Powertrip #42: Tamil Nadu BJP has no takers and who is unhappy with Sunil Kanagolu

Welcome to Powertrip, a newsletter exclusively curated for TNM subscribers by Dhanya Rajendran, Shabbir Ahmed, and Pooja Prasanna. In this issue, we look at how Tamil Nadu BJP has no takers, who are unhappy with Congress strategist Sunil Kanugolu and Siddaramaiah’s clever move..Inside TrackExclusive stories, for your eyes only.So who is unhappy with Sunil Kanugolu and whyA few Delhi-based journalists and political watchers have been tweeting about a white paper against Congress strategist Sunil Kanugolu, circulated by the Congress itself. We have read this 3-page white paper and it was probably made during the Telangana elections. People close to Sunil say it was floated by a former employee. It does seem to be a possibility as the white paper has granular details of employees at Mindshare Analytics, the company run by Sunil.The white paper makes many allegations, including that there are people in Sunil’s team who support the BJP’s ideology. But that’s really no surprise as most political strategy companies in India are offshoots of Prashant Kishor’s IPAC. Kishor himself has worked with so many parties, sometimes with archrivals – like the YSRCP and TDP. The white paper has more allegations, but they are strictly in the realm of allegations for now.Anyway, the story here is that the white paper has resurfaced. According to journalists we spoke to, it is being recirculated by at least two people working with the Gandhi siblings. Now what could their motive be? It is clear they aren’t pleased with Sunil, but some people point out that it’s also because Sunil has been giving a thumbs down for some of the election issues picked by the Gandhis and that has led to the unhappiness.Meanwhile, another strategist and former IAS officer, Sashikanth Senthil, has told the Congress that he wants to contest from Thiruvallur. Sashikanth is in charge of the Congress war room.The magic numberWhile English and Hindi channels are rife with experts who are enthusiastic to declare that the elections are all but over and that the BJP’s megawatt victory is guaranteed, INDIA alliance leaders claim that’s just BJP trying to ace the perception battle.Meanwhile, the Congress’ current strategy is to focus on winning 100 seats by itself across the country and ensure their allies win another 150-160. In the strategy meetings, it has been pointed out that the alliance has to ensure the BJP is restricted to 270 seats. Why 270? That’s because the Congress believes that once the BJP is restricted to this number, parties like the BRS, TDP, and YSRCP would jump to the Congress’ side.“One reason why no one wants to take on the BJP is because they are all caught in legal cases. Once the BJP is weakened, they will have the courage to jump,” a Congress leader said. Wishful thinking or reasonable optimism?Siddaramaiah chooses to lose the battle to win the warSiddaramaiah is a shrewd politician who knows that you need to lose some battles in order to win the war. A recent example is the nominations to the Rajya Sabha. There were three seats coming up vacant in Karnataka for the party and the initial discussion was about giving one seat to each leader’s coterie – Kharge, Siddaramaiah, and DK Shivakumar. But later the Congress high command wanted one seat to be given to Ajay Maken, former Lok Sabha member. And who sacrificed? Siddaramaiah.The Karnataka CM had initially suggested his loyalist BL Shankar, a former MLC. He later informed the high command that Shankar could be accommodated in some other manner and Maken can be nominated instead. Did we use the word sacrifice? Strike that. Siddaramaiah, we hear, has made it amply clear that this concession he is making will be leveraged when it comes to candidate selection for the Lok Sabha elections. As far as the other Rajya Sabha nominees go, DK Shivakumar insisted that GC Chandrasekhar, a Vokkaliga leader, be renominated, while Kharge supported the renomination of Nasser Hussain.No AIADMK, BJP has no takers for seatsIn Tamil Nadu, the BJP is desperate to find people who will contest the Lok Sabha polls. The high command wants BJP state president Annamalai to contest from Karur or Coimbatore, but he is resisting it. The high command’s logic is that if Annamalai agrees to contest, it will give others the momentum. Most of the other leaders, including vice-presidents of the party, do not want to contest as polling even a decent number of votes is impossible without the AIADMK’s help.A BJP source also says that JP Nadda during his recent visit to Chennai expressed concerns that the AIADMK has broken ties. AIADMK is seen as a natural ally by the BJP but because of the constant needling by Annamalai and team, Edappadi Palaniswami said bye- bye. Nadda may want the AIADMK to come back into their fold, but an AIADMK leader says they will not, unless Annamalai backs down. And it is to showcase their aggression that they pulled in actor Gautami, who was with the BJP for 25 years, and Fathima Ali, who was in incharge of BJP’s South India Minority Morcha..Zero HourA political story of public importance.On the Defensive.How the military fell in line with Modi’s political project.PowermovesTop 5 political storiesElectoral Bonds: How much did political parties make? A break-upWhose reservation is it anyway? The Kapu question in Andhra Pradesh politicsCapital punishment in one, no trial in others: The story of three political murders in KeralaKaleshwaram cost to exceed Rs 1.4 lakh cr, likely corruption of Rs 2600 cr: CAG‘You are a descendant of Godse, Savarkar’: TN Speaker Appavu tells RN Ravi