FLIPPED SCRIPTIn Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, where film stars are revered as demigods, politicians rarely risk prolonged friction. Telangana chief minister Revanth Reddy had once called ‘Icon Star’ Allu Arjun’s conduct “inhumane” after a stampede at the premiere of Pushpa 2 in Hyderabad left a woman dead and her young son critically injured. Arjun was arrested and spent a night in jail, triggering a backlash from fans and even Opposition leaders. Six months on, there was a twist in the plot. Reddy handed Arjun the Best Actor award for the same film at the inaugural state-backed Gaddar Film Awards. And now he‘s also inaugurated the actor’s family-owned Allu Cinemas, hailing him as a star destined for Hollywood. “Thaggede-le”—Arjun can now repeat his famous “won’t back down” dialogue from Pushpa.WHO’S NEXT IN BIHAR | MIXED SIGNALS With Bihar CM Nitish Kumar set to step down and the field wide open on a possible successor, even minute signals are being analysed to death. During the recent Samriddhi Yatra, Nitish put his hand on BJP leader and deputy CM Samrat Choudhary’s shoulder saying: “He will handle everything now.” Enough for a whisper campaign suggesting that Nitish had given his blessings. But then, on March 19, the other deputy CM, Vijay Sinha, received a similar pat on the back at a meeting in Lakhisarai. Which is when the script started blurring. And then someone remembered that Nitish had done this with another ex-deputy, RJD chief Tejashwi Yadav, and everyone knows how that ended.NO PRACHARAKS FOR BJP In the RSS-BJP ecosystem, some signals are only for the knowing eyes. For nearly two years now, the Sangh under general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale has quietly frozen the deputation of pracharaks to the BJP. Eight key states still lack a full-time general secretary (organisation), despite the party pushing for more appointees. Sources say that within the Sangh there is growing unease over pracharaks being drawn into the political vortex, diluting their ideological core and, worse, fuelling political ambitions. Hosabale’s message is clear—we support the party, but we don’t want to become its staffing arm.ALL THE BEST On March 15, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee fired off a sharp letter to chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, protesting the EC’s administrative reshuffle in the poll-bound state. At the end, she wrote: “All the best.” When flummoxed reporters asked her why, she said the Commission was doing as it pleased, so she wished it luck. Somewhere between courtesy and provocation, the comment was more a ‘do your worst, khela hobe’ dare, say insiders.PRIVILEGED TRESPASS BJP parliamentarian Nishikant Dubey found himself in an unholy row after his Bhimashankar temple run in Pune on March 14. The reason? The temple, which houses a jyotirlinga of Lord Shiva, has been closed for repairs since January, with devotees not allowed darshan even on Mahashivaratri day. So, who let Dubey in? The public outrage led to the district administration ordering a probe and asking the temple trust for an explanation. But then VIP privilege has never been a matter of secret in this country.—with Anilesh S. Mahajan, Prasad Nichenametla, Amitabh Srivastava, Arkamoy Datta Majumdar and Dhaval S. Kulkarni- EndsPublished By: Shyam BalasubramanianPublished On: Mar 27, 2026 20:22 IST
