Siddaramaiah firm on Banu Mushtaq inaugurating Mysuru Dasara | Powertrip #116

Welcome to this week’s Powertrip, a political newsletter exclusively curated for TNM and NL subscribers by Dhanya Rajendran, Pooja Prasanna, and Shabbir Ahmed. After BJP leaders and right-wing groups in Karnataka objected to author Banu Mushtaq opening the Mysuru Dasara saying she is a Muslim, TNM has learnt that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah refused to budge. CEC Gyanesh Kumar’s press conference on Rahul Gandhi’s allegations of voter roll manipulation has drawn heavy criticism from all quarters, leaving the BJP embarrassed. Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar raised eyebrows when he sang the RSS anthem in the Assembly, but Congress insiders say it was a calculated suggestion from a few of his advisors..Inside TrackExclusive stories, for your eyes only.Politics flares over Dasara pick, but Banu Mushtaq gets CM’s firm nodThe announcement that International Booker Prize winner Banu Mushtaq will inaugurate this year’s Mysuru Dasara has set off a storm. BJP leaders and right-wing groups have objected saying a Muslim should not open the state’s grandest cultural celebration. But Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, TNM has learnt, has refused to budge. He has said Mushtaq was chosen because she brought the Booker home and made Karnataka proud.The decision was taken at a Dasara High Power Committee meeting on June 26 at the Vidhana Soudha. Around the table were ministers of Tourism, Kannada and Culture, Urban Development and Home, along with secretaries and MLAs from Mysuru and Chamarajanagar, including those from the BJP. According to a source who was in the room, Siddaramaiah made it clear he wanted a woman to inaugurate Dasara this year. Two names came up. Mushtaq’s name won by a clear majority.After the controversy broke out, the CM reportedly said that in 2017, celebrated Kannada poet Nisar Ahmed had also been invited to inaugurate Dasara, and it was not a communal issue at the time. So there is no need to give in this time around too. .CEC PC leaves BJP red-faced, Gyanesh Kumar told not to escalateChief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s press conference, meant to counter Rahul Gandhi’s allegations of voter roll manipulation and the Bihar SIR process, has drawn heavy fire. Critics across the board said it sounded less like a neutral clarification and more like an echo of the ruling party’s line. What is striking is that the unease is not confined to the opposition. Top BJP leaders too are unhappy with how the presser played out.According to sources, the government had given an in-principle nod for a clarification. But the format and tone of that response had not been settled. After the briefing, feedback reaching the BJP leadership suggested that the CEC’s remarks diminished the dignity of his office and did little to calm suspicions of malpractice.The fallout has been swift. Gyanesh Kumar has been advised not to escalate the matter any further. There will be ‘course correction’ done appropriately now. Any new allegations, he has been told, will be handled legally and through the office of Home Minister Amit Shah..DKS’s song sparks strategy questions, Siddaramaiah treads carefullyLast week, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar surprised many in the Assembly when he broke into a few lines of the RSS anthem ‘Namaste Sada Vatsale Matribhume’. While the move raised eyebrows publicly, Congress insiders say it was not a slip of the tongue but a calculated suggestion from a few of his advisors. The idea, they say, was to soften the Congress image and draw in more voters from majority communities.But inside the party, Shivakumar’s choice has sparked unease. Some leaders pushed for a course correction. The plan was subtle: plant a question with reporters speaking to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, prompting him to sidestep controversy by instead reciting a few lines from Basavanna’s vachanas, something he has often done in the past.Although some Congress members saw this as a way to neutralise Shivakumar’s move, Siddaramaiah was wary. He reportedly felt that responding this way could be read as an open rift between him and his deputy. For now, he has held back, keeping the Basavanna card in reserve in case the issue threatens to escalate further..Adani-Ambani not bhai bhai?Delhi is abuzz that the raids on Anil Ambani’s house and now the SIT on Anant Ambani’s Vantara are a message from the government that all’s not well. And that this is because Adani believes his billionaire friends had a hand in some of the things going against him in America. We hope to have a special Powertrip soon on this..Zero HourA political story of public importance.In Modi’s India, citizenship is a test you may never pass.The government wants its most vulnerable citizens to produce documents that prove citizenship but won’t say what that proof might be..PowermovesTop 5 political storiesAgainst God’s men: A nun, a bishop, and the trial of India’s Catholic ChurchOpinion: Will the BJP’s ‘Tamil Candidate’ strategy work against the DMK stronghold?Why an invite to Banu Mushtaq to open Dasara festival sparked Hindutva fury in Karnataka Former IAS officer alleges Pawan Kalyan misused Dy CM office for gains from movieOpinion: How a policy reversal erased progress for the vulnerable Chenchu tribe in Telangana

Siddaramaiah firm on Banu Mushtaq inaugurating Mysuru Dasara | Powertrip #116

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