Newly appointed Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy is making every effort to reach out to the people, a completely different style of functioning from his predecessor K Chandrasekhar Rao. After the state police upgraded their security to Z Plus category, the CM directed the VVIP security wing not to provide green channel for their convoy. While most CMs currently drive on green channels with zero vehicle traffic, Reddy has asked the police to find alternative arrangements so that regular vehicle traffic is not affected. KCR lived in a complete security bubble during his tenure. Apparently, Reddy intends to burst that bubble through his people-friendly approach.
proposal rejected
Shivarajkumar, son of Kannada film star and late actor Rajkumar, would have been a big name in the list of Congress candidates for the Lok Sabha elections in 2024. Deputy CM and state party chief DK Shivakumar was also curious as to why Shivarajkumar came forward. The actor, who hails from the powerful Ediga (Other Backward Class) community, also holds immense importance as a star worker. However, Shivarajkumar rejected the offer and said he would prefer his wife, a Congress leader, to be the candidate. Shivarajkumar is married to Geeta, daughter of late CM S Bangarappa. The actor and his wife had campaigned for his brother Madhu Bangarappa in Soraba for the assembly elections held in May. Madhu is now the Minister of State.
The Narendra Modi-Amit Shah duo may have succeeded in forcing Shivraj Singh Chouhan to resign from the post of CM in Madhya Pradesh, but they have retained their influence. Recently, I posted an aerial shot of him surrounded by a crowd of people on X (formerly Twitter). Chouhan captioned the picture, “Mera parivarjano (my family),” in a reference to the Prime Minister’s use of the phrase “Mero parivarjano (my family members)” to address the audience in his recent speeches.
Post-poll surveys have shown that Chauhan remains the popular choice for the post of CM. Although Chouhan has been leading the state for more than 15 years, he was removed on the pretext of promoting younger leaders. The purpose of choosing lightweight Mohan Yadav as chief minister is to enable Modi-Shah to dominate the affairs of the state like in Gujarat. Sources said that both now want the former CM to move to Delhi.
the dice were turned
Union Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri recently led the excavation at Jawaharlal Nehru University. Opposition MP John Brittas, a PhD from JNU, claimed that India’s dependence on oil imports has increased to 88% and asked about the Centre’s plans to reduce imports. In response, Puri mocked Brittas, saying, perhaps, he is on this subject, perhaps at JNU. I was doing my PhD. To this Brittas replied that he was proud of the fact that he has done his PhD from JNU. But facing criticism, Puri had to step back and say that he was a fan of JNU.
so for him
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who has played a key role in the formation of the India Bloc, recently attempted to challenge Prime Minister Narendra Modi by deciding to hold a public rally in Varanasi, his Lok Sabha constituency. The performance was scheduled for Christmas Eve and a university grounds was set as the location. However, the university administration reportedly refused to allow the demonstration. This led Nitish’s Janata Dal (United) to allege that the saffron party had a hand in the cancellation.
The Bharatiya Janata Party hit back by claiming that it was the JD(U) that canceled the rally due to fear of not getting enough spectators. Some of their leaders claimed that this happened due to Nitish’s poor health. JD(U) did not like this. He has since vowed to send his leaders to every village in Uttar Pradesh to campaign against the BJP.
bottled message
Bihar’s liquor prohibition policy often remains in the headlines for wrong reasons. This time it became a bone of contention between the National Democratic Alliance partners. Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) founder and former CM Jitan Ram Manjhi enumerated the failures of prohibition and promised that the alliance would roll it back if voted to power in the 2025 assembly elections.
