Tridib Raman
For quite some time now, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and his own party’s Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor have been at odds with each other. Their long-delayed meeting finally took place in Delhi a few days ago. The closed-door meeting lasted about two hours, with Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge present. However, to respect Tharoor’s feelings, Rahul kept his most trusted aide K.C. Venugopal out of this meeting, because that was Tharoor’s first condition for agreeing to it. In fact, over the past year or so, Rahul had been completely ignoring Tharoor. Tharoor sent him around 7-8 messages, but received no reply from Rahul. During this period, Tharoor repeatedly requested meetings through Rahul’s office, but a time was never fixed for him to meet the Leader of Opposition. It was Venugopal who persuaded Rahul to meet Tharoor. According to Venugopal, Tharoor has influence over at least four Lok Sabha seats in Kerala, and his people are present there too. So, for “damage control,” it would be better to placate him.As soon as the meeting with Rahul began, Tharoor straightaway said to him: “I sent you seven or eight messages, but you didn’t even consider it appropriate to reply?” Rahul admitted: “Yes, I was very angry with you, so I didn’t feel the need to respond.” Tharoor laughed and said: “If you were angry, you could have expressed your anger in a message, I would have understood. Anyway, a true leader is one who doesn’t abandon dialogue but nurtures it.” Then, without hesitation, Tharoor began placing his views before Rahul: “ Don’t take this badly, but the truth is that today the Congress has neither a plan, nor a direction, nor momentum. The only reason for this I can understand is that you are surrounded by non-political people and you only act on their advice.” Sensing the sensitivity of the matter, Kharge steered the conversation in another direction and said: “We’ve gathered here to discuss Kerala, let’s keep the focus there.” To this, Tharoor replied: “This time, given the atmosphere against the Left government in Kerala, Congress can win the elections without doing much extra. The BJP is contesting only about a quarter of the seats, so its vote share will rise, but it will win only 4-5 seats at most. If you want, I’m ready to campaign not just in Kerala but also in Assam, Bengal, Tamil Nadu, every state. At least give me some responsibility first. You could have included me in the organization and given me charge of some state.” Tharoor also vented his frustration: “This time too, the party could have made me Deputy Leader in the House after Rahul, but instead they chose Gaurav Gogoi.” Then Tharoor cautioned Rahul that his frequent trips abroad every month are also not having a positive impact on people. The number of leaders leaving Congress daily is increasing, but the party isn’t doing anything about it. Rahul said, “The 2029 election will be Modi’s last election, after that the BJP will be on a decline.” Tharoor responded: “Even now, you’re underestimating the BJP’s plans. After 2027, there will be a major delimitation exercise. In Hindi-speaking states where the BJP is strong, Lok Sabha seats will increase, while southern states will see a reduction in seats proportional to population. This is a very big game plan, that’s why Modi got the new Parliament building constructed, with a capacity for 750 MPs.” It was then decided that Rahul would meet Tharoor again to properly consider his suggestions.
Why is PK knocking on Every Door?
Tridib Raman
After suffering a major setback in the Bihar elections, Prashant Kishor is eager for a new political emergence. His newly formed Jan Suraaj Party in Bihar is on the verge of crumbling, and PK is busy searching for a new political cradle. Recently, he had a long and substantive meeting with Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi. According to sources, in this meeting with Priyanka, PK made it clear that “he is ready to merge his Jan Suraaj Party with the Congress, but his only condition is that in return, he be appointed the new President of the Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee so that he can travel across Bihar and work to strengthen the Congress organization at the grassroots level.” It is noteworthy that before this, PK had called a meeting of his party’s 16-member core committee in Patna, of which 12 core committee members agreed with PK’s view that ‘if Jan Suraaj is to be saved, PK must reach a major decision very soon.’ It is understood that after this, Priyanka spoke to Rahul Gandhi regarding PK joining the Congress and the merger of his party. Sources say that Rahul immediately told his sister, ‘This is a useless idea; there’s no need to deliberate over it. PK has no votes on the ground; he is just a person who does politics relying on the media. There are big talks, but no delivery. Even if he joins the Congress, he can leave the party anytime.’ After this, when PK called Priyanka two or three times, Priyanka evasively told him, “Rahul is very busy right now; we haven’t even gotten a chance to talk to him about this.” The shrewd PK understood that Rahul is not very positive about him, so he then started exploring ways to enter the JD(U) through Uday Kant Mishra, but here Lalan Singh is obstructing him. Lalan is saying, ‘This is the same PK who was predicting JD(U)’s defeat on 25 seats.’ Meanwhile, there is also strong talk of another leader from PK’s own party, RCP Singh, returning to the JD(U). It is noteworthy that in this Bihar assembly election, RCP Singh’s daughter, Lata Singh, contested from the Asthawan seat in Nalanda on a Jan Suraaj ticket but faced a crushing defeat here. Although Lalan is also opposed to RCP’s homecoming, saying “This is the same RCP who, as party president, brought JD(U) down from 72 to 42 seats,” it is understood that Nitish himself is somewhat enthusiastic about RCP’s return, so his case might go through.
Nabin Wants to Sing ‘his own tune, his own beat’
Tridib Raman
The BJP’s brand-new national president, Nitin Nabin, seems eager to make his mark in the political headlines. Ever since he moved into his new bungalow at 9, Sunheri Bagh Lane in Lutyens’ Delhi, a flood of people have been lining up to meet him. However, getting an audience with this new BJP president isn’t quite so easy, his team first thoroughly vets the visitors’ backgrounds before granting access to the honourable president. Recently, though, President Sahab invited about 12-15 senior journalists to his home for a meal. Most of them were those who cover the BJP beat, and a large number among them hail from Bihar. During the informal conversation with the journalists, the president came across in a completely different style, his hospitality was splendid, and his demeanor extremely friendly. After the meal concluded, it’s said that the PMO called for the full list of invited journalists. In that list, there were names of three or four journalists who have occasionally been critical of the saffron party. So, the president was instructed: “In future, before such events, send the list upward for approval first.” This has been the tradition since Nadda’s time, and it must continue in the same manner. The president reportedly agreed, saying, “It won’t happen again from now on.”
Saffron Tug-of-War in Karnataka
With infighting, factionalism, and the escalating Siddaramaiah vs DK showdown raging within Congress, the BJP in Karnataka has already sensed that if things continue this way in the Congress, the next state government will belong to the BJP. So, the saffron claimants for the chief minister’s post have started fortifying their positions right now. Karnataka BJP’s heavyweight leader Yediyurappa’s son, BY Vijayendra, who is currently the state BJP president as well as MLA from Shikaripura, is actively projecting himself as the future chief minister of the state. Recently, on the occasion of Makar Sankranti, Vijayendra organized a feast at his home, inviting all BJP MLAs. Observers see this as a kind of political show of strength. When the party high command learned of this feast, national general secretary BL Santhosh sent secret instructions to all MLAs: “Stay away from this event, as Vijayendra’s program is essentially promoting factionalism in the party.” But when the feast took place, most BJP MLAs were present anyway. When asked why they went despite the directive, all the MLAs gave the same response: “The Yediyurappa family’s roots in Karnataka politics run so deep, where would we go by making enemies of them? As for you, you’re an RSS official, here today, retired tomorrow. Then who would we turn to for shelter?” At the same time, BL Santhosh is well aware that PM Modi himself is against dynastic politics, so a “compromise candidate” like him could gain consensus. Meanwhile, Yediyurappa’s people believe that if the high command makes any decision without taking them into confidence, the party could split in two here, and the party leadership surely doesn’t want that.
DK hasn’t Given Up Hope
Despite battling all kinds of political storms, Karnataka’s deputy chief minister continues to keep his ambition for the chief minister’s post alive. Trusted sources close to the Congress leadership say that when DK recently came to Delhi, he went straight to meet Sonia Gandhi. It’s said DK told Sonia: “Only one person can pull him out of this quagmire, otherwise, the matter of counting MLAs and their support keeps getting more tangled.” It’s reported that Sonia replied to DK: “Neither is Kharge ji agreeing to his name, nor is DK himself able to muster the required number of MLAs’ support, so the issue of him becoming CM keeps getting complicated.” Sonia reassured DK that she would personally speak to Kharge and persuade him. In any case, her wish is to hand over the party’s reins to Kharge again as president. It’s believed that Sonia then told DK: “Right now, the Congress party is going through a severe financial crisis, and at least five states have assembly elections in the coming months. So, she wants a big ‘corpus fund’ raised for the party, and she needs DK’s help in this task.” In South Indian states, where any industrialist or big businessman who isn’t a blind BJP supporter can be approached for donations. By now, DK has fully understood what he must give up to get what he wants, because Sonia had already made it clear to him: “Making him could create conditions for a split in the party.”
Mounting Challenges for Congress with Allies
Challenges for Congress are only increasing in the times to come. Now, after returning from Kolkata, Akhilesh Yadav has also signaled to the Congress leadership that “they can leave a maximum of 40 seats for Congress in the 2027 elections.” Akhilesh is well aware that Rahul and Priyanka will never agree to this proposal, making it easier for him to loudly play the tune of “go it alone” (ekla chalo). In reality, Akhilesh’s real concern is Congress’s “strike rate.” In Bihar, Congress fought and quarreled with Tejashwi to secure 65 seats, but only 6 Congress candidates won, meaning Congress’s strike rate was less than 10 percent. Rahul Gandhi himself addressed 11 public rallies in Bihar. So, Akhilesh has returned from Kolkata after firmly endorsing Mamata Banerjee’s leadership, saying: “If there is one leader who can take on the BJP, it is Mamata Didi. So where has Rahul Gandhi, who was raising the anti-Modi cry across the country, disappeared to?” Congress is facing similar troubles in Tamil Nadu as well. Tamil Nadu CM Stalin is going into the elections with a 12-party alliance (including Congress as one of them), but it’s said that if the alliance wins, power-sharing will remain only with the DMK. It was precisely over this issue that Rahul Gandhi met DMK parliamentary party leader Kanimozhi on Wednesday and said: “Even if 25 seats are left for Congress, when the government is formed, Congress should also have its share in it.”
