SPEECH LIMITSTamil Nadu CM C. Joseph Vijay used the state assembly to settle more than one score with the DMK. While attacking the Opposition over corruption, he warned that freedom of speech should not become a licence to demean women, saying the law would act against those crossing the line. The target was obvious. Last month, Leader of Opposition Udhayanidhi Stalin had triggered a row after a remark during a Cauvery protest was widely interpreted as a double entendre involving actor Trisha, Vijay’s co-star and close friend. Udhayanidhi denied naming or insulting her, but was arrested over the controversy. Vijay did not name Udhayanidhi in the House either. He didn’t need to. His punchline was enough to deliver the blow.DESERT WINDS | PILOT, POONIA AND PUNJAB Punjab’s politics seems to have acquired a distinctly Rajasthani accent. With Sachin Pilot named AICC general secretary in-charge of Punjab, both national parties now have former Rajasthan state presidents supervising their Punjab operations—Pilot for the Congress and Satish Poonia for the BJP. There is precedent too. Ahead of the 2022 Punjab election, the Congress had Rajasthan leader Harish Chaudhary as its state in-charge, while the BJP’s Punjab campaign was overseen by another Rajasthan heavyweight, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat. And completing the desert-state connection is Punjab Governor Gulab Chand Kataria, himself a veteran Rajasthan politician. So, while Punjab’s leaders fight for Punjab, the political minders increasingly seem to arrive from across the Rajasthan border.WAKEUP CALL The Telangana assembly saw a shower of accusations ahead of its monsoon session, as CM Revanth Reddy claimed his predecessor and Leader of Opposition K. Chandrashekar Rao drew Rs 1.24 crore in salary over 1,000 days while largely confined to his farmhouse. This, even as the government spent Rs 21 crore on his security, bullet-proof vehicles et al. As the Bharat Rashtra Samithi protested Congress’s 1,000 days in office, Revanth called on his partymen to demand KCR’s resignation. At a TPCC rally, workers carried posters of KCR as Kumbhakarna, declaring that the ‘K’ in KCR stood for the mythological character who slept six months.SUCCESSION SEE-SAW Ever since Akash Anand was declared Mayawati’s political heir in December 2023, he has been removed, reinstated, expelled and brought back. On September 3, he got a third demotion in just over two years as the BSP chief removed her 31-year-old nephew as Chief National Coordinator, saying he still needed greater political maturity. Reports had suggested he would help select candidates for the 2027 Uttar Pradesh polls, something Mayawati was reportedly unhappy about. Adding to the intrigue, she introduced Akash’s younger brother Ishan Anand to party leaders.POWER QUEUE Bihar has had two chief ministers since the assembly polls in November 2025: Nitish Kumar took oath in November, and Samrat Choudhary succeeded him this April. Yet the queue, it seems, has not shortened. At the LJP (Ram Vilas) office in Patna on September 4, national general secretary and MLA Raju Tiwari made the next claim public. With Chirag Paswan sitting nearby, he spoke of the party’s resolve to make Chirag the next CM. Two days later, Tejashwi Yadav began counting the claimants within the NDA. Samrat’s elevation was meant to settle one succession question. Instead, the chief minister’s chair has begun to resemble a waiting room.—with Rohit Parihar, Prasad Nichenametla, Ashish Misra, Avaneesh Mishra and Amitabh Srivastava- EndsPublished By: Shyam BalasubramanianPublished On: Sep 12, 2026 15:11 IST
