Tridib Raman
The Enforcement Directorate has had its eyes on the son-in-law of the country’s most prominent political family for quite some time. The ED has previously conducted several rounds of intensive questioning with him, mostly related to land purchase and sale deals in states neighbouring Delhi. For the past few days, the son-in-law has been summoned for questioning at the ED’s office in New Delhi. According to sources within the ED, the agency has retrieved documents for over 100 properties spread across eight to nine states, allegedly linked to the son-in-law. Recently, during questioning about a large land lease in Haryana, the son-in-law became visibly agitated and told ED officials, “I’m only learning from you that this land is mine. I say you keep the land; what can I do with something that isn’t mine?” To this, the officers cautioned him: “Don’t take this matter so lightly. Every answer you give here can become the basis of the chargesheet against you. Please respond seriously.” Typically, 14-15 ED officers are involved in questioning the son-in-law. One day, he crossed a line by bringing homemade lunch for everyone and suggesting to the officials, “Let’s have lunch together today.” The ED officers, taken aback, politely declined, saying, “We are government employees; we cannot eat food brought by those we are questioning.” On another occasion, the son-in-law got upset about the poor cleanliness of the washroom assigned to him. He was told, “You are here as an accused, not as our guest, so we cannot be concerned about such matters.” Reportedly, the son-in-law has gifted nine properties to a very close female relative and the ED may soon summon her for questioning.
Two Delhi Ministers Cross Their Lakshman Rekha
Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta is deeply frustrated by the over-enthusiasm of two of her cabinet colleagues. The biggest reason for the CM’s annoyance is that wherever her program is scheduled, these two ministers, brimming with excessive zeal, reach the venue before her and give their sound bites to the media in advance. Their offices even send out press notes to newspapers before the CM’s event. So, whether it was ribbon-cutting or public gatherings, these two ministers would steal the spotlight. When the CM could no longer tolerate it—or, in other words, when she had had enough—she complained to the BJP top brass. The BJP leadership immediately summoned the two ministers and gave them a stern warning. They were told, “Both of you should focus on your ministries and let the CM work independently.” Since then, the public appearances of these two ministers have been reduced, and their press notes have almost stopped reaching media offices.
Nadda Keeps It Strictly Business
A prominent leader from a BJP-ruled state went to meet party president, JP Nadda. As usual, Nadda greeted him warmly, offered hospitality, served tea and snacks, and then asked the purpose of his visit. The saffron stalwart then told Nadda, “As you can see, there is so much infighting in the politics of the state, with everyone pulling each other down. It would be better if I shifted to Delhi and focused on the politics of the centre. So, if possible, adjust me in the party’s central organization this time.” After listening patiently, Nadda very politely replied, “Let the new president come, only then can anything be decided. I have been instructed to act only as an ‘outgoing’ president and focus entirely on my ministry. For now, the organization will run on ‘auto-pilot mode.’ The leader did not ask anything further after this—he had understood the blunt truth in Nadda’s words and realized that Nadda was now just a thing of the past in the Sangh’s ‘good books.’
Mamata Banerjee’s “Minority Love” Surges
Mamata Banerjee, a seasoned political strategist, knows precisely how to keep her core vote bank united right under the nose of her opponents. Even with over a year left until the West Bengal assembly elections, Mamata has begun weaving a new strategy of political chess. Surprising everyone, especially the state’s main opposition party, the BJP, Mamata presented a new list of backward castes on June 10th on the assembly floor, designating them as OBC-A and OBC-B. This new list adds 76 new castes, bringing the total number of castes in the OBC list to 140. The BJP has consistently opposed these Mamata-sponsored lists from the start, primarily because 80 of these 140 castes are Muslim. While the Calcutta High Court had excluded 113 castes from this list last year, reducing it to just 66, the Mamata government has now defied the court’s order. TMC govt re-added 76 of those 113 excluded castes, expanding the list from 66 to 140. Of these 76 new additions, 51 are linked to the OBC-A (Extremely Backward) list and 25 to the OBC-B list. This entire issue has now escalated to the Supreme Court, where a hearing is scheduled for next month. The BJP alleges that Mamata is undertaking this entire exercise solely to appease a specific religious community, which also happens to be her core vote bank.
Is the Bihar Election Heading Towards a Hung Assembly?
The central leadership of the BJP has made the upcoming Bihar assembly election a matter of prestige. Currently, the saffron party is leading in terms of resources, team management, and grassroots preparations. However, when it comes to the election results, uncertainty still looms. Recently, the BJP’s central leadership entrusted a prominent businessman leader from Bihar with the crucial responsibility of conducting a pre-election survey. It’s believed that a comprehensive public opinion survey was conducted by this company across all 243 assembly constituencies in Bihar. Sources indicate that the cost of this survey alone ranged between six and a half to seven crore rupees. However, the results of this survey have caused concern within the saffron camp. The survey suggests that while the BJP’s performance looks strong in Bihar’s urban areas, the NDA alliance is facing tough competition from the RJD, Congress, and CPI(ML) in most rural areas, where the contest is neck and neck. The survey report also raises questions about the potential performance of the JDU, indicating that Nitish Kumar’s core voters are drifting away from him. Furthermore, there’s no significant enthusiasm for the JDU or Nitish among the state’s women voters this time. Meanwhile, smaller parties in the NDA, such as Jitan Ram Manjhi’s HAM or Upendra Kushwaha’s Rashtriya Lok Manch, aren’t inspiring much hope either. Consequently, this survey report claims that Bihar might see a hung assembly this time.
Chirag Paswan in Search of a New Dawn
Chirag Paswan, the leader of the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), is making extensive preparations for the Bihar elections. A close aide claims that Chirag is ready to give his all in this election, having started fundraising long ago. Sources suggest Chirag’s election budget alone could be around 200 crore rupees, with 20-25 crore rupees potentially allocated to media management. Chirag is preparing to field at least 40 to 50 candidates from his party. Sources indicate that the party might provide 3 crore rupees in funding to each of its candidates for their campaigns. This shows that Chirag is being extremely cautious this time, learning from past experiences. In the 2020 Bihar assembly elections, his goal might have been to reduce Nitish Kumar’s seat count, but in doing so, he lost his own battle. Only one of his candidates won, even though he had fielded candidates in 137 constituencies. This time, Pawan Varma facilitated a meeting between Chirag and Nitish. Nitish has assured Chirag that they will support each other. Consequently, Nitish also wants Chirag to field candidates in at least 40 to 50 seats. He also proposes that the BJP leave 10 seats each for Jitan Ram Manjhi’s HAM and Upendra Kushwaha’s Rashtriya Lok Morcha, with the BJP contesting 90 seats itself. However, the BJP is currently not accepting Nitish’s formula.
Karti Upset Over Exclusion from Congress List
When an all-party delegation of MPs was about to go abroad for ‘Operation Sindoor,’ Karti Chidambaram, son of former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, met Rahul Gandhi’s close aide Gaurav Gogoi, there, he voiced his frustration, saying, “The list of Congress MPs that Rahul sent to PM Modi did not include my name (despite being an LS MP) nor my father P. Chidambaram’s (a Rajya Sabha MP).” To this, Gaurav tried to pacify him, saying, “Which list of Rahul ji did the PM even pick? Rahul ji didn’t send names like Shashi Tharoor or Manish Tewari either. When the PM wants to select someone, he goes ‘out of the way’ to do so. So please, stop blaming Rahul ji in such matters.”
