Political Gup-Shup: New leaders add to woes of BJP and Congress

Uttar Pradesh chief minister Adityanath Yogi is currently the flavour of the season. Ever since he was picked for this job by the BJP top brass, every move and decision made by him has been the subject of non-stop coverage by the media. Given the attention he is grabbing, the BJP leaders privately maintain that Yogi has managed to overshadow Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a media favourite. Perhaps it is for this reason that Yogi was not invited to speak at the BJP’s national executive meeting in Bhubaneswar last week though he was initially slated to address the gathering. None of the new chief ministers was called to take the floor at the meeting. Among the older lot who were asked include Devendra Fadnavis, Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Raghubar Das.

Though PM Modi and Amit Shah expectedly dominated the proceedings, Yogi was easily the star of the show as he was most sought after by the participants. In fact, his rising popularity has created problems for the other new CMs. Apparently, people in Uttarakhand are already complaining that while Yogi has set a scorching pace at work since the moment he came in power, their CM Trivendra Singh Rawat appears to be missing in action. The Congress has obviously not learnt any lessons from its poor electoral performance over the last three years as the party’s various state units remain embroiled in bitter factional battles. For instance, the old rivalry between former Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit and state unit chief Ajay Maken is far from over. It is learnt that Ms Dikshit had recommended the names of nine candidates for the municipal polls, but Mr Maken rejected them all. The unhappiness over the distribution of tickets led to the exit of former Delhi minister Arvinder Singh Lovely to the BJP. The situation in Madhya Pradesh is no better. When CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan stoked a controversy with his public statement that the Scindias of Gwalior had colluded with the British, his views were endorsed by former Congress MP and legislator Prem Chand Guddu. This embarrassed the Congress. This is amid reports that the Congress would project Jyoti-raditya Scindia as its chief ministerial candidate. Guddu is known to be close to former CM Digvijaya Singh.

Just as Prime Minister Narendra Modi was presiding over a meeting of the Union Cabinet which decided to do away with the use of red beacons atop official cars, his estranged wife Jashodaben was being accorded VIP treatment when she visited the Rangeshwar temple in Mathura. The local administration was in full attendance during her brief stopover. Jashodaben, who was accompanied by her family members and a posse of security personnel, was apparently hesitant to use the official vehicle , but she finally obliged. In fact, the local officialdom even held up the Shatabdi Express for her. When the train did not move after the scheduled one-minute halt at Mathura, passengers were told that it was delayed because of “some VIPs”. Congress circles have been abuzz ever since peace activist and novelist Janhavi Prasada presented a copy of her graphic novel Tales of Young Gandhi to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The reaction in the party is understandable as the author is the daughter of senior party leader Jitendra Prasad and sister of former Union minister Jitin Prasada who lost in the recent UP polls. While the family stressed that nothing political should be read into this event, there is no stopping the Congress from indulging in endless speculation that Janhavi Prasada was trying to build bridges with the BJP.