Delhi Confidential: Top Secret

2 min readUpdated: Jun 5, 2026 04:03 AM IST

WITH UTTAR Pradesh Assembly polls 2027 approaching, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav has told party leaders to keep conversations held during meetings “confidential” and not share the details with people outside the party ecosystem, especially journalists. Akhilesh, it is learnt, has also instructed probable party candidates to start preparations in their constituencies but keep the communication “confidential” as the SP is yet to start seat-sharing discussions with the Congress. Any indication of candidate selection without negotiations among INDIA bloc allies may irk the grand old party, said sources.

The Peacemaker

AMONG THE ministers retained by Karnataka Chief Minister D K Shivakumar from his predecessor Siddaramaiah’s cabinet, six-term MLA K J George seems to have the most secure position in the new government. The stature of George, the senior-most leader in the state Cabinet, has only gone up after the change of guard in the state, said sources. George, known as a Gandhi family loyalist in party circles, is learnt to have acted as the peace agent between Siddaramaiah, who apparently got shocked to know that the Congress high command had decided to back Shivakumar, and the party’s central leadership. The sources said it was George who convinced Siddaramaiah to accept the high command’s decision. Party insiders said the central leadership was happy his intervention led to a peaceful transition of power in Karnataka.

Security Alert

IT REMAINS to be seen if Delhi Police will allow the Cockroach Janta Party to hold a protest at Jantar Mantar on Saturday, demanding the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, but security personnel have already started tracking the “youth pressure group”, in the words of its founder Abhijeet Dipke. As the group’s spokespersons held a press conference in the Capital on Thursday, a significant presence of police personnel could be seen outside the venue. This was the second such press conference by the group; the first one was held at the Constitution Club of India on Wednesday.