undisputed leader.

Herculean task

The Bihar CM, Nitish Kumar, has a task on his plate that even the mighty Hercules might have shied away from. He is out to please women into voting for the Janata Dal (United) and the National Democratic Alliance in the 2025 assembly elections. He will embark on a statewide tour for this in December, focussing on meeting women, especially self-help groups working for rural livelihoods as well as anganwadi workers. He will take stock of the issues at the grassroots level, like the implementation of the liquor ban. A senior JD(U) leader said that Kumar just wanted to remind women how much he had done for them, including giving them reservations in local self-governance bodies and jobs.

Bengaluru: Bihar CM Nitish Kumar arrives to attend the opposition parties' meet, in Bengaluru, Tuesday, July 18, 2023. PTI

Rumour has it that the CM was forced to plan the tour as women, who have been his core voters for the past 19 years, are not happy with his performance, particularly on the development and Prohibition fronts. “He will interact with them, ask [about] their problems, take their suggestions and work to resolve them. This will assuage them and they will favour the party again,” the JD(U) leader said. Asked whether it was so easy to influence women, another senior politician said, “Only if you surrender and obey them, and make them see that you live for them. Our chief minister is a past master in it. See, he banned liquor on their demand. He will succeed in the endeavour.”

Promise fulfilled

Nitish Kumar may be busy with politics but he does not forget his promises. Twenty-four years ago, when he was the Union agriculture minister, he had promised his personal security officer, Paramveer Yadav, a native of Bhurthal village in Haryana, that he would attend the latter’s son’s nuptials. Decades later, when Yadav’s son’s marriage was fixed, the PSO, who is an officer of the Delhi Police, invited Kumar even though he knew of his busy schedule. Guests at the wedding ceremony were surprised when dozens of vehicles with screaming sirens screeched to a halt at the venue and out stepped Kumar and his son, Nishant. The JD(U) national president, Sanjay Jha, was also with them. They spent around an hour there, with Kumar meeting Yadav’s family and blessing the new couple. The CM left the people of the Haryana village applauding him for keeping his promise after so many years.

Heritage houses

Courts have attached two iconic state houses — offices of resident commissioners of state governments which also house restaurants and host cultural events. Last week, the Himachal Pradesh High Court attached Mandi House, the site of the former residence of the erstwhile Raja of Mandi which now houses the Himachal Pradesh Bhawan. Unless the Congress-ruled state government pays its electricity dues — which the party has blamed on the previous BJP government — the building may be auctioned. Further, a commercial court in the capital attached Bikaner House, a popular venue for art exhibitions where Rajasthan’s resident commissioner also sits, after a municipal body in Bikaner defaulted on an order to clear its dues for sewage treatment. The house is a palace built in 1911 for Bikaner’s ruler and is a designated heritage structure.

Praise & prejudice

At the convocation of the Indira Gandhi Delhi Technical University for Women, the lieutenant-governor of Delhi, V.K. Saxena, said that the current CM, Atishi, “is a thousand times better than her predecessor”. Atishi has not responded to the remark directed at her predecessor and Aam Aadmi Party chief, Arvind Kejriwal. She also ignored students’ protests outside the venue against the dismissal of two teachers known for their Left-liberal leanings from the Ambedkar University, which is run by her government. The former AAP minister, Kailash Gahlot, who switched to the BJP this week, cited suspicions against him within the AAP after he hoisted the flag on Independence Day after the lieutenant-governor nominated him instead of Atishi, whom the then jailed CM, Kejriwal, had deputed for the task.