Powertrip #41: The north-south divide in Congress and how Annamalai gains from media fights

Welcome to Powertrip, a newsletter exclusively curated for TNM subscribers by Dhanya Rajendran, Shabbir Ahmed, and Pooja Prasanna. In this issue, we talk about why Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge decided to do a no show at the southtaxmovement protest in Delhi, how Annamalai’s stock in the BJP is soaring after his attack against the media, and the political realignment in Andhra..Inside TrackExclusive stories, for your eyes only.The north-south divide in CongressAt a time when the Congress in Karnataka was facing many attacks from the BJP and JD(S), its protest against the lack of fiscal federalism has breathed new life into the party. What started with MP DK Suresh’s statement that south India will be forced to split from the rest of India has snowballed into the #southtaxmovement. While the protest has caught eyeballs in south India, it’s posing a problem for the Congress elsewhere.Top leaders confirmed that Congress leaders in north and west India have raised concerns that the campaign will alienate them and project the Congress as a south Indian party that stands against other states. This is the reason Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge did not attend the protest that was led by Siddaramaiah and his cabinet in New Delhi. Though Kharge is a leader from Karnataka, he is the national president and therefore the party decided that he should stay away from the protest. Not just that, spokespersons of the party who make TV appearances have also complained that the questions are becoming uncomfortable and they were at a loss as to how to support the south’s cause without upsetting the north. They have cautioned the Congress national leadership against endorsing the protest in any way. Annamalai’s boss happy he took on N RamDiscrediting the media – actually media that is not subservient to them – has been the BJP’s formula across the country. Recently, Tamil Nadu BJP President Annamalai made a perverse and derogatory comment about a TV news editor. So there are two parts to what happened next.The first is why a few press associations were initially reluctant to issue statements condemning Annamalai. That apparently was not because they feared Annamalai, but a few BJP leaders requested them not to do so and make Annamalai feel more important. The BJP leaders who called the association heads said that Annamalai translates every statement against him and ensures that the national leadership is aware of how he is prominent in the news cycle. Eventually, a protest was organised and many senior editors, including N Ram of The Hindu, Gunasekaran of Sun News, Nakkheeran Editor R Gopal, and Sathiyam TV anchor Aravind, joined.Now to the second part of the story. Immediately after the protest, Annamalai published a video ridiculing the editors at the protest, starting with N Ram. A BJP leader says that Annamalai informed the national leadership about the same and Amit Shah was quite happy that Annamalai forced even N Ram to come out to the streets to protest. Quite juvenile we would say – a troll video on an editor whose newspaper does actual journalism. If there is one kind of person that politicians should be wary of – that’s a real journalist. TDP lays down conditionsIn the past few weeks, several leaders of the YSRCP have quit, including C Ramachandraiah and Kurnool MP S Sanjeev Kumar. According to TDP sources, at least three more leaders, including two MLAs and one MP who have been given tickets by Jagan Mohan Reddy, will leave the party. In fact, one prominent MP and his wife may hold a press meet anytime soon to announce their dissatisfaction with Jagan’s leadership.TDP says all these people have been in conversations with them and their political strategy team, Showtime. However, it seems that the TDP is clearly telling disgruntled YSRCP leaders that they cannot be promised a ticket but will be accommodated in some way in the party. The party believes that positive opinion polls and the likelihood of an alliance with the BJP has strengthened its position as a result of which more YSRCP leaders are likely to drift to the TDP.Meanwhile, Showtime’s analysis on YS Sharmila’s re-entry into Andhra politics indicates that she and the Congress will split the Christian and Reddy votebank, which they believe will impact the YSRCP. Both Showtime and IPAC (the consultancy that handles YSRCP) are, however, not happy with the media attention that Sharmila is garnering (good or bad) and are planning strategies to counter it. But they know that Sharmila brings a lot of drama into the situation – woman in politics attacked, sibling rivalry, etc. – and topping that would be no mean task. Why Kumaranna is nervousThe JD(S) entered an alliance with the BJP in January this year. But a simple announcement of loyalty wasn’t enough for HD Kumaraswamy and he went many steps ahead to convince the BJP leadership that this time he was firmly with them. The leader even donned a saffron shawl at a protest, said ‘Jai Shri Ram’ in another event, and even apologised to rabble-rouser RSS leader Kalladka Prabhakar Bhat for misunderstanding him in the past. So why is Kumaraswamy going overboard with his devotion? Something that even Nitish Kumar – who has mastered the art of somersaults (Palturam, as they call him in Bihar) – does not do.We have been told that it’s because the number two man in the BJP – aka Amit Shah – still does not trust Kumaraswamy. So the story goes back to 2018 (note that we are calling it a story). It seems Kumaraswamy was campaigning in Mahalaxmi Layout in Bengaluru for the Assembly elections and then was not to be seen for an entire day. The buzz then was that Amit Shah had flown him to Delhi for talks and Kumaraswamy assured him that JD(S) would support the BJP and even the terms of the deal were discussed. However, post elections, Kumaraswamy promptly jumped into an alliance with the Congress. And Amit bhai never forgets or forgives. Just like Amit bhai is still making Chandrababu Naidu do the rounds (punishment for walking out of the NDA), he doesn’t trust Kumaraswamy. So this time, it was Modi who held talks directly with Deve Gowda and Kumaraswamy to seal the alliance deal.With a few BJP leaders claiming that Amit Shah will strike back at an opportune time, Kumaraswamy has decided to ensure his loyalty is stamped. But while the alliance, however short lived, is still in place, Kumaraswamy wants to make the most of it, not so much for the party but for himself and his son. He wants a place in the Modi Cabinet for himself and some position for his son Nikhil if the BJP comes back in 2024. Amit Shah apparently refused to give any such assurances and instead, in his typical style, asked Kumaraswamy to find a seat for Nikhil to first win an election..Zero HourA political story of public importance.A decade under Modi: Education spending declines, universities struggle with loans.A quick look at how the Modi government fared on strengthening education in India..PowermovesTop 5 political storiesIn Karnataka’s Mandya, JD(S) is Hindutva’s force multiplierKCR looks to bounce back with fight over Telangana's water rightsMadras HC refuses to quash hate speech case against BJP leader AnnamalaiWhy Kerala CPI(M)’s red carpet for foreign varsities has left SFI perplexed'Govt agencies weaponized’: TDP MP Jayadev Galla's farewell speech in Parliament