The buzz in the BJP was that the choice for the next BJP party chief would boil down to Bhupender Yadav or Dharmendra Pradhan. Yadav is backed by Suresh Soni and Pradhan by Dattatreya Hosabale, both RSS heavyweights. But recently, Manohar Lal Khattar’s name also cropped up as a potential contender.
Khattar is 70 and has been out of touch with the organisational side. His name was proposed by Arun Kumar, the RSS joint general secretary who liaises between the Sangh and the BJP. Kumar seems oblivious that the RSS high command is seriously contemplating replacing both him and B L Santhosh, national general secretary (organisation), as it is felt that they have failed to sternly convey the RSS line of thought to PM Narendra Modi during their tenures.
In fact, some in the RSS had reservations about BJP president J P Nadda attending the RSS’s Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha in Bengaluru on the grounds that his tenure is over.
PAK Acronym
In the wake of the electoral defeats in Maharashtra and Haryana, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge is keen to demonstrate that the party cadre is on high alert for polls in Punjab, Assam and Kerala, due in 2026 and 2027. A detailed report of the steps to be taken by the party cadres for Assembly campaigns was written and forwarded to the Gandhi family.
The document, titled ‘P A K Report’, signifying the initials of the three poll-bound states, evoked a wry comment from Sonia Gandhi. Surely, they should have known better than to use the acronym, providing the hyper-national BJP an opportunity to make snide references about the Congress report and Pakistan.
Suspicious Mindset
Najma Heptulla, former deputy chairperson of the Rajya Sabha and long-time Gandhi family loyalist, has written frankly in her new book, In Pursuit of Democracy, that a major reason for the Congress’s downfall was that Sonia trusted very few people and had a deep-rooted suspicion of party members. Congress members were not permitted to communicate with her directly. Junior functionaries controlled all access to her, consequently Congress followers no longer had an active role in providing feedback.
Heptulla joined the BJP at the fag end of her illustrious political career because Sonia became suspicious of her after several BJP leaders, including then PM A B Vajpayee felicitated Heptulla on her election as president of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, which was a great honour for India. Despite her life-long service to the Congress, and particularly the Gandhi family, Sonia was wary of Heptulla’s long-standing friendship with Sharad Pawar and suspected that she might defect.
Heptulla’s role as the deputy RS chairperson necessitated collaborating with everyone, something Sonia could not comprehend. Sonia’s attitude was totally different from Indira Gandhi, who kept an open house and was accessible to all, Heptulla recalls. Rajiv Gandhi too was far more accessible than his wife, but Congress workers were always fearful of being seen in the company of anyone perceived as antagonistic to the Congress’s first family. Heptulla writes that when Pranab Mukherjee’s daughter got married, only two people from the Congress attended, P V Narasimha Rao and she. When Mukherjee’s son got married, everyone from the party showed up, as he was back in favour.
No Consorting With Enemy
Interestingly, Congressman Mani Shankar Aiyar has in part three of his memoirs also made the same point, that his party frowns upon anyone consorting courteously with politicians from rival parties. Aiyar learnt soon that the Marquess of Queensbury rules, of gentlemanly and polite conduct with everyone, do not apply in our home-grown politics. He blotted his copybooks in the eyes of his party leadership when he took oath as an MP in 2004 and followed the usual practice of greeting Opposition leaders in Parliament.
He noticed former PM Vajpayee sitting at the far end of the Lok Sabha’s front row, looking miserable. So he instinctively bent down to touch his feet. When he straightened up, he saw the look of strong disapproval that passed like a shadow over Sonia’s face. He was more taken aback when Rahul Gandhi dropped in on his office immediately after the session and, perhaps, jocularly, inquired whether he had joined the BJP.
Elephantine Project
PM Modi’s visit to Vantara, Anant Ambani’s Green Zoological Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre in Jamnagar, has caught the attention of international conservationists. The Berlin and Cologne zoo directors acknowledge they are dwarfed by Vantara, which, according to its annual report, has over 10,000 animals and 350 species, including181 lions, 220 elephants and 142 giant anteaters. They marvel at the transport and animal husbandry required for such a mammoth project, according to German newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung.
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