DailyOh! A new TS Rawat as Uttarakhand CM, to when Didi cooked veggies in Bengal village

What is in a name? The Uttarakhand CM was TS Rawat until yesterday and it is TS Rawat today. Till yesterday, it was Trivendra Singh Rawat. Today, it is Tirath Singh Rawat. The outgoing CM has said that he will continue to work as a BJP activist and obey the orders given by the party high command. The party high command has ordered the other TS Rawat — Tirath Singh Rawat — to be the CM of Uttarakhand. He was sworn-in as the ninth chief minister of the state that goes to polls next year, by Governor Baby Rani Maurya.

Meanwhile, in a state that goes to polls next month, there has been quite some name-calling. As the election campaign heats up in Bengal, Union Minister Giriraj Singh has called Mamata Banerjee a ‘Chunavi Hindu’, or one who is Hindu only because of the elections. This comes a day after her public rally in Nandigram on Tuesday where Didi recited the Chandi Paath, saying that she is a Hindu and warning BJP against playing the communal card. One could follow any religion in India, irrespective of the elections. Besides earning the moniker of ‘Chunavi Hindu’, Didi also became a ‘chaiwali’, serving tea in paper cups to those around her at a local tea stall in Nandigram.

#WATCH: West Bengal CM @MamataOfficial serves tea to everyone at a tea stall in #Nandigram. #MamataBanerjee #WestBengal | (@PoulomiMSaha) pic.twitter.com/hNmjeYiYJI

— IndiaToday (@IndiaToday) March 9, 2021

Not the first time serving tea or wielding the ladle for the West Bengal CM. Did you know Didi once cooked vegetables at a tribal village in Bolpur, Birbhum? On a surprise visit to the village in December last year, not only did Didi help a local woman, Rama Bagdi, cook vegetables, but also shared her tips and recipes with the womenfolk in the village. Chai, of course, had to be a part of the sojourn and she served herself and others at the adjacent chai stall of Babu Bagdi. Before she left, Mamata also discussed the problems of the tribal people and promised to resolve them. BJP national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya had back then dismissed it all as “drama”.

Politics and elections do lead to a lot of name-callings. Amidst the name-calling, Mamata Banerjee led a padyatra and walked to file her nomination papers today in Nandigram.

Didi can woo voters, but what of her party members who seem to be rapidly deserting her? In yet another defection, TMC MLA Gauri Shankar Dutta joined the BJP in Kolkata on Wednesday. Acing the wooing game, however, is the BJP that also managed to rope in Bengali actors Rajshree Rajbanshi and Bonny Sengupta into the party.

West Bengal will go to polls in eight phases from March 27 to April 29. Tamil Nadu also goes to poll in the same period, on April 6. The state is seeing a lot of pre-poll alliances with the parties breaking old ties and making new ones. The latest on the list is actor-turned-politician Vijayakanth, whose party Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK) snapped its alliance with partner AIADMK on Tuesday after the latter "refused to allot the number of seats that were sought."

True to his inimitable style, Vijayakanth burst crackers “celebrating” the break-up. He also was quick in reaching out to the other actor-turned-politician — Kamal Hassan — today for a discussion on a possible alliance with Hassan’s Makkal Needhi Maiam. After all, elections are a time of action and not acting in time might leave you disadvantaged.

In more news on leaders walking out, veteran Congress leader PC Chacko from the neighbouring state Kerala, which is also going to polls on April 6, announced today that he has quit the party and sent his resignation letter to Sonia Gandhi. He has expressed his displeasure over the running of the party in the state and has said “you can't run a party with one central character.” Clearly, there has been a gap in communication and dialogue between the party higher-ups and the lower-downs in the state.

One dialogue that is set to happen is the first Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, also known as the Quad leaders' virtual summit, on March 12. While ministerial-level meetings have been held before, this is the first time that the leaders of the Quad nations — Indian PM Narendra Modi, Australian PM Scott Morrison, Japanese PM Japan Yoshihide Suga and US President Joe Biden — will meet formally. What will the leaders discuss? “Bilateral” and “global” issues of “shared interest”. They will also exchange views on practical areas of cooperation towards maintaining a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific region, according to a statement by MEA.

The idea of the Quadrilateral or Quad was formed soon after the tsunami that rocked the Indian shores in 2004. Then US President Geroge Bush proposed an international coalition on December 29, 2004, between the US, India, Japan and Australia to coordinate the massive rescue and rehabilitation efforts required. While their immediate mission had ended soon and the coalition handed over the charge to the UN by mid-January 2005, it led to the birth of the Quadrilateral. After lying dormant all these years with semi-regular information exchanges and military drills between member countries, the Quad has finally been resurrected.

This brings us to the Word Of The Day — Quadrilateral. A flat shape with four straight sides is called a quadrilateral in geometry. It could be to represent a square, rectangle or any other shape as long as it has four sides. It originates from the late Latin word quadrilaterus, from Latin word quadri, meaning four and latus meaning side.

Four sides to a quadrilateral, but how many were on the Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar’s side today? 55 MLAs. For what? To defeat the no-confidence motion against the NDA government in Haryana led by Khattar, moved by the Congress. The motion received only 32 votes in favour and 55 votes against it, and stood defeated. The Opposition required 45 votes to win the motion in the 90-seat Assembly. Two seats are vacant.

As of now, BJP and its alliance partner Jananayak Janata Party (JJP) together hold 56 seats in the Assembly along with the support of six independents. Politics is a tricky game as you can never be sure of the sides backing you. Yesterday, senior JJP MLA Devender Singh Babli urged his party to withdraw support to the government over farmers' issues. “The people will beat us with sticks. We will need to get iron armour and helmets to protect ourselves," he had said. However, he did add that he will "support the stand of the government against the no-confidence motion." The Opposition, meanwhile, was hoping that independent MLAs along with some JJP MLAs vote will against the government. The hopes clearly were dashed. 

One can hope, but what will be, will be. If you thought politics was a strange thing, you ought to watch the thriller Stranger Things on Netflix. While following politics is thrilling, watching Stranger Things is bone-chilling. So take our recommendation and watch Stranger Things for a nail-biting and bone-chilling binge.

What is more bone-chilling than the supernatural series? It is, of course, the corona. The virus seems to be showing no signs of leaving us soon. However, the vaccination drive is in full swing with our neighbour Pakistan all set to receive 45 million doses of ‘Indian-made’ vaccine under the United GAVI alliance, according to Pakistan’s Federal Secretary National Health Services, Regulation and Coordination Aamir Ashraf Khawaja.

Staying on Pakistan, Pakistan International Airlines' aircraft-shaped balloons have found their way into Jammu and Kashmir, and the picture has left the internet in splits.

Whether you are in India, or Pakistan, or anywhere else in the world, you are not safe till you have been vaccinated. So don’t take a chance. Wear your mask. We can tell you to stay safe, but who will tell Kareena Kapoor Khan, who “can’t wait” to head to the salon for a hair makeover? You can pray for her safety, if you pray. Else hope for the best for her.

Stay safe.

We will see you tomorrow.

Also Read: Nobody says the M-word