Now that the Supreme Court has paved the way for the Ayodhya case hearing to resume on October 29, the BJP grapevine is buzzing with speculation that UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath may be asked to launch a Ram Mandir movement 2.0 to build momentum for an early favourable judgement on the vexed mosque-temple dispute.

But to do this, he will have to first resign from the post of chief minister. Apparently efforts are on to persuade him to do so, largely because many in the BJP feel that Yogi must be removed as CM for the party to recover lost ground in UP.

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The BJP top brass has been scratching its head for a smooth exit for Yogi from the CM’s post without turning him into a dissident. Complaints about his lack of administrative skill, his open bias in favour of those belonging to his Thakur caste and his failure to control law and order are mounting rapidly.

But like in Rajasthan, where the leadership was afraid to remove another unpopular CM, Vasundhara Raje for fear that she would split the party and damage its electoral prospects, the BJP has been hesitating to ease Yogi out. He may be a poor CM but he is a popular Hindutva icon with a solid following in UP and other states.

The suggestion to revive the Ram temple movement under Yogi’s leadership presents the party top brass with a face saver. It gets the controversial CM out of the hot seat and gives the BJP an opportunity to play to his strength as an icon in saffron. The hope is that by keeping him busy with the temple issue, Yogi will stay out of mischief.

Meanwhile, the BJP top brass is trying to do damage control in UP on the party front as well because of complaints against powerful organizing secretary in the state, Sunil Bansal. Apparently, like Yogi Adityanath, Bansal has been stepping on many toes and interfering in transfers and postings.

Amit Shah has put trusted lieutenant, general secretary Bhupendra Yadav in charge of UP. In effect, this clips Bansal’s wings.

Chest-thumping Swamy

Guess who is claiming credit for the victory of India-friendly Ibrahim Solih in the recent election in neighbouring Maldives? Subramanium Swamy! The day the results were announced, he tweeted: I have made a contribution to India’s national security by restoring rationality in bilateral relations in the neighbourhood – Sri Lanka and Maldives.

A few weeks before the elections in Maldives, Swamy had nearly created a diplomatic incident through another tweet in which he urged India to invade Maldives if the polls are rigged.

Apparently, the tweet came after he met former Maldives President Mohammed Nasheed in Colombo and discussed the upcoming elections in Maldives. Solih is Nasheed’s right hand man and was fielded as the presidential nominee of a joint opposition front against the ruling party.

Of course, the result in Maldives is a big relief to India because outgoing President Yameen was very pro-China and had mortgaged vital strategic assets to Beijing. His decisions were considered to be detrimental to India’s security as China was given facilities to move its naval ships close to the Indian coastline. This is why New Delhi was anxious about the election result.

Swamy claims in his tweets that after he urged India to invade Maldives if the polls were rigged, Modi ordered the stepping up of Indian naval presence around the island nation. He says this gave the people the courage to vote against the Yameen regime.

The foreign office is probably not pleased about Swamy’s boasts. But on Twitter, the maverick BJP MP is a hero among his followers who have been praising him for protecting India’s national interest.

The upshot of the election result is that Modi is believed to be planning a visit to Maldives later this year to repair the damaged relationship with an important neighbor.

Ruffled feathers

Correspondents who cover the defence beat are upset that Nirmala Sitharaman preferred to brief BJP beat reporters rather than them on the Rafale controversy.

Her first major briefing on the subject was held at the BJP headquarters, not the defence ministry or her residence. It was an informal, off-the-record background briefing and only BJP beat correspondents were invited.

There are no secrets in this era of social media. Defence ministry beat correspondents soon found out that Nirmala was holding an off-the-record press meet on Rafale. Naturally, there was a mad scramble to get in.

Unfortunately for Nirmala, the briefing was overtaken by controversy because of a misplaced decision to evict two reporters working for a foreign news agency. One was a foreigner. The other was an Indian. Both were asked to leave.

The story went viral on international media, earning the Modi government unnecessary criticism and suspicion of trying to hide information.

Since BJP beat correspondents weren’t equipped to ask relevant questions, it was left to the defence ministry reporters to probe for proper answers.

Nirmala brushed them aside and pointedly responded only to the political correspondents.

This only upset defence ministry beat reporters further. Now poor Nirmala finds herself at the receiving end of criticism from the international press as well as correspondents who cover her ministry on a regular basis.

Rethink in Congress?

Is the Congress cooling off on the proposal for an alliance with the BSP in Madhya Pradesh? Recent reports from the state suggest that the favourable response to the new Hindu Congress from the upper castes and OBC groups has prompted the party to have second thoughts about trying up with Mayawati.

A section of the MP Congress leadership feels that an alliance with the BSP may upset the upper castes who are on the warpath against the BJP for the recent amendments to the SC/ST Act which overturned a Supreme Court ruling diluting the more stringent provisions of the Act.

The Congress is wooing the upper castes in MP in a determined manner. The new Hindu look of the party is part of this effort. Obviously Mayawati senses a change in the attitude of the Congress. That is why she rushed to cement an alliance with former Congress leader Ajit Jogi’s rebel party in Chhattisgarh.