Is BJP's search for new state leader in MP making Chouhan jittery?

Battle for state leadership
 

Has former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan's sudden activism got anything to do with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s search for a new state unit president? He recently courted arrest along with some farmer leaders protesting the urea crisis. Then he sat on dharna seeking justice for a rape victim. Some read that as an effort to convey to the party leadership at the centre that Madhya Pradesh needs a firebrand president. On his part, current state BJP president Rakesh Singh has been keeping a low profile. As things stand, the state unit seems divided into two groups. While one is rooting for Chouhan, the other is batting for Singh.

Another weight loss plan
 

Parliament on Tuesday organised a lecture on “effortless weight loss and diabetes prevention” for members. An advisory to MPs said that it was in “consonance with the Fit India programme”. The MPs were addressed by Dr J V Dixit, who highlighted “treatment/techniques for effortless weight loss, obesity, diabetes, anaemia and migraine,” the advisory said. Some members who attended the lecture including Bharatiya Janata Party‘s CR Patil said they have benefitted from Dixit’s “two-meals-a-day diet plan”. Dixit’s diet plan is quite popular in Maharashtra, and quite the rage on social media but it has also faced criticism from experts that it is not supported by scientific evidence. At an event last year, Nationalist Congress Party’s Supriya Sule had said all Maharashtrian weddings had a time slot during dinner for those who followed the Dixit diet plan.

Impatient aspirants
 

With the Delhi Assembly election just months away, there's a mad scramble among local leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party and municipal councillors in Delhi to solicit party tickets. Things came to such a pass that a senior party functionary had to step in and tick off councillors for lobbying for tickets — they were told "deserving candidates" would make the cut without much trouble. The party's sanyojaks (convenor) and vistaraks (membership drive in charges) from each constituency were also told to first resign from their organisational posts before throwing their hats into the ring. That was not enough to hold back hopefuls from flocking outside the offices of the various “power centres”.