Delhi Confidential: Unexpected praise for Ayush Minister Sonowal from Kerala Congress chief

The September 25 INLD rally to mark former Deputy Prime Minister Devi Lal's birth anniversary at Haryana's Fatehabad will be keenly watched to gauge the state of Opposition unity.

Minister for Ayush Sarbananda Sonowal

Praise in Kerala

Minister for Ayush Sarbananda Sonowal received praise from an unexpected quarter last week at Kottayam in Kerala where he was to inaugurate hostel blocks for the National Homeopathy Research Institute in Mental Health. One of the guests at the event was K Suresh, who heads the Kerala Congress and is also a Lok Sabha MP. Suresh was full of praise for Sonowal, saying the minister diligently replies to questions raised in Parliament. He also said Sonowal proved himself as an able administrator when made the chief minister of Assam. “BJP government returned in Assam because of Sarbananda Sonowalji’s leadership,’’ Suresh said.

Extending Invite

The September 25 INLD rally to mark former Deputy Prime Minister Devi Lal’s birth anniversary at Haryana’s Fatehabad will be keenly watched to gauge the state of Opposition unity. While initially it appeared that the Congress will not be invited, INLD chief O P Chautala on Friday said that he is considering extending an invite to the grand old party as well. So far, the leaders of the JD(U), RJD, TMC, SAD, TRS, NC, SP and JDS have been invited to attend the event.

Post-rejig Confusion

On Friday, when BJP president J P Nadda reshuffled the state in-charges, there was utter confusion. With the party last month announcing moving Sunil Bansal out of Uttar Pradesh and giving him affairs of West Bengal, Odisha and Telangana, Friday’s list left many confused. In the list, former Bihar minister Mangal Pandey has been assigned West Bengal and Tarun Chugh as the in-charge of Telangana, giving way to assumption that Bansal’s role could be confined only to Odisha. Party leaders explained that Bansal will be overseeing the organisational matters as well as poll preparations in the three states. According to a party leader, Bansal will be like a ‘kshetriya prabhari (regional in-charge), but insisted that he should be called national general secretary only.

Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Friday, Sept. 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

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