Chatterbox: Too few joint rallies by Priyanka and Dimple?

Now that the elections are over it can be asked: Why weren’t there more joint rallies by Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Dimple Yadav? The Congress and the Samajwadi Party (SP) were, after all, in alliance in Uttar Pradesh and the two women could have represented a progressive women-power show in many more constituencies than they showed up in. The spoiler was the presence of Jaya Bachchan. It was Amitabh Bachchan, who gave Priyanka away at her wedding despite some distance between the families even then. But now, the actor is the brand ambassador for Gujarat and the prime minister’s Swachh Bharat campaign and his wife is an SP member of Parliament. The Gandhi family probably prefers to keep a distance from mercurial political figures. It was Rajiv Gandhi who brought Amitabh Bachchan to politics.

Bid to remove TN Assembly Speaker is fresh trouble for Palaniswami govt

The Tamil Nadu Assembly is seeing a fresh move to remove the Speaker, and with the vertical split in the AIADMK, it could have unpredictable consequences. P Dhanapal was put in place by J Jayalalithaa. According to the faction headed by O Panneerselvam, he is a “traitor to  Jayalalithaa’s memory”. Opposition party DMK, which had given a notice to remove the Speaker, has been told that its earlier notice was not in proper format. It has since given a second notice. If the Panneerselvam faction, the DMK and other parties get together, they have a slight chance of unseating Dhanapal. This will be raised in the Assembly session that begins on March 16, the day Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami presents his Budget. If the Speaker is removed it will be an embarrassment to the Palaniswami government.