Political Gup-Shup: Of CM, PM and few aspirants

On a recent visit to Allahabad for a national convention of gram pradhans, Union minister for water resources, river development and Ganga rejuvenation Uma Bharti said she will seek Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s permission to undertake a padyatra in Uttar Pradesh to push the government’s Namami Gange programme, but was not sure if she would do so in her capacity as a minister or a mere MP. Predictably, Ms Bharti’s remarks have resulted in intense speculation in the BJP. There is one view that Ms Bharti wants to be projected as her party’s chief ministerial candidate in the run-up to UP’s Assembly elections next year now that she represents the Jhansi Lok Sabha constituency. Ms Bharti apparently believes she has the credentials for the job. Not only has she been minister at the Centre, Ms Bharti has also done a stint as chief minister in neighbouring Madhya Pradesh, Belonging to the Lodh community from the OBCs, Ms Bharti is from the right caste as the BJP is making strenuous efforts to woo the non-Yadav OBCs in the upcoming Uttar Pradesh polls. It is now to be seen if Mr Modi and BJP president Amit Shah will oblige Ms Bharti.

The Congress should be worried. Ever since he rode to power in last year’s keenly contested Bihar Assembly elections, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has made a conscious effort to acquire a national profile with an eye on the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. Mr Kumar is meticulously wooing civil society groups and intellectuals. It is no coincidence that the Bihar Chief Minister has addressed two meetings with a selected gathering of activists, writers and academicians in Delhi over the past month-and-a-half. Working according to a plan, Mr Kumar’s outreach to these sections stems from the largely-held view that though numerically small, intellectuals wield considerable influence over people and are important opinion-makers. As a result, Mr Kumar has especially touched base with writers who returned their awards last year to lodge a protest against the atmosphere of intolerance being encouraged by the Modi government. The Congress will obviously be uneasy over Mr Kumar’s move as the issue of intolerance was initially flagged by it.

Congress leader V. Narayanasamy was thrilled when he took over as Puducherry Chief Minister three months ago after besting his rivals in the party. But he has run into trouble even before he could settle in. Since Mr Narayanasamy is not a legislator, he has to get elected to the Assembly within six months to continue in office. In such circumstances, the party usually asks a sitting MLA to vacate his or her seat to enable the Chief Minister to contest an election. But Mr Narayanasamy is not so lucky as no Congress MLA is willing to vacate his seat for him. Worse still, there is every chance that Mr Narayanasamy’s detractors will work overtime to get him defeated if the party leadership directs an MLA to put in his papers for the chief minister. Since his own party colleagues are unwilling to bail him out, a panic-stricken Narayanasamy is learnt to have sought the help of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, in the hope that the party’s alliance partner will prove to be more helpful.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons last week when a photograph showing him being carried by his security staff during a visit to flood-affected areas went viral on social media. What made matters worse was that the controversial photograph was officially released by the state’s public relations department. It now transpires that a private agency hired by Mr Chouhan to handle his publicity, was responsible for the photo shoot on his trip. It was the agency which sent these photographs to the public relations department for the official release. Miffed at being sidelined, the state public relations department lost no time in putting out these photographs. The pictures were subsequently withdrawn, but the roasting he got on social media ruined Mr Chouhan’s publicity plans. Worried that Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants him out of Madhya Pradesh, Mr Chouhan has, of late, been making strenuous efforts to project himself in the national media in a desperate bid to be noticed by the party leadership. The move has clearly boomeranged on him.