Since the Bharatiya Janata Party had not named a chief ministerial candidate before the Bihar Assembly elections, virtually all its senior leaders from Bihar have been eyeing the top post. An interesting anecdote needs retelling in this connection. A group of journalists covering the Bihar elections dropped in for a chat with Union telecom minister Ravi Shankar Prasad at his hotel in Madhubani. A waiter who brought tea for the visitors bowed before the minister and asked, “Am I serving the future chief minister of Bihar ” Although visibly pleased at this query, Mr Prasad was quick to tick off the waiter with a firm “No”. But a chuffed Mr Prasad soon followed this up by ordering a round of mithai for the journalists. Obviously, Mr Prasad and many others are harbouring chief ministerial ambitions, though they have been extremely discreet about it, since last year’s election victories in Maharashtra and Haryana, saw a dark horse beating frontrunners to the post.
While most of his Cabinet colleagues were busy with the Bihar Assembly elections, Union minister for urban development M. Venkaiah Naidu spent the past 10 days lining up the presence of VIPs for the “Sri Venkateswara Vaibhavotsavam” held at the capital’s Jawaharlal Nehru stadium from October 31 to November 8. Senior ministers, including Union home minister Rajnath Singh, were invited by Mr Naidu to pay obeisance to Lord Balaji. Similarly , several governors flew down especially at the minister’s request even as senior Supreme Court judges and bureaucrats were also spotted at the nine-day Balaji festival, where all the sacred rituals and services conducted at Lord Balaji Temple in Tirumala were replicated through the day. The personal interest evinced by Mr Naidu was essentially due to the fact that his daughter, Deepa Venkat, is the managing trustee of the Swarna Bharat Trust and the GMR group, which has organised the Balaji Festival. While the minister’s daughter made sure she was present to escort the VIPs, Mr Naidu’s ministry was roped in for the event’s publicity. The ministry for urban development put out regular press releases about VIP visitors, which, surprisingly, included Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal. Mr Naidu appears to have timed this festival with the declaration of the Bihar Assembly election results, hoping Lord Balaji will bless the Bharatiya Janata Party with a victory.
This is clearly the season for birthday celebrations, especially those of Opposition leaders who are using the occasion as a show of strength. First came the news of extraordinary celebrations having been planned to celebrate Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar’s 75th birthday next month, both in Delhi and Baramati, Maharashtra. This was followed by reports of former Union minister and senior Congress leader Kamal Nath having lined up a celebratory programme on his birthday on November 18, in Madhya Pradesh. It is well known that Kamal Nath has been sulking ever since he was denied the post of Congress Party leader in the Lok Sabha last year. He is now pitching for the presidentship of the Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee, presently held by Rahul Gandhi nominee Arun Yadav. Mr Nath has held several meetings with his supporters over the past few months to put pressure on the Congress leadership to give him this post. He has also publicly declared that he is ready to shoulder this responsibility. The proposed birthday bash is essentially meant to send a message to the party bosses that he enjoys ground support in the state. There is also talk that Mr Nath could walk out of the party if he does not have his way.
Congress leaders, including state unit presidents and former chief ministers, turned up in full strength to participate in the march organised last week from Parliament House to Rashtrapati Bhavan to protest against growing intolerance in the country. But there were several notable absentees and this has been the talking point in the party for the past several days. The Madhya Pradesh contingent, including Digvijaya Singh and Jyotiraditya Scindia, was conspicuous by its absence. According to the official explanation, they could not make it because they were required to be present when the party candidate Kantilal Bhuria filed his nomination papers for the Jhabua Lok Sabha bye-election the same day. However, there were no explanations offered for former Union finance minister P. Chidambaram’s absence, who, like many other Congress leaders, has gone back to a lucrative legal career. “If Manmohan Singh could participate in the march, why not Chidambaram,” asked a senior Congress functionary. There is some talk that Mr Chidambaram is unhappy at not being accommodated in the Rajya Sabha. The guessing game continues.
The writer is a Delhi-based journalist
