Popular or not in Maharashtra, where he became the state’s newest Chief Minister, leader of the breakaway Shiv Sena group, Eknath Shinde, quickly became a household name in Telangana, at least in the households of politicians of various hues. It all began with BJP’s Bandi Sanjay Kumar declaring that the TRS had some Eknath Shindes in its ranks and the time might not be far off when Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao would face a revolt from within the TRS, as was the case with the Shiv Sena. This reached the ears of a TRS neta who was abroad, and whose name was being bandied about as a potential ‘Eknath Shinde’ for the TRS, and such was the panic caused that this leader held a review meeting with his department while still abroad and then his office released a statement that the review was held 'following the instructions of CM KCR'. But the question plaguing this neta is the whodunnit of having his name make the rounds as a potential saboteur within the TRS. While this leader grappled with the big question, other TRS leaders quickly began proving their loyalty to KCR - attending party events, and other such sundry occasions. Could the revolt in Maharashtra have long term effects for the TRS? Only time will tell.
GOVT BATTLES FLOODS WITH HI-TECH WAR ROOM
What does political party need when prepping for battle? A war room of course! And this was precisely the case at Pragati Bhavan, as the Telangana administration began grappling with heavy rain spells, flooding, and their associated fall outs across the state over the past few days. Officials asked to join reviews on the flood situation found themselves in a room with a giant television screen in the meeting hall where they could watch the floods in Godavari and its tributaries in real time, a bank of telephones and other video conferencing paraphernalia connecting all ministers, local MLAs, collectors and SPs of all districts as the Chief Minister, accompanied by the Chief Secretary led the efforts to coordinate and put in place systems and resources for relief and rescue operations. The hours, according to officials spending time in the war room have been long, stretching anywhere up to 12 hours, and even to 15 hours at a time, but they say the effort is totally worth it.
TDP DOES U-TURN ON BJP RELATIONSHIP?
There are no permanent friends, or enemies in politics, or so the age old adage goes. Proving this to be just what the doctor ordered for the TDP in Andhra Pradesh, struggling to stand firm against a continuous onslaught by the YSRCP, the Telugu Desam Party announced that it will fully support the BJP led NDA’s presidential poll candidate Draupadi Murumu. The TDP helmed by N Chandrababu Naidu, which had had a blow hot, blow cold relationship with the BJP, what with having contested against them in the 2019 elections, made it clear that they will sail alongside the BJP for the presidential polls. Naidu’s announcement was followed by a similar one by YSRCP president and Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy. Though the BJP has shown no mercy in the past towards the TDP, and with YSRCP sidling up to it, it is the BJP in Andhra Pradesh that has an extremely cushy position to enjoy at the moment - with two bitter rivals in the state, competing with one other to support its presidential candidate. Where this three party gig will lead to in the end, is still, of course, up in the air.
NAIDU’S NEW RING GETS MUCH ATTENTION
The TDP leaders appear to be on a get fit regimen these days. First it was the party’s de facto chief Nara Lokesh who shed some 20 kilos and suddenly appeared slimmer, and trimmer, not to mention, fitter than what he was in the past. And now, it is the turn of Lokesh’s father, and the TDP president Nara Chandrababu Naidu to take a leaf out of his son’s physical fitness manual. The other day, during the visit by BJP led NDA’s presidential poll candidate Draupadi Murumu to the state, Naidu’s new look attracted some attention from BJP’s Rajya Sabha member GVL Narasimha Rao who inquired if all was well as Naidu clearly looked like he’d lost some weight. Chandrababu responded that he once used to weigh 74 kgs and now he’s at 68 kilos. When BJP’s AP president Somu Veerraju wanted to know the secret of this weight loss, Naidu said he was now on a strict, and healthy diet. He also pointed out to Veerraju that an electronic ring on his finger monitor’s his body parameters and sends information to his phone, and that he can now keep track of his health and vitals whenever he chooses. After all, it was Naidu who first emerged as a technophile as the Chief Minister of unified Andhra Pradesh, this new gadget shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone.
