Why Russia Today trolled Rahul Gandhi & DMK govt wants an image makeover: Powertrip #66

In this week’s Powertrip, a political newsletter exclusively curated for TNM subscribers by Dhanya Rajendran, Shabbir Ahmed, Nidheesh MK, and Pooja Prasanna, we look into why Russian state media is getting involved in India’s internal politics and the practical difficulties faced by Vijay’s big aspirations to hold a political conference. Meanwhile, the TN ruling party’s search for a PR whiz to give them an image makeover seems to be brewing some dissent. In Kerala, PM Modi’s carefully curated visit to Wayanad was deemed a success, and YS Sharmila doesn’t seem to be heading for a Rajya Sabha seat yet..Inside TrackExclusive stories, for your eyes onlyWhy did Russia Today troll Rahul Gandhi?Russian state owned TV news channel Russia Today’s India bureau is in a spot of trouble. RT India posted a video on their Instagram handle mocking Congress leader and Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi. The Congress immediately hit back and asked why RT India was getting involved in domestic politics and questioned whether the BJP was paying them for it.We made a few queries and sources say that the editorial lines taken by the social media handles of the channel can be attributed to its social media head, Ruslan Imaev. Ruslan, educated in Israel, relocated to India sometime in 2023. In recent times, RT’s X handle has gone all out portraying Western media as bad, with tweets supporting Trump, questioning Western media’s criticism of India, and more. In fact, the handle has got endorsements from right-wing troll handles. During Narendra Modi’s visit to Moscow in July; RT India had a tie up with Arnab Goswami’s Republic TV.Powertrip reached out to Petr Sizov, Press Secretary, Russian Embassy in India, but he declined to comment. The RT India team was also not available for comment. Vijay’s dream of big conference faces big hurdlesActor-turned-politician and Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) chief Vijay is planning a show of strength ahead of the 2026 Tamil Nadu Assembly elections. He wants to hold a massive state-level conference in September this year, inviting lakhs of supporters. But he is facing one big hurdle. His team is unable to find a venue to host the event. So why is finding a venue such a task?For the past two to three months, Vijay’s team was touring different parts of Tamil Nadu to decide on a venue and had managed to locate a place in Trichy that can house more than 5 lakh people.The buzz in Trichy is that there is one man who needs to be convinced to help Vijay’s team secure the venue – KN Nehru, the DMK’s strongman in the district. The venue owners apparently asked Vijay’s team to check with KN Nehru for his approval too, just out of courtesy. Even if he gives the green signal, there’s another glitch – TVK party sources say that a senior police officer from the district is apparently trying to create roadblocks. Therefore, seeking police permission, and traffic and crowd management for the event would be the next big task.Since the Trichy venue seems tricky, the team has expanded the search to Thanjavur, Coimbatore, Salem, and Erode. But getting private properties is proving to be difficult because the owners fear backlash from the DMK government. Sources say TVK has finally zeroed in on a property in Vikravandi in Villupuram district and discussions are underway to fix this as the venue.If nothing works out, all they can do is take the YMCA ground in Chennai, where around 10,000-20,000 people can gather. It cannot be the massive show of strength as Vijay wants.TN govt wants a troubleshooter for an image makeoverThere’s a buzz in Tamil Nadu’s political circles that the state government is scrambling to find a troubleshooter because things are not looking great publicity-wise. A series of law and order related issues like the Kallakurichi hooch tragedy and the murder of former BSP state president Armstrong have tarnished the government’s image, and with the Assembly elections coming up in 2026, they’re looking for someone who can offer sound advice and steer them through the storm.The one big name doing the rounds is former bureaucrat Ashok Vardhan Shetty, who was the eyes and ears of Kalaignar Karunanidhi when he was chief minister. A powerful bureaucrat who played a crucial role in various departments, including the Chief Minister’s Office, Rural Development and Panchayat Raj, and Municipal Administration, during the previous DMK regime, Shetty’s forte was successful implementation of special projects. So the state government wants to bring him back as a consultant or adviser.Sources say that his name has cropped up in internal meetings and that Sports Minister Udhayanidhi is keen on roping him in as an adviser. But there seems to be one set of bureaucrats opposing this idea. They don’t want a super boss who will advise the government and undermine them. Modi’s curated visit to WayanadPM Modi’s presence at the site of the devastating Wayanad landslides has become a matter of great publicity for the BJP in the state and beyond. And it would seem that George Kurian — one of the two Union Ministers from Kerala — had played the biggest hand in bringing Modi to Kerala.Though the other minister from the state, Suresh Gopi, has become the media face of the Kerala BJP over the past few months, George Kurian is handling the behind-the-scenes operations.We are told that after the landslides, Kurian prepared a brief on the disaster and approached Modi’s advisers and convinced them of the need for the PM to visit the site. Kurian had factored in that this was Rahul Gandhi’s former constituency and one that the Gandhi family aims to retain.He also planned Modi’s itinerary at Wayanad – none of the other district or state leaders of the BJP were involved in this process. It was only two days before the PM’s visit that the district leadership and the police even got to know about it.The landslide victims Modi met at the hospitals were also pre-selected. Kurian and team had suggested that Modi should not meet everyone but only select people with uniquely tragic stories to tell. These people were assigned a badge; the PM met only them.A video of Modi with a kid at a hospital in Wayanad had become quite viral. Kurian’s team had specifically identified the child for the PM to interact with.The BJP state unit is apparently very happy that Modi’s visit has had a positive impact on the party in the state and has let the national leadership know the same.No Rajya Sabha plans for Sharmila nowA section of Andhra media has been speculating that Congress state president Sharmila will be sent to the Rajya Sabha. She is in Delhi and has been meeting senior leaders, including AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge. But we learnt that the discussions were about organisational rejigs and not Rajya Sabha nomination.Sharmila had dissolved the old state committees after taking charge and has now given her list of names for the district committee and other office bearers to KC Venugopal. The announcement is expected within this week and Sharmila has asked for a robust team to rebuild the party in the state.Zero HourA political story of public importanceSEBI chief claims her firms went ‘dormant’. 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