Tridib Raman
When the BJP top leadership convened its first and important meeting regarding the eight Rajya Sabha candidates this time, the presence of Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, BL Santhosh, Nitin Nabin, and even Pankaj Chaudhary was recorded. The first name that came up for consideration before the committee was that of BJP’s young leader Varun Gandhi. As soon as the name was placed for discussion, the BJP’s Chanakya strongly opposed it, saying: “We do not want to send the message that we cannot function without this family by bringing a person from the very family with which we are fighting an ideological battle into the Rajya Sabha.” It is said that Rajnath Singh then remarked: “How much more punishment will we give this person? In 2024 we cut his ticket, yet he remained silent. Whether it was Purvanchal or Pilibhit, he never lost his election. After a point a person loses hope.” Then a leader present in the meeting said that “Varun is very arrogant.” To this, BJP Organisation General Secretary BL Santhosh replied: “Recently Varun came to meet me; he was very humble. Still, if giving Varun a ticket does not suit the party’s larger agenda, then so be it. But I have one suggestion — then those people who lost the 2024 election by margins of lakhs of votes should also not get tickets.” Rajnath Singh also supported BL’s suggestion. As a result, the tickets of the five big leaders whose names had already been decided — Harish Dwivedi, Smriti Irani, Sanjeev Balyan, Kaushal Kishore, and Rajbir Singh alias Raju Bhaiya — were all cut. It was decided that a new list of names would be considered and the next meeting would be called. But that day never came. Amit Shah and PM Modi sat together and finalised the new candidates themselves; in the process even the list of UP CM Yogi Adityanath was set aside. UP BJP Organisation Minister Dharampal had for a long time been strongly advocating one name — Priyanka Rawat. In any case the BJP top leadership had to give a ticket to someone from the Pasi community, so Priyanka’s lottery was drawn.
What will happen to Gyanesh Kumar?
There must have been some compulsion for the ruling establishment to refuse to look at its own face in the mirror of democracy. Protecting one’s conscience amid crumbling prestige and revolutions spreading on the streets is, in any case, a difficult challenge. The uproar raised by the united opposition and the “Cockroach Janata Party” over the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar continues to grow. It is said that even within the BJP a large section of leaders is advocating that “Gyanesh Kumar will have to go, otherwise this fire of the people’s movement will gradually begin to scorch us too.” But the biggest problem for the BJP’s top leadership is that if Gyanesh leaves under these circumstances, questions could also be raised over all the elections held so far across the country under the SIR process under his leadership, and the demand to dismiss the elected governments of those states could gain momentum. Therefore, somewhere the BJP leadership’s thinking has settled on leaving the entire issue to the mercy of the Supreme Court and its Chief Justice Suryakant, and letting the decision come from there so that the government’s hands remain clean. Moreover, in the recent by-election results that have come out, BJP candidates have won by record margins in Nandigram and Raji Nagar in Bengal; Nowgong seat in Assam has also been wrested by the BJP after defeating Badruddin Ajmal; and in Puducherry too the NDA constituent AINRC has registered a victory. Only the two seats in Tamil Nadu have gone to TVK. Through these electoral results the BJP is still trying to send the message that people’s support is with it, while opposition parties continue to dismiss this Bengal victory as the “magic of EVMs.” According to sources, leaders of opposition parties under Rahul’s leadership are more or less arriving at a consensus that “if Gyanesh Kumar’s departure does not take place under any circumstances, they may consider boycotting the assembly elections in the seven states that are due.”
What kind of Justice is this?
Recently, while addressing law students at NALSAR University in Hyderabad, Justice Ujjwal Bhuyan, counted among the most honest judges of the Supreme Court, reacted to the SIR process in his speech and said: “Any process that deprives lakhs of Indian citizens of the right to vote is arbitrary.” Surprisingly, a statement by former Chief Justice of India BR Gavai then surfaced in which he appeared to take Justice Bhuyan to task. Gavai said: “Public propriety does not permit a sitting judge to make public comments on a matter that is already pending in court.” Since then people connected with the legal world have been trying to understand the import of Justice Gavai’s words and the timing of his statement. Then one fact came to light: even after such a long time since his retirement, Justice Gavai has not vacated his Type-8 bungalow and has been continuously taking extensions in the hope of something. Whereas under the rules any judge is required to vacate the bungalow within one month of retirement. It may be recalled that Gavai had retired from his post on 23 November 2025 itself. Today the situation is that several Supreme Court judges are having to stay in government guest houses because Type-8 bungalows are not available.
‘Lal Hit Janata Party’ – for whom?
With changing times, politics is increasingly turning into a sponsored avatar that mocks public concerns. The latest example is the emergence of a new political party named ‘Lal Hit Janata Party’. You may recall that ‘Hit’ is a popular insecticide spray, and its red version is specifically used to wipe out cockroaches. By now you would have understood the intention behind forming this party and its real objective. The organisation says: “We will not tolerate the use of abusive language against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, because the Prime Minister is part of our family.” This organisation is also supporting the Delhi Police. Two hundred members of the organisation, under the leadership of their leader Ayan Bhatnagar, gathered at Connaught Place on 9 October. But who is this Bhatnagar? No one knows anything about him; he merely advocates legal and institutional dialogue instead of public protests.
BJP still focused on Delimitation Bill
While the country’s mood over SIR and the Chief Election Commissioner is saying something else altogether, even in these circumstances the real concern of the ruling side remains getting the Delimitation Bill passed in Parliament. Nearly two months have passed since the monsoon session of Parliament was adjourned, yet the government’s intention is to reconvene the delayed monsoon session and pass the Delimitation Bill in it. The government is well aware that “the strength of the opposition INDIA alliance of 19 different parties has decreased in the House. At one time it had 233 members in the Lok Sabha; today, after the split in Trinamool and the departure of the DMK, it has shrunk by 47 seats to a mere 178.” The BJP’s real challenge is to win over the DMK. The DMK has so far kept itself aloof from the protests going on across the country over the Chief Election Commissioner. Even CM Vijay’s party TVK has not issued any official statement on the matter. TVK has just won both the by-elections held in the state; both seats had fallen vacant after the resignation of DMK MLAs, and TVK fielded its candidates on them and won both. The DMK feels that while it has suffered losses due to SIR, TVK has been its beneficiary. Perhaps this is the reason why it has not been able to take a clear stand either against the Chief Election Commissioner or against SIR. The DMK leadership knows that supporting the Delimitation Bill would be like cutting off one’s own feet with an axe; that is why it keeps ignoring the BJP’s proposals for a handshake. Since the Congress in the state has left its side and held on to TVK’s hand, the DMK does not even want to be part of the Congress-led opposition alliance, although Stalin still has better relations with Rahul Gandhi. So a new thinking has taken birth in the DMK: “Why not just support the Cockroach Party itself?”
Is Akhilesh riding two boats?
As the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections draw closer, the tussle between the SP and Congress over seat-sharing is only intensifying. Now even Congress leaders have begun saying in hushed tones that “Akhilesh wants to ride two boats at the same time. Outwardly he is putting up a show of supporting the Congress, but behind the scenes he has joined hands with the BJP. By sending his uncle Professor Ram Gopal Yadav to the Upper House, he has stationed his envoy in Delhi for the BJP, because it is no secret that Professor Sahab has extremely cordial relations with the BJP top leadership.” From his second Rajya Sabha seat, Akhilesh has rewarded Dhanraj Nathwani, son of Parimal Nathwani linked to the Reliance group. Dhanraj has openly sung praises of PM Modi from his X handle — about his 25 years of leadership. Dhanraj is also said to enjoy the blessings of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, because it was with his grace that he was elected unopposed as president of the Gujarat Cricket Association in 2022. He had taken over this responsibility in place of Shah. It is also being said that the entire exercise of bringing Dhanraj into the Rajya Sabha was carried out by Professor Sahab; the senior leaders of the SP did not even get wind of when the wires of Saifai got connected to Ahmedabad. So if this time Akhilesh enters the electoral fray on his own strength and still falls a little short of the majority needed to form the government, he may get the support of the lotus. As for bargaining with the Congress, Akhilesh has clearly told Rahul: “Ask only for those seats where you can win.” It is said that Rahul has entrusted the responsibility of seat-sharing to Priyanka.
Rahul’s Pune meet & Pawar puzzle
Recently, when Rahul was in Pune, a craze was also seen among big industrialists to meet him. Rahul Bajaj too went to meet him. When the conversation turned to NCP leader Sharad Pawar, Rahul clarified that “whether it is the issue of delimitation or opposition to the Chief Election Commissioner, Sharad Pawar is with the opposition.” On the other hand, BJP strategists have their own confidence that “when it comes to getting the Delimitation Bill passed, Sharad Pawar will support it with some of his own conditions.”