Newsmakers of the Week | Kerala Cong lone woman MLA, BJP’s Nupur Sharma, former J&K CM’s daughter

Supreme Court advocate Brijesh Kalappa sprang a surprise this week by announcing that he had resigned from Congress party’s primary membership the day before, bringing down the curtains on an association of almost 25 years. Kalappa claimed in a Facebook post that he took the decision as he was “lacking in passion” for some time. Kalappa is holding discussions with the Aam Aadmi Party. Read Darshan Devaiah BP’s report on the man who was the Karnataka Congress’s face on both regional and national television for close to a decade.

Kerala Congress MLA Uma Thomas

Uma Thomas won the bye-election to the Thrikkakara Assembly constituency in Ernakulam district on Friday by defeating the CPI(M)’s candidate Dr Jo Joseph by over 25,000 votes, which is the highest-ever victory margin since the formation of the Thrikkakara seat in 2011. Uma has now become the Congress party’s lone woman legislator in the current Kerala Legislative Assembly. Read Shaju Philip’s report on the 56-year-old leader who returned to active political life three-and-a-half decades after her college politics days.

BJP leader Nupur Sharma

Mumbai Police this week registered an FIR against BJP leader Nupur Sharma for allegedly hurting religious sentiments over her remarks on the Prophet. The FIR, based on a complaint by Irfan Shaikh, joint secretary of the Mumbai wing of Raza Academy, states that Sharma, in a news debate on the Gyanvapi issue, allegedly made abusive comments about the Prophet. Read this report on the BJP firebrand who is now in a spot over her remarks.

Iltija Mufti

On May 27, Iltija Mufti, the younger daughter of the former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and PDP chief gave the first formal indication that she may be ready to step into Mufti’s shoes. Through a two-minute video message on the PDP’s Twitter handle, Iltija said she would be holding direct conversations with the people of Jammu and Kashmir via fortnightly videos talking about the issues and decisions affecting their lives. The immediate priority for any party in Kashmir, she says, should be the conversation around the fight to restore Article 370. Read Naveed Iqbal’s report on the 35-year-old Newmaker of the Week.

Iqbal Singh Chahal

Iqbal Singh Chahal took over as Commissioner of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation during an especially challenging time: Maharashtra was going through a devastating Covid wave, with Mumbai contributing the bulk of the infections and deaths, and his predecessor Praveen Pardeshi had just been shunted out. Two years later, during which Chahal was lauded for his role in controlling the pandemic, the 1989-batch IAS officer of the Maharashtra cadre has been empanelled in the rank of Secretary by the Government of India, and is the subject of a book, Covid Warrior.