Scindia drama: Nephew makes life difficult for aunt Yashodhara Season of friendship

J yotiraditya Scindia’s defection from the Congress party took everyone by surprise including his two politician aunts — Vasundhara and Yashodhara Raje Scindia. While both were quick to welcome him “home” i.e. the BJP, Yasho is particularly impacted. The youngest daughter of Rajmata Vijaya Raje Scindia was until now the BJP face in Gwalior-Chambal region. Nephew Jyotiradiya's entry is set to make him the focus of BJP politics. Sensing the changed equations, Yasho is busy burying her differences with Shivraj Singh Chouhan who, incidentally, is getting set to return as chief minister of Madhya Pradesh.

BJP leaders think late Arun Jaitley had convinced Scindia to change sides but he did not live to see the outcome. The Scindia family has been close to Jaitley for decades. other faction-leaders in the state. Apparently Shivakumar was reluctant to “rescue” rebel Congress MLAs from Madhya Pradesh who were brought to Bangalore without having the formal designation of Karnataka party chief. the baggage of the Congress party and the communists. His advice seems to have started having an impact. The DMK didn’t even have a cursory talk with its allies before sending the nominees for the Rajya Sabha. CPI general secretary D. Raja was nursing a hope of returning to the Rajya Sabha with the help of the DMK. But he only came to know about the DMK’s own nominees when the list came out.

The writer is a keen observer of the goings-on in backrooms of power