Rajya Sabha Rumble
The next round of Rajya Sabha polls will take place on June 18. Of these the Congress is hoping to get at least five seats, and if allies permit, this number could go up to seven. The state where it has the most advantage is Karnataka, where it is hoping to get as many as three of the four seats that will be going to polls. One of these belongs to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and he is up for a renomination. The other two seats will probably be divided amongst the Siddaramaiah and D.K. Shivakumar camps. DKS is keen to send his brother D.K. Suresh to the Upper House and if that happens, the state CM (and Shivakumar’s bête noire) will want to send a nominee of his choice as well. Since you really can’t take the natak out of Karnataka, that takes care of the three seats in that state. The Congress will also get one seat each from Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh; and it is here that the story gets interesting. From Rajasthan, those hopeful of a Rajya Sabha nomination include Bhanwar Jitendra Singh, and Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera. Alternatively, the party could renominate the sitting MP Neeraj Dangi, who is also a Dalit. While Bhanwar Jitendra Singh may be refused due to the recent Assam loss (for which he has taken some responsibility and resigned from his charge of the state), it would be interesting to see whether Khera would be given his due, or if his “Tapasya” will be rejected once again. Also, a surprise name could be Ashok Gehlot, former Rajasthan CM and if this is the case it could be a signal for him to step away from state politics. As for Madhya Pradesh, the contenders for the lone seat include Kamal Nath, Meenakshi Natarajan, and (to a much lesser extent) state Congress chief Jitu Patwari. The seat will be vacated by Digvijaya Singh, who has stated that he will not be seeking a third term. But then, in politics, never say never. Especially since the Congress has a very slender margin of six votes in the Assembly, the party will need to field a veteran who can manage any cross-voting. In other words, it could be Kamal Nath, who has the edge here.
And if the allies play ball the Congress could get two more seats. One from Jharkhand, and the other from Tamil Nadu where there will be a bypoll after the AIADMK’s C.V. Shanmugam resigned from his seat. Will the TVK, which holds the winning numbers, field a Congress leader?
A Bungalow in need of an MP
The Congress Party has been served an eviction notice to vacate its former headquarters at 24 Akbar Road as it now has a new building allotted to it in Kotla Marg. However, the old bungalow has both an emotional and a geographical legacy that the party will find hard to give up. While it is fighting the eviction notice in court, it is also exploring other options. Such as getting the bungalow allotted to a party MP. Since it is a Type VIII bungalow, only a former Chief Minister or a former Cabinet Minister can be allotted the same. This may give former Chief Ministers an edge in the next round of Rajya Sabha nominations, for both Kamal Nath and Ashok Gehlot could get the said bungalow allotted in their name and then allow the party to continue occupying the space. Both are former CMs—but then again, so is Digvijaya Singh.
Branding Bihar
Should Bihar get its own IPL team? Vedanta Group chairman Anil Aggarwal’s tweet advocating for the same has gone viral on social media. He posted on X asking as to why Bihar didn’t get its own team the way Kolkata Knight Riders, Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings have one. He even suggested a name for it—Bemisaal Bihar (Incomparable Bihar). To further buttress his case, he points out how well the players from Bihar have been doing this season. As he writes, “The soil of Bihar has given the country many exceptional cricketers. Ishan Kishan, born in Patna, scored the fastest ODI double century in terms of balls faced. Vaibhav Sooryavanshi from Samastipur became the youngest player to make an IPL debut. And today, the eyes of the entire world are on the brilliant bowling of Saqib Hussain, born into an ordinary family in Gopalganj”. In fact, it’s not just Bihar but even Himanta Biswa Sarma has been lobbying hard for a team for Assam. Until now, Rajasthan Royals had managed to take some of its matches to Guwahati since Assam is the home state of the team’s executive chairman—the very ingenious Ranjit Barthakur. Both Sarma and Barthakur pitched for bringing RR matches to Guwahati, citing cricket as an emotional bond connecting the Northeast to the rest of the country. But now with RR’s ownership changing hands, Sarma will no doubt be pitching for a franchise for Assam. In fact, I recall, during an interview to NewsX two years ago when asked about his favourite IPL team, Sarma had said that while his current favourite was Rajasthan Royals due to the team’s Assam connection, he would very much like his state to have its own team as well. Watch this space—for the Assam Cricket Association is planning to launch the Assam Premier League in August this year as a forum to encourage local talent. As for Bihar, the state CM Samrat Choudhary has wasted no time in endorsing the suggestion for an IPL franchise as he posted a reply to the Vedanta chairman’s post on social media agreeing that it was time that Sooryavanshi’s home state got its own team. The countdown has begun.
Cabinet Reshuffle Soon?
The recent meeting of the entire Council of Ministers has sparked off rumours of a possible Cabinet reshuffle sometime soon. While the exercise was done keeping in mind the Modi government’s second anniversary (which is coming up in June) the fact that the new BJP president is yet to appoint his new team has added to the speculation of a possible reshuffle as both these exercises will be done in tandem. Those looking for signs point out that even during his second term, the PM reshuffled his cabinet after the second year, in July 2021, six months before the 2022 Uttar Pradesh polls. Keeping that in mind, the timing is about right.
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