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New Indian Express
2 days ago
- Politics
- New Indian Express
Keep state development above party politics
The pugnacious leader that he is, Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy manages to make it to the headlines often. He is also a shrewd politician who knows it takes two to tango when it comes to developing the state. As a Congressman, his instincts are in sync with that of his party on several issues. Operation Sindoor just happens to be one of those where sensitivity may serve better than sinew. His barbs against the Centre fly like missiles, and his repeated comparison between Indira Gandhi and Prime Minister Narendra Modi resonate with Congress supporters. The other day, he sought to know from the PM how many Rafale fighter aircraft were lost in Operation Sindoor. Politically speaking, he may have thought of bolstering party leader Rahul Gandhi's attacks on the Centre. What is unquestionable is that he went a step farther than even his leader. Defence matters can be tricky material to use for polemics, especially right after a war. Questions do need to be asked, but in a non-partisan way. Reddy may feel himself politically justified in attending Jai Hind rallies, a counter to the BJP's Tiranga rallies. It should be seen within the context of what should be an integrationist moment, though it is unfortunate that both the national parties appear to be politicising Operation Sindoor. It is time to support the armed forces in one voice at a time when the shadow of conflict has not entirely lifted. Reddy may have no compunction in calling a spade a spade, but he is also keenly aware of the imperatives of running a state. Within a fortnight, he had a meeting with the Prime Minister, where he submitted a wishlist, and during that same period he was going for the BJP's jugular. Presumably, he knows how to find his way around a paradox.
Forbes
3 days ago
- General
- Forbes
A Successful Politician's Secret Sauce
Gerald E. 'Gerry' Connolly | March 30, 1950 – May 21, 2025 I was honored and humbled this week to eulogize a lifelong friend who led a very distinguished life as a towering political figure on the local, regional and national level, Congressman Gerry Connolly of Northern Virginia. Gerry was an uncommon politician, especially in these days of rancor and division. He was uncommon not because of his extraordinary contributions to the Washington, DC, region which undoubtedly prompted the voters of Virginia's 11th Congressional District to return him to office with large popular margins for 16 years of uninterrupted service. Surely, his legacy of accomplishments has left indelible marks on the community he served. But the incredible outpouring of love and support on display at services for Gerry this week were surely more about the 'ordinary' marks he has left on those of us fortunate to have known him and experienced the way he cared for people and his passionate pursuit of meeting their needs. The red thread that ran throughout all of Gerry's life was his commitment to purpose and principle. Gerry appreciated that his mission, his calling, his vocation was to meet the needs of all his constituents, not least those underserved. He never sought the spotlight for himself. Rather, he used his position of power and influence for others. As he told the Washington Post in 2007, 'When you get power, you have an obligation to exercise it responsibly. But exercise it. Otherwise, why seek it?' Gerry was a fighter, until the very end of his life, but he didn't fight out of gratuitous belligerence. Rather, he was prepared to fight, the right fight, even against insurmountable odds, to achieve what most considered impossible for the benefit of the many. His fierce determination was always driven by purpose and principle. But Gerry's pragmatism and his meticulous preparation for every task he undertook helped yield his accomplishments as a public figure in his many local, county and national leadership roles, leading to his being named the Most Effective Lawmaker of the US House of Representatives by the Center for Effective Lawmaking with a Legislative Effectiveness score for the 117th Congress more than seven times higher than the average member of the House. His passionate pursuit of public service, driven by principle and purpose and not self-aggrandizement, was Gerry's secret sauce. Gerry always carried in his wallet the words of Teddy Roosevelt which pretty much summed up how he approached everything he did in public life: "It is not the critic who counts…. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, who face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly….to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasm…who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat." Today's political arena needs more Gerry Connolly's, more men and women of high purpose and deep principle passionately working to deliver for the people. We need more leaders who can meet the challenge Gerry would assert that we should all be proud of the work we do, the person we are, and the difference we make.
Time of India
3 days ago
- Politics
- Time of India
Cong Min During Emergency To Be Chief Guest At RSS Event on June 5
Nagpur: The (RSS) will have Arvind Netam, a former who was part of late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's cabinet during the Emergency period, as chief guest for the closing ceremony of the organization's final stage training camp for its volunteers on June 5. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Netam, a tribal leader from Chhattisgarh, was minister of education from 1973 to 1977, which also covered the Emergency period. He formed an outfit Hamar Raj Party in Chhattisgarh in 2023. He will be sharing the dais with RSS sarsanghachalak (chief) Mohan Bhagwat during the event. Under the changed nomenclature, the camp is now known as Karyakarta Vikas Varga 2. Earlier known as Tritiya Varsha Sangh Shiksha Varga, this is the final part of the volunteers' training and is held in Nagpur. Talking to TOI, Netam said he was always open to different ideologies. He had met the sarsanghachalak recently during the latter's visit to Chhattisgarh. A number of issues related to tribals, including religious conversion, were discussed. The focus on tribal issues has decreased in the current times. The gap between the Sangh and tribals needs to be filled, he said. "I believe, Sangh can take up the concerns to the right forum," he told TOI. "Nowadays, it is often said that a section of tribals don't identify themselves as Hindu. Whether this trend existed prior to 1947 is among the issues that need to be addressed," he said. "Recently, I also came close to the RSS. I have accepted that some of my earlier viewpoints were not right," he said. Netam was a veteran Congress leader during the times of unified Madhya Pradesh. He became a member of Parliament for the first time in 1971 and in 1973 went on to become a minister during Indira Gandhi's regime. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Regarding the Emergency, he says censorship of newspapers was a wrong decision by the Congress. "If it had not been so, perhaps the party's future might have been different," says Netam. Earlier, former President and veteran Congressman Pranab Mukherjee too had been chief guest for the training camp's closing ceremony.
Washington Post
3 days ago
- General
- Washington Post
Trump's latest pardons benefit an array of political allies and public figures
WASHINGTON — A governor who resigned amid a corruption scandal and served two stints in federal prison. A New York Republican who resigned from Congress after a tax fraud conviction and who made headlines for threatening to throw a reporter off a Capitol balcony over a question he didn't like. Reality TV stars convicted of cheating banks and evading taxes.
News18
4 days ago
- Politics
- News18
When Pettiness Trumps Politics: The Congress-Tharoor Standoff
Last Updated: By sidelining a valuable asset like Tharoor, the party seems more interested in internal scoresettling than in strategic wins, ultimately shooting itself in the foot What the Congress party does is its business, but in the manner in which it has dealt with Shashi Tharoor, it seems that the grand old party has decided to cut off its nose to spite its face. Tharoor is a veteran Congressman, who has been a four-time Lok Sabha MP contesting on the Congress symbol, apart from being a minister in the Congress-led UPA government. He has not, as yet, ever said that he intends to leave the party or join another one. Why, then, would his party resent the fact that the BJP, which the Congress opposes, had no better individual than him to lead an all-party delegation to global capitals post Operation Sindoor? If anything, the Congress should have capitalised on this choice. Whatever personal animosity Rahul Gandhi and his coterie may have against an individual, it was a great opportunity to stress the point that when it comes to national interest, only a Congress leader can do the job effectively. Imagine a scenario where, after the BJP announced that Tharoor would lead the all-party delegation, Rahul Gandhi had convened a press conference, publicly congratulated Tharoor, and said that the BJP, faced with no other equally convincing choice, had no option but to come to the threshold of the Congress to represent India's interests. Most people—aware of the tensions between Tharoor and his party leadership—would have applauded his big-heartedness and statesmanship. This would have put the BJP on the back foot. Their political stratagem of sowing seeds of discord in the Congress would have backfired. Tharoor would have probably proudly accepted the vote of confidence from his party in his abilities, and said that, with the backing of his party, he was available—in the national interest—to do for the BJP what it could apparently find no one else to do better. The BJP would then have had to scurry around to provide explanations for why it chose an Opposition leader and a loyal Congressman—from a party it has, through its spokespersons, accused of being anti-national, unpatriotic, and working in the interests of Pakistan! But such a winning approach requires maturity and incisive statecraft, both of which—it would appear—the Congress leadership sadly lacks. To seize the advantage in politics, parties often need to rise above internal pettiness. The BJP did not protest when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was chosen by the ruling Congress to lead the national delegation to the UN in Geneva. On the contrary, it took it as a badge of honour. In the case of Tharoor, an old friend and a contemporary from college days, it is, frankly, quite inexplicable to me why his own party has treated him so shabbily. Yes, he was a member of the G-23—a well-intentioned ginger group within the party—that sought changes in order to improve the Congress's electoral and organisational performance. At no point did any member of the G-23 say that they were revolting. In fact, it has been my view that the loosely labelled grouping was far too timid and reticent to do anything that might alienate the Gandhi family, and all they achieved through innumerable meetings was to send a letter seeking the support and intervention of party president Sonia Gandhi. Why, then, did Rahul treat this grouping as tantamount to treachery and betrayal, and literally chastise some of its members in the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting? Apparently, Tharoor's second sin was to stand for the presidency of the party, against what was obviously the family's choice—Mallikarjun Kharge. But the party Constitution allows for such contests. They have happened in the past too, and Shashi personally told me that he had—although there was no need to do so—taken the 'blessings' of Sonia Gandhi for his candidature. Perhaps his unpardonable sin was that, in spite of a 'packed' voting bloc against him, he managed to secure around a thousand votes—far more than any other candidate in the past who has stood against the family's 'official' nominee. A truly mature party, flaunting its genuine democratic credentials to the BJP, should then have embraced Tharoor and given him a far more prominent role in party affairs. But exactly the opposite happened. Although he was made a member of the CWC, he found himself increasingly distanced from Rahul Gandhi and his advisers—to the point where he was sometimes not even nominated to speak on important issues in Parliament, where he could have been an asset to his party. His access to Rahul was also almost choked. From apocryphal sources, I know that it took him over two years to get an appointment with Rahul. So, is the Congress now a party where only two binaries prevail: unconditional sycophant or unquestioned traitor? If yes, it is, to say the least, not only puerile but suicidal, because parties lose the ability for renewal and revival—and the Congress certainly needs both—if they become so immaturely brittle. Such absolute binaries dominate in dozens of family-run parties across the country, and it appears that the Congress is no different. The Congress has come out of the whole Shashi Tharoor episode with a lot of unnecessary egg on its face. What a waste of an egg—and an opportunity! The writer is a former diplomat, an author, and a politician. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect News18's views. tags : congress party Operation Sindoor Rahul Gandhi shashi tharoor Location : New Delhi, India, India First Published: May 29, 2025, 19:34 IST News opinion Opinion | When Pettiness Trumps Politics: The Congress-Tharoor Standoff
