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By:

Akhilesh Sinha

25 June 2025 at 2:53:54 pm

Congress tries a ‘third’ hand

New Delhi: The BJP latest manoeuvre in elevating Nitin Nabin as the party’s national working president has had consequences in Maharashtra’s two biggest cities - Mumbai and Pune. The result has left the Congress party in a curiously ambivalent mood: quietly pleased by the opportunities created, yet wary of the turbulence ahead. In Maharashtra, the immediate beneficiary of the BJP’s move is Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena. The BJP’s organisational signal has strengthened its hand in the forthcoming...

Congress tries a ‘third’ hand

New Delhi: The BJP latest manoeuvre in elevating Nitin Nabin as the party’s national working president has had consequences in Maharashtra’s two biggest cities - Mumbai and Pune. The result has left the Congress party in a curiously ambivalent mood: quietly pleased by the opportunities created, yet wary of the turbulence ahead. In Maharashtra, the immediate beneficiary of the BJP’s move is Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena. The BJP’s organisational signal has strengthened its hand in the forthcoming elections to the BMC, Asia’s richest civic body, and in Pune, the state’s second city. For Shinde, whose legitimacy still rests on a contentious split with the party founded by Bal Thackeray, any reinforcement from the BJP’s formidable machine is welcome. For Uddhav Thackeray, who leads the rival Shiv Sena (UBT), the message is ominous. His party, once the natural custodian of Marathi pride in Mumbai, now faces the prospect of being squeezed between a BJP-backed Sena on one side and a revived Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) led by his cousin, Raj Thackeray, on the other. Shotgun Alliance That pressure has forced Thackeray into an awkward embrace with his estranged cousin. A reunion of the Thackeray clans, long rumoured and often aborted, has unsettled Thackeray’s MVA ally - the Congress. Signals from the party’s high command suggest a calculated distancing from Shiv Sena (UBT), particularly in Mumbai, where Congress leaders are exploring arrangements with smaller parties rather than committing to a Thackeray-led front. In Pune, the party’s pragmatism is even more pronounced. Quiet efforts are under way to entice Ajit Pawar’s NCP, currently aligned with the BJP, into a tactical understanding for the civic polls. Control of the municipal corporation, even without ideological harmony, is the immediate prize. For the embattled Congress, the civic polls offer a chance to do two things at once. First, by keeping a degree of separation from the Uddhav–Raj combine, it can strengthen its own organisational sinews, which have atrophied after years of playing junior partner. Secondly, it can allow the BJP–Shinde Sena and the Thackeray cousins to polarise the Marathi vote between them, leaving Congress to position itself as a ‘third pole.’ Such a strategy is particularly tempting in Mumbai. A tie-up with outfits like Prakash Ambedkar’s Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) could help Congress consolidate minority, Dalit and tribal voters, constituencies it believes are more reliably mobilised without the ideological baggage of Thackeray’s Sena (UBT). Severing or loosening ties with Shiv Sena (UBT) would also simplify Congress’s messaging ahead of assembly elections elsewhere. In states such as West Bengal and Tamil Nadu, where polls loom next year, the party has historically preferred alliances that allow it to emphasise secular credentials and oppose the BJP without accommodating overtly Hindu nationalist partners. Mixed Signals The Congress’ internal signals, however, are mixed. When talk of a Thackeray reunion resurfaced, Maharashtra Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar publicly welcomed it, arguing that Raj Thackeray’s limited but distinct vote share could help consolidate Marathi sentiment. Mumbai Congress chief Varsha Gaikwad was more circumspect, hinting that alliances with parties prone to street-level militancy deserved scrutiny. Wadettiwar swiftly clarified that decisions would rest with the party’s senior leadership, underscoring the centralised nature of Congress’s calculus. In Pune, meanwhile, senior leaders are reportedly engaged in discreet conversations with Ajit Pawar, whose defection from his uncle Sharad Pawar’s NCP last year still reverberates through state politics. The outline of a broader strategy is becoming visible. Congress appears content to let the BJP and Shinde’s Sena draw on non-Marathi and anti-dynasty voters, the Thackerays appeal to wounded Marathi pride while it quietly rebuilds among minorities and lower-caste groups. Mumbai Approach Mumbai’s demography lends some plausibility to this approach. Alongside its Marathi core, the city hosts millions of migrants from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand, a constituency that has increasingly gravitated towards the BJP. Raj Thackeray’s strident rhetoric against North Indians, once electorally potent, now risks narrowing his appeal and complicating Uddhav Thackeray’s efforts to broaden his base. None of this guarantees success for Congress. Playing the ‘third pole’ is a delicate art. Yet, the Congress, struggling for survival, has few illusions about sweeping victories. Its aim, for now, is more modest – it is to survive, to remain relevant, and to exploit the cracks opened by its rivals’ rivalries. In Maharashtra’s civic chessboard, that may be advantage enough.

Podcaster Ranveer Allahbadia in undertaking to SC says will maintain decency in shows

  • PTI
  • Apr 1
  • 3 min read

ree

New Delhi: Podcaster Ranveer Allahbadia on Tuesday filed an undertaking in the Supreme Court saying he would maintain decency in his "The Ranveer Show".


A bench of Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh was informed by senior advocate Abhinav Chandrachud, appearing for Allahbadia, that his client had filed an undertaking in compliance with the direction of the court and joined the case's investigation and recorded his statements.


Chandrachud sought a modification of the top court's conditions asking Allahbadia to deposit his passport and said it affected his livelihood.


The senior counsel said Allahbadia had to travel abroad for interviewing different people which required holding several rounds of meetings.


The bench said if Allahbadia went abroad it was bound to affect the investigation and asked solicitor general Tushar Mehta, representing Maharashtra and Assam governments, about the time-frame to complete the probe.


Mehta said though he did not seek any instruction on the same, the investigation was likely to be over in two weeks.


The bench said it would consider Allahbadia's prayer for releasing the passport two weeks later.


In compliance with its March 3 direction, the court said Allahbadia had filed an undertaking saying he will maintain decency in his shows and not mention anything related to the cases against him.


The bench observed Allahbadia's affidavit said he had joined the investigation on March 7 and recorded his statements before the investigating officers of the cases registered by the police in Maharashtra and Assam.


The counsel for Youtuber Ashish Chanchlani, who was also booked following the controversy, said his client too had joined the probe but sought all the FIRs against him be clubbed and transferred to one police station.


Chandrachud pointed out Allahbadia made a similar prayer in his plea before the top court and the practice was to transfer all other FIRs to the place where it was first registered.


"In this case, the first FIR was lodged at Mumbai," he said.


The bench asked both Allahbadia and Chanchlani to wait for two more weeks before it considered the prayer for clubbing the FIRs on the next hearing and posted the matter on April 21.


The top court had on March 3 allowed Allahbadia to resume his podcast "The Ranveer Show" subject to maintaining "morality and decency" and making it suitable for viewers of all ages.


Allahbadia, popularly known as BeerBiceps, was booked for his comments on parents and sex on comic Samay Raina's YouTube show "India's Got Latent".


The apex court had initially restrained Allahbadia from airing any programme of his podcast which had a direct or an indirect bearing on the merits of the sub-judice cases he was involved in.


The top court had also expanded the scope of the proceedings and directed the Centre to come up with a draft regulatory mechanism on social media content.


The bench had asked Mehta to deliberate and suggest such a regulatory mechanism which did not impinge upon the right of free speech and expression but was "effective enough to ensure the parameters of such a fundamental right in Article 19 (4) of the Constitution".


Any draft regulatory mechanism, the court had said, could then be brought in the public domain to invite suggestions from all the stakeholders before taking a legislative or judicial measure on the subject.


On February 18, the top court granted interim protection from arrest to Allahbadia while calling his comments "vulgar" and saying he had "dirty mind" which put the society to shame.


Aside from Allahbadia and Raina, others named in the case in Assam are comics Chanchlani, Jaspreet Singh and Apoorva Makhija.

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