Glasshouse

A PROJECT DEAR TO YOGI

With all the alarm over excessive mobile phone use and screen exposure among children, the Yogi Adityanath government has decided it’s time for a pushback. The state’s remedy—get students back to reading, which would also improve their falling language and comprehension skills. Newspaper reading will henceforth be an integral part of the learning process in 150,000 government-run primary and secondary schools, with the administration supplying the dailies regularly. The government is also reviving the DEAR—Drop Everything And Read—campaign, under which students and teachers will spend dedicated time every week reading books of their choice. Students who read the most books will be rewarded, with the top reader in each school named ‘Champion Reader of the Year’. In Uttar Pradesh, the battle against the mobile screen may now begin with the morning newspaper.

PATNA’S BUNGALOW WARS | RABRI DIGS IN

The Bihar government wants former chief minister Rabri Devi to vacate 10, Circular Road, the government bungalow she has been staying in since 2006. But Rabri, wife of Rashtriya Janata Dal founder Lalu Prasad, is in no mood to shift, although another house has been allotted to her. On May 30, after the latest eviction notice, she dared Bihar CM Samrat Choudhary to move her out by force. For Rabri, who is also the leader of the Opposition in the Bihar Legislative Council, the bungalow is more than just an address; it has borne witness to all the successes and upheavals in RJD politics for two decades. With police barricades in place and neither side showing signs of backing down, 10, Circular Road is now becoming a political flashpoint.

AUSTERITY CHAMP

Few NDA allies have embraced Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s austerity call as earnestly as Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief Chandrababu Naidu. The Andhra Pradesh CM quickly halved his convoy as a fuel-saving measure, and then went a step further—the TDP’s annual Mahanadu conclave was a virtual event this year. The 2026 edition had been planned with 500,000 partymen attending. Instead, top TDP leaders converged at the party’s swanky new HQ at Mangalagiri, near capital Amaravati, and the deliberations were streamed live at 1,875 Mahanadu clusters across the state.

NO VACANCY

For months, Uttarakhand BJP circles had been buzzing with rumours over whether CM Pushkar Singh Dhami would remain the party’s face for 2027. The BJP leadership appears to have closed the door on the subject for any potential challengers. During his Uttarakhand visit, BJP president Nitin Nabin not only praised Dhami’s government but also explicitly declared that the party would return to power in 2027 under his leadership. He even spoke of a ‘Dhami model’. With the election just a year away, Delhi seems keen to ensure that the party doesn’t lose focus discussing possible challengers.

PAWAR CONNECTION

There was one name in the BJP candidates list for the Maharashtra legislative council polls that caught the eye of a lot many people. Arun Lakhani, the party nominee from the Wardha-Chandrapur-Gadchiroli seat, is soon to be linked to the Pawar family by marriage. This month, Lakhani’s son Sarang will marry Revati, daughter of Opposition NCP (SCP) MP Supriya Sule, and granddaughter of party patriarch Sharad Pawar. Political observers will be watching to see if the wedding mandap becomes a venue for backchannel talks.

—with Ashish Misra, Amitabh Srivastava, Prasad Nichenametla, Avaneesh Mishra and Dhaval S. Kulkarni