Sonia Gandhi missing from Siddaramaiah's achievements posters

BS Yeddyurappa seems to have decided not to merge his party with the BJP, while the state Congress is not keen on joining hands with Yeddyurappa in Karnataka. According to recent developments within the Telugu Desam Party in Andhra Pradesh, Chandrababu Naidu is no longer averse to the idea of returning to the NDA led by the BJP.

Karnataka

The Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah completed 100 days in office, last week. Like all Chief Minister's, he too gave advertisements on his achievements in all regional and national newspapers and magazines. But, deviating from the standard practice of the Congress, these advertisements had only his picture. There were no pictures of Sonia Gandhi. The state Congress leaders still consider him an outsider and jokingly call his government an outsourced Congress government. The 'original' Congress leaders are now collecting all advertisements to bring it to the notice of party high command in New Delhi. Siddaramaiah may have to do a lot of explaining before Sonia Gandhi.

The eminent public intellectuals and writers like UR Ananthamurthy, Girish Karnad and HS Doreswamy were the first to congratulate Siddaramaiah after he became the Chief Minister in last May. They were hoping that the 'thinking' politician will encourage freedom of expression and stop the harassment of activists and writers. But, he has proved them wrong in just 100 days. The Bangalore City police was forced to arrest an unknown Kannada novelist Yogesh Master for his alleged derogatory references to Lord Ganesh in his novel 'Dundi'. He was made to spend a night at a police station before a local court granted him a conditional bail. Surprisingly, the intellectual circuit of Karnataka is keeping quiet over the issue.

The KJP Supremo BS Yeddyurappa seems to have decided not to merge his party with the BJP. According to insiders, most of the leaders are opposing his return to the BJP. Some of them have even threatened to leave the party, if he decides to go back. The Lingayat strongman has now decided to put the merger on hold and actively exploring the possibility of a tie-up with the Congress in the coming Lok Sabha polls. However, the state Congress is not keen on joining hands with Yeddyurappa. They are confident of Congress getting more than 20-22 seats from the state on its own.

Andhra Pradesh

'Nobody is a permanent friend or a foe in politics' is an oft repeated cliché. Some recent developments in the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) are giving credence to this. According to the political pundits in Hyderabad, Chandrababu Naidu is no longer averse to the idea of returning to the NDA led by the BJP. He is now convinced that the majority of the Muslim votes in Seemandhra will go to his arch rival YS Jaganmohan Reddy's YSR Congress and in Telangana to the Congress. When his brother in law and NTR's son N Harikrishna quit the Rajya Sabha in protest against Telangana, his resignation letter was faxed to media organizations from the BJP Parliamentary Party office in the Parliament building!

People from Seemandhra region are known for their business acumen and 'never say die' enterprising spirit. For them, every crisis creates an opportunity. A lot of moneyed people from the region are already buying huge tracts of land near Ongole, Vijayawada and Kurnool hoping that one of the three cities will eventually become Capital of Andhra Pradesh. Some of them are even making discreet enquiries with the central government officials and top politicians about the future Capital.

The firebrand Owaisi brothers of MIM are no longer with the Congress. They are now close to YSR Congress. It is an open secret that the Owaisis keep winning Hydrerabad Lok Sabha seat with Congress' support. This time, the Congress seems to have decided to teach a lesson to senior Owaisi brother by fielding a strong candidate against him. They have zeroed in on a local star and former India skipper Mohammed Azaruddin. Azaruddin, who now represents Moradabad Lok Sabha seat in UP is not keen on taking on his friend Asaduddin Owaisi. However the local Congress leaders are putting a lot of pressure on the high command to send him back to Hyderabad.

Tamil Nadu

Everybody was expecting a water war between the newly elected Congress government in Karnataka and the Jayalalithaa government in Tamil Nadu during this Monsoon. But, the unprecedented heavy rain across the Cauvery basin in Karnataka solved water woes. Both the state governments are now at loggerheads over the removal of a Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) in the Jayalalithaa assets case being heard by a special court in Bangalore. Jaya is alleging that the Congress government in Karnataka removed the SPP to please the DMK keeping an eye on the coming Lok Sabha polls. To her relief, the Supreme Court has now instructed the Karnataka government not to appoint new SPP.

Is the Congress wooing actor turned politician Vijaykanth of DMDK in Tamil Nadu? Some say, the local unit of the party is not keen on returning to DMK led alliance in the next Lok Sabha polls. It is forcing the high command to strike a deal with Vijaykanth, who is opposed to both DMK and AIADMK. The AICC vice president Rahul Gandhi gave credence to the rumours by greeting Vijaykanth on his birthday, last week.

Kerala

After a month long political turmoil and maneuvering, everything is quiet in Kerala. The Solar scam is no longer a big issue and the infighting in running Congress is also not making it to the headlines. Somebody quipped "It is Onam time. Everybody is busy preparing for the biggest festival. Once it is over, they will go back to Solar and Congress".