POLITICS
Hemmed in by both BJP and RJD, Nitish pursues another opportunity to survive
Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) is in turmoil with a section of MLAs wishing to rejoin the NDA alliance and some others being wooed by the RJD. With the INDIA bloc foiling his ambitions to be named the leader of the grouping, Nitish appears to have figured out that being with BJP, amid its dominance in national elections, will serve his interests better in Bihar
BUSINESS
INDIA alliance in the soup after Congress flop show in Hindi heartland
Even if the INDIA alliance can strike a consensus on difficult decisions like seat sharing, common minimum programme and a prime ministerial candidate, it has no answers to negotiating Congress’s weakness in the Hindi belt and neutralising BJP’s winning formula, which has again proven its popularity
ASSEMBLY-ELECTIONS
Assembly Elections 2023: What is at stake for Congress and BJP today?
Congress will need some big wins to drive home a tough bargain with INDIA alliance partners. For BJP, victories will reinforce perceptions that it is headed for three successive Lok Sabha wins and that PM Modi can front assembly polls for the party without needing strong state-level leadership
ASSEMBLY-ELECTIONS
Rajasthan Elections 2023: Gehlot collects the goodwill, Congress MLAs the voter ire
Rajasthan Elections 2023: Learning from his own experience in 2013, Ashok Gehlot focussed on welfare schemes early in his tenure and marketed them well. This has left him perched comfortably even as his MLAs look vulnerable in a state with an established track record of rejecting incumbents
BUSINESS
Mallikarjun Kharge’s steadying hand ends Congress’s post-2019 disarray
Though not the first choice for the Congress president’s post, Kharge has proven to be an inspired selection, juggling smoothly a variety of roles the job demands. A consensus-builder who doesn’t overshadow the Gandhis, fluent in Hindi and having the right caste credentials, he is also at ease with the everyday leadership that the Congress organisation badly needed
ASSEMBLY-ELECTIONS
Assembly Elections 2023: For Congress, a test of its OBC strategy before Lok Sabha polls
Assembly Elections 2023: Congress’s outreach to OBCs and its promise to carry out a nationwide caste count and remove the 50 percent cap on reservations for SCs/STs and backward classes will first be tested in the assembly polls before the Lok Sabha elections next year. But winning back the OBC vote from BJP won’t be easy
BUSINESS
Can Mallikarjun Kharge’s jumbo CWC strengthen the Congress?
The 84 leaders who found a place in the Congress Working Committee will be expected to help rebuild the party organisation. But the CWC can only go so far if Congress strategists do not delineate a credible roadmap, a clear ideological stance and a fresh narrative to counter the Bharatiya Janata Party
BUSINESS
Parliament: Gains for BJP in PM's speech and some for opposition in unity efforts, but no solace for Manipur
Manipur didn’t get the talk time it deserved during the no-confidence motion. The PM’s speech has fired up the BJP for the coming battles with the INDIA opposition bloc. But will Manipur’s suffering be forgotten as the political discourse inevitably shifts to the assembly polls later this year?
BUSINESS
Maharashtra: BJP readies its 2024 lineup as Ajit Pawar emerges out of Sharad Pawar’s shadow
BJP, wary of the MVA’s prospects in 2024, has broken Sharad Pawar’s NCP in a similar fashion to the Shiv Sena split. But unlike Uddhav Thackeray who was caught unawares, the rebel MLAs may have taken Pawar’s blessings. Questions remain about Pawar Sr’s reorganisation of the NCP and preferring Supriya Sule over Ajit Pawar, which catalysed the revolt
BUSINESS
Ashok Gehlot could win this round too against a snubbed Sachin Pilot and lose Rajasthan for Congress to BJP
For BJP dealing with its own internal problems in Rajasthan, the renewal of open hostilities between Sachin Pilot and Ashok Gehlot comes at a particularly good time. Instead of preparing for the assembly elections later this year, Congress will be spending its energies on dousing factional fires
INDIA
Is Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification just what the country needed?
The disqualification may prove to be the inflection point that galvanises the Congress cadre and brings together the opposition. Unless they manage to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
POLITICS
Kharge goes the Sonia-Rahul way: Holding CWC polls would have given winning Congress leaders legitimacy
CWC polls would have elevated those Congress heavyweights who have traction among the party’s local leaders at the state and district levels. But these would necessarily not have been the faces Rahul and Sonia Gandhi would have wanted to see in the CWC.
BUSINESS
Is Raghuram Rajan the credible face that Congress is scouting for?
Raghuram Rajan’s day-long walk with Rahul Gandhi has revived speculation that the economist could be drafted by the Congress for a political role
BUSINESS
Can Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra revive Congress in time for the coming assembly polls?
There are no ready explanations for the indifference shown by the Gandhis in these elections. Is the family biding its time, waiting for the party to throw up its hands in defeat, and ask it to take charge?
BUSINESS
What will be the road ahead for Shashi Tharoor?
It would be unfortunate if the Congress, especially the Gandhis, choses to marginalise Shashi Tharoor merely because he decided to battle it out against the ‘official’ nominee in the presidential election
POLITICS
Ashok Gehlot | Veteran Congress loyalist with a vengeance that has led to a ‘revolt’
Ashok Gehlot might have thought of the Congress President’s post as a crown of thorns with little independent power. That Sachin Pilot would replace him left him little option but to revolt
BUSINESS
Congress Revival | Rahul Gandhi must break his protective ring of ‘non-political’ advisers
Rahul Gandhi’s personal prejudices against senior leaders, overdependence on his coterie, and the lack of wider consultations has led him to make wrong choices more than once
BUSINESS
Congress’ chintan shivir does little to bring ideological clarity
If the Congress is to achieve even a modicum of success in its grand plan, it has to first regain its credibility which is currently in a shambles. It should do so by going beyond history, and BJP-bashing
POLITICS
With Brand Priyanka Gandhi badly bruised, what next for Congress?
The Congress’ electoral performance has turned the spotlight on Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and her political future given that her image and credibility have hit a new low
POLITICS
Harish Rawat, once Congress’ troubleshooter, turns rebel-rouser
Former Uttarakhand chief minister Harish Rawat was until recent quelling rebellions inside the Congress. Today, he could well be fostering one ahead of the Uttarakhand assembly elections.
BUSINESS
Congress again clings to the past with its ‘do not drink’ debate
The Grand Old Party continues to be deeply reluctant to chart a new course and face up to fresh challenges with creative ideas.
TRENDS
Priyanka Gandhi has so far proved to be a catastrophe for Congress
The Gandhi scion was expected to give brother Rahul Gandhi a helping hand and lift Congress from the doldrums, but has instead provoked a series of political disasters.
POLITICS
Congress readies new playbook to defeat BJP — launch an Anna Hazare-like movement
The Congress is obviously inspired by the 2011 India Against Corruption movement which laid the groundwork for the demise of the Manmohan Singh-led United Progressive Alliance government which was swept aside by a resurgent Bharatiya Janata Party in 2014.
INDIA
Analysis: The constant struggles of an alternate leadership to the Gandhis in Congress
Try as they might, substitutes to Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi have not really emerged in the Grand Old Party. This despite the poor electoral and organisational record of the Gandhis.
