Delhi Confidential: Future Tense

2 min readJun 6, 2026 05:35 AM IST

THE LATEST list of the BJP’s Rajya Sabha candidates has set off whispers in the party circles that it follows a “pattern”. According to BJP sources, most of the leaders among the 11 RS candidates named by the party were not sure about their candidacy till the list was released. At the same time, two Union Ministers — George Kurian and Ravneet Singh Bittu — were not informed beforehand that they would not get a renomination. Party leaders said Kurian may face a fate similar to one of his predecessors, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, who had to resign as MoS Minority Affairs on July 6, 2022, a day before his RS term ended as the party did not renominate him.

Party Woes

The Goa Congress is witnessing rumblings of discontent over the appointment of Girish Chodankar as the state unit chief. Lok Sabha member from South Goa Captain Viriato Fernandes, who has been appointed the head of the manifesto committee for the state Assembly elections next year, has sought an appointment with the party high command in Delhi. He is learnt to be unhappy with his new responsibility as well as the change of guard in the Goa unit. Fernandes has also sought time to discuss issues related to restructuring in the state unit, but the Congress leadership is yet to respond to his request, said sources.

Order on Paper

AS THE NDA completes 12 years in power, it has, for the first time, decided to engage PSUs to run campaigns on the government’s achievements in different sectors. Two meetings have been held so far wherein all the ministries — petroleum, steel, coal, housing, shipping, education — have been asked to rope in big PSUs for a two-week campaign this month. While most enterprises have agreed to take part in the campaign, a couple of them are said to have raised procedural issues, asking their ministries to give it in writing so that they can get clearance from their boards.