Confident that the TRS would pick up 15 of the 17 Lok Sabha seats in Telangana, KCR is looking at playing kingmaker at the Centre. If all goes according to his script, it seems KCR would also like to shift base to New Delhi, with a meaty portfolio like Defence or Home, vacating the CM chair for his son, K T Rama Rao. With his origins in TDP, KCR’s rivalry with his Andhra counterpart Chandrababu Naidu is older than the state he now governs. An outcome of that old rivalry, KCR’s ‘National Front’ may look like an anti-Congress thing, but it becomes a viable proposition only if the BJP slide is substantial and at the same time the Congress does not pick up enough numerical strength to fill the gap. KCR’s calculation is that regional satraps, like Naveen Patnaik, Mamata Banerjee and Mayawati-Akhilesh Yadav would bring big numbers to the table. Among these players, KCR has met three. Akhilesh is still keeping his options open by suggesting he would visit Hyderabad when the time comes. Other parties from the south and the north are expected to follow the post-poll leads. Which of the two national parties would agree to lend outside support to a Central government formed out of a coalition of regional forces is anybody’s guess. But then, that’s in the event of a hung parliament.
Tamil Nadu tie-ups
As the year turns, alliance-making for 2019 is gathering much steam. In Tamil Nadu, DMK chief M K Stalin has firmed up his with the Congress. The Left and Vaiko’s MDMK are likely to be part of it, but the ruling AIADMK is yet to reveal its cards. But given the splinter in the party, it seems it has little option but to tie up with the BJP. Vijayakanth is also on the radar. After wrapping up the Bihar alliance, the prime minister is said to have assigned Arun Jaitley and Nirmala Sitharaman the task of getting the TN tie-ups finalised.
Ghar wapasi?
Minister of State S S Ahluwalia, an original member of the Congress’s ‘Shouting Brigade’ long years ago, was in for a surprise this week. As he bumped into Rahul Gandhi in the Parliament corridor, the latter asked the veteran MP when he’s coming back to the Congress. Ahluwalia had been close to Rahul’s father, Rajiv Gandhi. Anecdotes abound in the GOP about how Ahluwalia had tried to drag the former PM to a famous temple in Karnataka after a threat to the latter’s life had been predicted. Unfortunately, Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated before he could make the temple trip. A great believer in astrology, Ahluwalia later joined the BJP and remained a rather vocal opposition member in the Rajya Sabha all through the UPA years. Ahluwalia’s said to have told Rahul he has ‘no such plans’. On a philosophical note, Ahluwalia quipped, he doesn’t care what the media writes. Former President Giani Zail Singh, it seems, had told him that Indira Gandhi was in the news every day when she was alive, but once she passed away the Congress had to pay to get her name and photo printed -- on her birth and death anniversary.
Unused creche
Of the many dramatic initiatives taken during Smriti Irani’s short stint as I&B Minister, a creche meant for the kids of working women journalists was one. A windowless room in the National Media Centre, used as an office for the PIB press facilities personnel, was converted into a creche, with the attendant decor. Unfortunately, no one ever used the room and it remains under lock and key. Meanwhile, the PIB facilities still function from a dingy backroom with no internet connection!