Adityanath has the advantage of several top BJP leaders including central ministers and the PM campaigning on his behalf. The Yogi himself has been in campaign mode for the last three years.
The contest between Yogi Adityanath and Akhilesh Yadav is a David vs Goliath battle. Adityanath has the advantage of several top BJP leaders including central ministers and the PM campaigning on his behalf. The Yogi himself has been in campaign mode for the last three years. An early riser, Adityanath begins his day at 4 am with pujas, interacts with officials from 6.30 am and attends rallies from 9.30 am. He winds up only at 9 pm and this is followed by a series of work-related meetings. The easy going Akhilesh has other interests besides politics and pujas. He is a family man, a sportsman fond of badminton, football and even tennis. But in the last two months he has devoted himself entirely to the campaign. The crowds are enthusiastic, but he still has a lot of catching up to do. He is campaigning practically single-handedly. The strain of his grueling schedule is beginning to tell. The normally good natured Akhilesh is increasingly belligerent towards the media. Neither of the two politicians has Priyanka Gandhi’s easy ability, inherited from Indira Gandhi, to interact with individuals on a one-on-one basis, winning hearts, if not votes. Incidentally, RLD’s Jayant Chaudhary is turning out to be a more effective campaigner than his late father, Ajit Singh, and has made a very favourable impression among Jats.
Finding Jobs For The boys
Kerala governor Arif Mohammed Khan has demanded that the Pinarayi Vijayan government scrap its policy of granting a monthly pension to all ministerial staff who have completed two years in office. Khan points out that the pension is a devious way of granting a permanent salary to CPI(M) cadres at state expense. CPI(M) ministers normally employ around 20 staff members and they are changed every two years. Almost all are CPI(M) workers, the Governor alleges. Tamil Nadu Governor R N Ravi is similarly contemplating questioning a scheme of the DMK government to appoint publicity officers in each of the state’s 38 districts.
Taking On The Stock Exchange
Former NSE chief Chitra Ramkrishna’s alleged misconduct of passing on sensitive information was finally confirmed by SEBI, which this month issued an order against Ramkrishna. Her culpability might never have come to light but for two gutsy journalists, Sucheta Dalal and Debashis Basu of Moneylife, who dared to take on India’s giant stock exchange. In 2015, Dalal wrote an article inspired by a lead from an anonymous whistleblower which accused the exchange of leaking secret information in high frequency trading to a select set of market participants. The NSE filed a Rs 100-crore defamation suit against the independent investigative journalists and sought an injunction to prevent further publication. Short of funds and support, the journalist couple was forced to argue the case in person in court with guidance from Subramanian Swamy and tips from senior lawyer Shyam Divan. Despite the heavyweights on the other side, Justice Gautam Patel dismissed the case and awarded the defendants costs. In 2017, NSE withdrew the defamation case and soon found itself unable to keep a lid on its wrongdoings.
Going their Separate ways
Congressmen Ashwani Kumar and Jairam Ramesh have a similar profile to many of the G23 dissidents – articulate, erudite, armchair politicians out of grassroots politics. But they were not signatories to the famous letter of rebellion. Ashwani, a Manmohan Singh favourite, who quit the party this month, is believed to be looking to the AAP in Punjab for rehabilitation. The fact that his son did not get a Congress ticket in Punjab added to his ire. Ramesh, meanwhile, who took a jibe at Ghulam Nabi Azad for accepting a Padma award, is in charge of the Congress campaign in Manipur.
Congress’s Plan B In Uttarakhand
The Congress hopes to win the Uttarakhand Assembly polls, but is fearful of a Punjab-like situation afterwards, where the removal of Amarinder Singh triggered off a messy intra-party squabble. Well before the results, Rahul Gandhi is trying to broker peace between the two heavyweights staking a claim for the chief minister’s post — former Chief Minister Harish Rawat and Pritam Singh, chief of the Congress legislative wing. Gandhi summoned the main players to Delhi and the high command is even working on a contingency plan of selecting neither, but opting for a third candidate acceptable to both.
