JD (U) slide worries BJP - Priyanka back in Lutyen’s Delhi

FLY ON THE WALL

Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group

JD (U) slide worries BJP

Irrespective of Modi’s undiminished Charisma and immense popular appeal, the BJP leadership has a reason to worry in Bihar. As the state enters the second phase of bitterly fought polarized battle, the BJP is rattled as its key partner Nitish Kumar’s graph is on the downhill. The mishandling of migrant labourers and Coronavirus issues may cost him dearly and hurt BJP more in the months to come if the NDA loses Bihar. It is not as if the BJP was not aware of the sliding graph of Nitish Kumar. All internal surveys conducted by the RSS and the BJP signaled that Nitish Kumar's popularity is waning. The vocal Bihar BJP leadership wanted to go alone smelling blood riding on Modi wave. It was in this background that PM Modi, BJP president J P Nadda and Home Minister Amit Shah held two rounds of talks on Bihar in June-July. A conscious decision was taken to go with Janata Dal (U) as the consequences of dumping Nitish Kumar could have been fatal. It would have pushed Nitish Kumar to go back to the RJD-Congress. In order to off-set the anti-incumbency factor of Nitish Kumar, a buffer zone of sort in the form of LJP’s Chirag Paswan was created. It was done with the hope that LJP could cut into anti-Nitish Kumar votes which otherwise would have gone to the RJD-Congress-Left combine. But as the campaigning picking up, collapse of JD (U) is more visible. Secondly, Coronavirus has invaded the top leadership of the BJP beginning with Devendra Fadnavis, Sushil Modi, Mangal Pandey, Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Shahnawaz Hussian and others. Amit Shah is also out of action.

BJP's Bihar Waterloo 

The BJP was on the seventh Heaven after its tumultuous win in May 2019 Lok Sabha polls. But its stars started fading as it suffered one loss after the other in states. If it failed to form a government in Maharashtra, it had to depend on Dushyant Chautala in Haryana to form the government. Then it suffered humiliating defeats in Jharkhand and Delhi in 2020. Therefore, a Bihar win is vital for the BJP. A Bihar loss will have a direct bearing in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, kerala, Puducherry and Assam where Assembly polls are due early next year. Many in the BJP say it will be happy to emerge as a single largest party in Bihar. Therefore, the BJP has changed its strategy mid-way. It may hold a few rallies of the PM in constituencies where BJP candidates are contesting without Nitish Kumar. Some posters are already out in the public without Nitish Kumar. Secondly, the PM will be more aggressive in his speeches in the days to come.

Priyanka back in Lutyen’s Delhi

After a brief stint in Gurugram in Haryana, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is back in Lutyen’s Delhi. She vacated her government bungalow a couple of months ago when the Modi dispensation served a notice. She shifted to Gurugram for a short while and now back in Sujan Singh Park near Khan Market. However, she doesn’t meet political workers at her residence due to paucity of space. Her security guards are having a tough time as the residential complex itself is very small.

Ram Madhav’s big slide

It seems BJP’s rising star has run out of luck with the party. He was incharge of the Jammu & Kashmir affairs and North East. He too played a key role in formulating BJP's J&K policy and helped forming governments in some of the North East states. He runs India Foundation which worked for Modi in the US and other countries before he became the PM. When he was removed as BJP as general secretary, it was widely believed that he will get a Rajya Sabha seat and possibly a ministerial berth when reshuffle takes place. It was also expected that he will be nominated to the Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh where the BJP is set to win at least eight out of ten seats. But his name didn’t figure in the list. It now transpires that he is vacating his South Avenue government flat also which he had been allotted as general secretary. The last word on his new assignment is yet to be heard. One report is that he may now go back to the RSS as he is now full time “Sangh Pracharak”.

Fly on The Wall : Bitter battle grips Railway Board

by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group

A bitter battle has gripped the Rail Bhawan here ever since Ashwini Lohani was appointed chairman of the Railway Board in a mid-night coup. Lohani was brought by the PMO after A K Mittal quit in the wake of two consecutive railway accidents last month. While the Railway administration was still in the process of absorbing the shocking news of Mittal quitting, Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu also quit. But all hell broke when Lohani was brought to the Railway Board as its chairman. Lohani could not have been appointed as Chairman under the rules and procedures. Insiders say that rules were thrown to the winds. Rules state that unless an officer held the post of General Manager in the Railways, he cannot become a Member of the board or its chairman. A non-member can become chairman of the board. But the condition is that he must have an experience of working as GM in the Railways. Lohani was two ladder down in the seniority and yet he was made chairman straight. The insult to the injury was also in store as Lohani also superseded two highly competent and senior members of the Railway Board. The two members are Ravindra Gupta and Mohammad Jamshed who are bitter and contemplating quitting. The position of these two members has become untenable with Lohani's appointment. The new Railway Minister, Piyush Goyal is busy sorting out the grave issue as both of them reportedly threatened to quit. Goyal wants to resolve this anomaly as continued acrimony can take a turn for the worse. The internal trouble has cropped up at a time when the Railways is trying to overcome serious problems. No doubt, Lohani is an old Railway hand and a technical guy himself. He is reported to have impressed the PMO when he was made ITDC chairman. His appointment had raised eyebrows in the ITDC as well. But within no time, he got a big boost and brought as Chairman Air India.

Amit Shah's advice to Narain Rane

The BJP high command has conveyed to dissident Congress leader Narain Rane to keep patience and his entry is only a matter of time. BJP president Amit Shah had a meeting with him a couple of months ago where in principle decision was taken to admit the Ranes into the BJP. Amit Shah's philosophy is to admit leaders from other parties with an open arm and once they are in the BJP, they would be “reformed.” Shah is of the firm view that this is the only way to expand BJP in a short span and win Lok Sabha seats. This open arm policy is contrary to most of his predecessors who were rather slow in admitting leaders from other parties. But Amit Shah wants every influential leader to be part of the BJP. Therefore, he has conveyed to Rane that he would surely be admitted.

India Foundation calls the shots

What is common among Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Commerce Minister Suresh Prabhu, Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha and MoS External Affairs M J Akbar ? All of them are professionals and highly successful and their rise has been rather brisk. In the case of Nirmala Sitharaman, it has been phenomenal. But there is one more factor; all of them are key member of the India Foundation, a think tank founded by BJP general Secretary Ram Madhav. His focus is to ensure that BJP gets more Lok sabha seats in states where it didn't get numbers in 2014. The Think-Tank formally came into being early 2014 though Ram Madhav was working for Narendra Modi in Gujrat for a long time. Ram Madhav is considered a parallel power centre. There are as many as eight such think tanks floated by those associated with the RSS & BJP. But India Foundation and Vivekanand International Foundation are the two most powerful think tanks providing talented persons to the Modi government. Interestingly, Ram Madhav keeps a low profile and works from behind the scenes. The rise of Nirmala Sitharaman is being attributed to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. But it is said that Ram Madhav is the key behind her success and worked hard to promote her at every stage. He prefers to handle security and international affairs apart from J&K and North eastern states.

The mystery of 'Old Notes' deepens as RBI counts

The mystery of “old notes” demonetized and deposited with banks deepened further after the RBI said: Rs 15.28 lakh crores in old notes out of Rs 15.44 lakh crores had been counted and final figure will be released later. This leaves only Rs 16000 crores which were not deposited with the RBI. But think of 'Old Notes' still lying with Nepal Rashtriya Bank and other neighbouring countries. The figure is stated to be over Rs 8000 crores. The RBI has yet to accept around Rs 7000 crores from Cooperative banks. Then, thousands and thousands of NRIs who made a bee-line outside the RBI branches failed to deposit old notes who came from all over the world as government changed rules at will. In addition, banned notes lying with the Income Tax, ED, Police in states and other agencies could not be deposited with the RBI either. Did India print more notes than notified ? No one has a clue. But everyone in the government is frightened if the old notes in the “pipeline” are allowed to be deposited.

Mamata wants Kejri in Mahagathbandhan

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is pitching for the inclusion of Aam Aadmi Party into the grand alliance of 17 Opposition parties. Mamata wants Arvind Kejriwal to be part of the “Mahagathbandhan” as he is a force in Delhi and elsewhere. However, the Congress has puts its foot down and made it clear that there is no place for AAP in the front. Rather, the Congress leadership has cautioned Mamata Banerjee to keep away as Kejriwal is known for selling dreams. The Congress leaders sheepishly confessed how Kejriwal fooled Shiela Dixit saying that he will never float a political party and work for her victory in Delhi. But Mamata is unwilling to dump Kejriwal. Perhaps, Kejriwal has promised to campaign for Mamata and project her as Prime Ministerial candidate in 2019.