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By:

Quaid Najmi

4 January 2025 at 3:26:24 pm

Jai Maharashtra!

Mumbai bids adieu to Uddhav’s 25-year rule ‘Thackeray Brand’ replaced with ‘Fiery Fadnavis’   Mumbai : The bitterly fought Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) election results were on anticipated and decisive lines – with sobering lessons for all the players.   The Shiv Sena (UBT) led by ex-Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray is poised to meekly hand over the keys to the country’s richest civic body – over which it lorded for three decades - to the Bharatiya Janata Party-Shiv Sena combine.  ...

Jai Maharashtra!

Mumbai bids adieu to Uddhav’s 25-year rule ‘Thackeray Brand’ replaced with ‘Fiery Fadnavis’   Mumbai : The bitterly fought Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) election results were on anticipated and decisive lines – with sobering lessons for all the players.   The Shiv Sena (UBT) led by ex-Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray is poised to meekly hand over the keys to the country’s richest civic body – over which it lorded for three decades - to the Bharatiya Janata Party-Shiv Sena combine.   The impending disaster loomed for days, the series of exit polls and sentiments of bookies – more than Rs One Lakh-Crore was pledged on the Mahayuti victory – plus, confident body-language of the Mahayuti leaders, that damned the fragmented Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi.   A leering BJP, which gunned for the ‘Thackeray brand’, is partly vindicated, considering SS (UBT)’s performance. The break-up of Shiv Sena engineered through Eknath Shinde in June 2022 paid rich dividends later, pushing Uddhav Thackeray out of power in the Assembly and now, even the BMC.   Deserting the BJP in October 2019 to later ally with Congress-Nationalist Congress Party as the MVA, Uddhav’s stars shone bright when he became the ‘reluctant CM’, flew high with his work during the Covid-19 Pandemic years, and even hinted for a ‘national role’ - till an eclipse on his regime suddenly started from Thane.   A betrayed Uddhav immediately threw away the trappings of power and promptly vacated ‘Varsha’ (CM official residence), as emotional supporters lined the route to ‘Matoshri’ (his private home), mourning the ‘death’ of the 30-month-old administration.   The MVA government fell, but the alliance grew in stature by humbling the BJP-NDA in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Owing to various factors, again the tide turned in the Assembly elections that year when the MVA was virtually erased by the BJP-led Mahayuti triumvirate.   For the past year, hectic preparations were on by all parties for the series of civic elections across the state – touted as a ‘mini-referendum’. The BJP, armed with the divided Shiv Sena-Nationalist Congress Party factions on its side, prepared for its final assault on the daunting ‘Thackeray brand’.   Genesis Of Nemesis Brushing aside concerns and allies, Uddhav hurriedly patched up with his cousin and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena President Raj Thackeray, to grapple with the Mahayuti on his home-ground, Mumbai, where the Shiv Sena was founded by Balasaheb Thackeray.   A cocky Uddhav insisted on including MNS into the MVA, but the Congress stoutly refused and even parted ways to ally with Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) of Prakash Ambedkar.   Several SS (UBT) bigwigs confided to  The Perfect Voice  how they had warned Uddhav on the MNS tie-up and its potential detrimental effects he airily shooed them off.   The partnership left the minorities, particularly Muslims who bore the brunt of Raj Thackeray’s mosque loudspeakers offensive, and large sections of non-Marathis in Mumbai – like UP-Biharis, Gujaratis, Marwaris – for the compulsion of speaking Marathi or shopkeepers must display Marathi signboards.   Though the final polls data will emerge over the coming days, Uddhav may have lost quite a chunk of crucial votes from the non-Marathis and minorities, who had accepted him as an unlikely ‘messiah’, till the Raj partnership was born.   Lessons For All The BMC results indicate that the SS (UBT) notched a respectable defeat, the MNS proved an embarrassment and beneficiary, the Congress performed on expected lines, and Shiv Sena of Eknath Shinde is bereft of the much-coveted ‘Balasaheb Thackeray legacy’.   The SS (UBT) has catapulted as the second-largest party in the BMC, Shinde’s party - facing a gradual decline – stands third; the BJP is the single-largest party but way short of the magical 114-midway mark in the 227-member BMC house.   “Akin to 2019 and 2022, political jugglery of the weird kind is not ruled out. If, by some quirk of fate, the SS (UBT), Congress and Shiv Sena were to join forces, they can keep the BJP’s hands off the BMC…!” said a Congress leader.

Chess Troika Inspires A Generation

Celebrating National Youth Day today, we look at three young chess stalwarts - World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju, Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa and Arjun Erigaisi. After performing well in the Global Chess League in Mumbai held from December 14-23, 2025, at the Royal Opera House, they participated in the FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Championships held in Doha, Qatar, from December 26-30, 2025 where Arjun won a bronze medal in each category.


Gukesh Dommaraju from Chennai became the youngest world chess champion at 18 years, beating Ding Liren for the crown in December 2024 in Singapore, shattering the previous record of 22 years which was set by GM Garry Kasparov in 1985.


A chess prodigy, Gukesh earned the Grand Master title at 12 years, becoming the second youngest to do so. Gukesh became the challenger to the world championship in April 2024 by winning the 2024 FIDE Candidates Tournament with a score of 9/14 which also made him the youngest-ever Candidates Tournament winner.


“Going into the FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Championships in Doha, Qatar, I had some good practice from the Global Chess League in Mumbai recently; played a few rapid games against some very strong opponents. My strategy would be to just play fast and try to focus on each game and make the most of it,” said the 19-year-old, who had defeated Magnus Carlsen in the Norway Chess tournament earlier in 2025.


After starting playing chess at the age of seven, Gukesh won the under-12 title at the World Youth Chess Championship in 2018. He followed it up with multiple gold medals at the 2018 Asian Youth Chess Championship. He became an International Master in March 2017.


His rise in the chess world has been truly phenomenal. In 2019, after becoming the second-youngest grandmaster in the history of the game, after Sergey Karjakin, he was part of the Indian team that won the silver medal at the 2022 Asian Games in the men’s team competition.


An easily approachable, well-mannered and humble world chess champion, Gukesh won the team bronze and the individual gold medal at the 44th Chess Olympiad in 2022.


This remarkable string of successes earned Gukesh the top-rated Indian player spot in the September 2023 rating list, ending Viswanathan Anand’s 37-year record.


In the 45th Chess Olympiad in 2024, he won both team and individual gold medals. In his early playing days, Gukesh’s father, an ENT surgeon in Chennai, quit his job to accompany and encourage his son during chess tournaments.


Fetched Fame

Twenty-year-old prodigious Indian chess Grandmaster Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa (often called R. Praggnanandhaa or Pragg), clinched the Global Chess League 2025 title, beating defending Champions Triveni Continental Kings in the finals.


The young chess star from Chennai, famous for defeating Magnus Carlsen multiple times in rapid/online formats, including early wins as a child. He has secured a Candidates spot for 2026 by being the top FIDE Circuit player.


Known for his aggressive style, he became the second Indian ever to cross the 2700 rating mark. He says, “I’m ambitious. I want to win tournaments when I’m playing, after all the hard work that I’ve been putting in for years.”


An Arjuna Award winner, Pragg won the World Youth Chess Championship Under-8 title in 2013, earning him the title of FIDE Master. He won the under-10 title in 2015. In 2016, Praggnanandhaa became the youngest international master in history, at the age of 10.


Being introduced to chess by his elder sister Vaishali, they are the first brother and sister to earn grandmaster titles, with Praggnanandhaa doing so in 2018 and his sister doing so in 2023. They are also the first brother and sister to qualify for the prestigious Candidates Tournament.


A chess prodigy, Pragg won the second place in the 2023 Chess World Cup. He was also part of the Indian team that won the silver medal at the 2022 Asian Games in the men’s team competition, and the gold medal in the open section at the 45th Chess Olympiad in 2024.


Flying High

The 22-year-old Arjun Erigaisi, from Warangal, Telangana, kept the Indian flag flying high in Doha during the 2025 World Rapid and Blitz Championships, where he won a bronze in both categories. Congratulating him on his wins, Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted, “His skills, patience and passion are exemplary.”


Arjun Erigaisi has been growing from strength to strength. In 2021, he became the first Indian to qualify for the Goldmoney Asian Rapid of the Champions Chess Tour 2021.


In November 2021, Arjun emerged third out of 82 players in the Lindores Abbey Blitz Tournament at Riga. In March 2022, he was crowned the Indian National Champion by winning the 58th MPL National Championship of India 2022 with a score of 8½/11. He went on to win the 19th Delhi Open, in the same month.


At the Chess Olympiad in Budapest in September 2024, his performance rating of 2968 earned him an individual gold medal and helped India to win their first ever team gold medal at the Olympiad.



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