A FRIEND IN NEED...Old school friends usually reunite over chai and nostalgia, but Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his mate from B.N. School in Vadnagar, Gujarat, Asgarali Vohra, had more urgent business when they met at the PM’s residence in Delhi on September 8. Vohra, 81, who now lives in Mumbai, sought Modi’s intervention and a CBI probe into a land grab case involving a 2,810 sq. m. plot he bought in Bhayander in 1989. He alleged the plot was encroached upon in 2011 using forged documents by two builders, one of whom he linked to BJP MLA Narendra Mehta. An FIR was registered in 2015, but nothing came of it. But after the meeting in Delhi, Mehta gave up his claim on September 15, and Vohra got back his land. Moral of the story: never lose touch with old school friends.WHAT’S IN AN ACRONYM? CHOOSE YOUR PDA With the 2027 assembly election creeping up in Uttar Pradesh, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav’s ingenious acronym, ‘PDA’, shorthand for ‘Pichhda, Dalit, Alpsankhyak’ electoral coalition, has become fair game for his rivals. BJP state poll in-charge Vinod Tawde has recast it as “Paraya Dhan Apna (Someone else’s money is ours)”, while deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya calls it “Parivar Development Authority”, to take a dig at the Yadav family. BJP ally and Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party chief Om Prakash Rajbhar has turned it into an election taunt, recalling his ex-ally’s “Pehle (first)” defeat in 2017, “Dobara (again)” in 2022, and predicting another one “Aage (going forward)” in 2027. But Akhilesh is undeterred, and is even expanding the PDA. The ‘A’ now embraces ‘Agade’ (upper castes), Adivasis and ‘Aadhi aabadi’ (women), while the ‘P’ is wooing the Brahmins. ‘P’, the SP chief says, can also be for ‘Pandit’.PRINCIPAL NAIDU Some Andhra Pradesh IAS officers are beginning to feel like schoolkids before the headmaster. Every three months, they have to endure a two-day collectors’ conference where CM N. Chandrababu Naidu reviews the state’s progress and, just as closely, their own. In a hall packed with ministers, the chief secretary and even junior officials, slow-moving files can invite a public dressing down. Last week came a fresh rule—no mobile phones. Naidu had noticed that some officers were scrolling a tad too much rather than paying full attention at the marathon meetings.NITISH JANATA DAL? JD(U) working president Sanjay Jha wants Nitish Kumar’s name formally embedded in the party’s identity. On September 13, Bihar unit president Umesh Kushwaha also backed the idea, saying the Janata Dal of today is synonymous with the former Bihar CM. The JD(U), which once drew strength from the idea of a united political formation, now appears to believe that Nitish’s name is the stronger adhesive. It’s an intriguing turn of events for the ex-CM too, after spending years cautioning against personality-driven politics.GARBA STAYS SECULAR Navratri politics has arrived early in Maharashtra. The Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) doesn’t want Muslims at garba-dandiya venues, asking organisers to check Aadhaar cards to establish the ID of participants. Cabinet minister Nitesh Rane of the BJP backed the campaign, connecting garba venues to “love jihad” hunting grounds. But then came an awkward intervention from Amruta Fadanavis, wife of CM Devendra Fadnavis, who declared that the garba was an inclusive celebration and everyone should be welcome. The BJP, too, said it had sought no ban. And Rane now feels Muslims with “clean intentions” can join. The VHP, though, refuses to budge.—with Jumana Shah, Ashish Misra, Prasad Nichenametla, Amitabh Srivastava and Dhaval S. Kulkarni- EndsPublished By: Shyam BalasubramanianPublished On: Sep 18, 2026 19:48 IST
