Narendra Modi’s Ram Nath Kovind bombshell stunned BJP circles even more than the Opposition. Most had never heard of the PM’s pick for the next President of India. But more than his anonymity, it is Kovind’s lack of saffron history that has spread dismay within sections of the BJP.

After a lot of digging, it has emerged that Kovind joined the BJP only in 1991. Most top BJP leaders grow up in the RSS as swayamsewaks and are well indoctrinated in Sangh ideology. Kovind has hopped from being PA to Janata Party prime minister Morarji Desai to being appointed standing counsel for the government by Indira Gandhi in 1980 before finally ending up in the BJP.

Interestingly, the man who opened doors for him in saffron circles was an RSS pracharak working in the LucknowKanpur zone, Bireshwar Dwivedi.

Kovind’s Dalit credentials worked for him at a time when the BJP was desperate to change its Brahmin-Bania image and woo OBCs and Dalits.

Thanks to Dwivedi, Kovind’s RSS backing was so strong that although he lost the first Lok Sabha election he contested in 1991, the BJP had him elected to the Rajya Sabha in 1994 and gave him two terms in the Upper House. But at some point, his connection to the RSS weakened. Dwivedi moved off to the VHP and Kovind had to cool his heels on the margins during the Rajnath Singh era in the BJP.

He lobbied for a Lok Sabha ticket in 2014 but Rajnath nixed it. Some in the BJP speculate that Kovind’s troubles with Rajnath may have been a blessing in disguise because they probably endeared him to Amit Shah and Modi. Modi and Rajnath share a tense relationship.

What could be a better combination for the Modi-Shah duo than a Dalit from UP who doesn’t belong to the Rajnath camp? And that’s how Kovind is on his way to becoming the next President of India.

New J-K governor

Interesting new political alignments are emerging in the search for a new governor for Jammu and Kashmir to succeed N N Vohra who has completed nearly a decade in the post. It seems the Modi camp is wooing Farooq Abdullah of the National Conference as disillusionment with Mehbooba Mufti and the PDP grows.

BJP sources say that a war of nerves is being fought between the Modi government and Mehbooba to break the alliance and impose Governor’s rule. Farooq is part of the central government’s game plan to isolate Mehbooba and the PDP. The Centre wants a new governor in J-K before making the final break with the PDP but the search is running into an internal power struggle between Amit Shah and the Ajit Doval-Ram Madhav combine.

Shah’s aides have been engaging with Farooq who is naturally pushing for a person of his choice as governor. He wants former RAW chief and Vajpayee’s advisor on Kashmir, A S Dulat, as governor.

Doval and Ram Madhav are opposing this tooth and nail. They want a former army man in Srinagar. They feel that Dulat is too close to Farooq and they will become marginal voices in the Modi government’s Kashmir policy if the former RAW chief is appointed governor. Meanwhile, Vohra has lined up an assignment for himself once he demits office in J-K. He has been elected the new president of Delhi’s elite India International Centre.

Nitish unshakeable

Nitish Kumar is sticking to his guns about supporting the NDA candidate for President, Ram Nath Kovind, despite ally Lalu Yadav’s attempts to embarrass him for not backing “Bihar ki beti” Meira Kumar. JD(U) sources attribute Nitish’s move to his rapport with Kovind during the latter’s two years as Bihar governor. According to these sources, unlike other Modi nominees in Raj Bhavans, Kovind has never interfered with or obstructed Nitish’s appointments and legislative work.

Nor did he turn the Raj Bhavan in Patna into what one JD(U) source called a “BJP adda”. In fact, they say Kovind has cooperated fully with Nitish, sometimes at the cost of annoying the opposition BJP, which is smarting even today from its humiliating defeat in the 2015 assembly poll.

JD(U) circles claim that Nitish called up both Sonia Gandhi and Lalu Yadav after Kovind’s nomination was announced by Amit Shah.

He explained to them that this was a special case. He would have to support Kovind. But he assured them that he remains an integral part of the united opposition against Modi and the BJP.

Rap for Yogi

The latest buzz in BJP circles is that the Modi-Shah duo has read the riot act to UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath and told him that the state will now be run from Delhi by the PMO. The rap came after complaints from BJP and RSS leaders that the Yogi administration’s failure to control law and order had taken the sheen off the BJP’s recent victory in the assembly election.

They are believed to have warned that the party is rapidly losing ground and the Mayawati and Akhilesh will be big gainers particularly if they join hands to oppose the BJP. The first step Delhi has taken is to replace the chief secretary. Rajiv Kumar from the union urban development ministry has been sent back to his parent state to take over as chief secretary. And Adityanath is believed to have been told that Kumar will coordinate with the PMO for instructions even on day-to-day matters.

Poor Adityanath! He has fallen from grace very quickly.

His honeymoon period has not lasted even six months which is the usual time given to a chief minister to settle in.