Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia whose house was raided by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), BJP leader fighting a rape charge, social activist at the centre of sexual assault row, and Karnataka BJP minister in a viral audio clip — we bring to you the Newsmakers of the Week. Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia On Friday, a month after the Delhi Lieutenant Governor recommended a CBI probe against him, the CBI raided Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia’s house. While Sisodia has found himself in the eye of the storm before in the 10 years that AAP has been around, it’s the first time that allegations of corruption have been levelled directly against the minister. And since the allegations originated, Sisodia has stepped up to lead the fightback. Read Mallica Joshi’s report on Arvind Kejriwal’s closest confidant who in a short span has emerged as the face of the Aam Aadmi Party government’s most successful policy, education. BJP leader Syed Shahnawaz Hussain It was little less than a month ago that Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar was effusive in his praise for his Industry Minister Syed Shahnawaz Hussain, praising him for “moving around the country to bring investment to Bihar”. It was a rare departure for Nitish, who is usually stingy with praise for his ministers. However, Hussain’s star-crossed political fortunes were back to the fore again when first, on August 9, the JD(U) brought down its coalition government with the BJP; then the party removed him from its central election committee on August 16; and the next day, the Delhi High Court ordered registration of an FIR alleging rape against him. The only Muslim face of the BJP in Bihar, Hussain is now post-less and fighting a serious charge. Read Santosh Singh’s report on the youngest Cabinet minister who has been shrinking since 2014. Social activist Civic Chandran Days before police registered a sexual harassment case against Civic Chandran, the first of two such, the social activist, had spoken about the “hypocrisy of people in Kerala towards sex” and blamed the Communists and the Church for promoting Victorian ideas of morality. A Kerala court’s recent orders, on August 2 and August 16, granting anticipatory bail to Chandran in the two sexual assault cases, have been at the centre of a row over alleged victim-shaming. Read this report on Chandran, a prominent voice in the state, at the centre of several socio-political issues. Karnataka BJP minister J C Madhuswamy In July 2021, when the BJP began an exercise to find a suitable candidate to replace Lingayat strongman B S Yediyurappa from the post of Karnataka chief minister, one of the candidates who was high on the list of contenders was a no-nonsense minister in the government — J C Madhuswamy. Madhuswamy had ticked all the boxes: he was a Lingayat, an independent thinker who was unlikely to be pushed around by bureaucrats and ministers, and someone seen as unlikely to tolerate corruption in the government. The BJP minister is now at the centre of a political row in the state, with an audio clip going viral of his purported conversation with a social worker in which he is heard describing the current Bommai-led BJP government as “non-functional”. BJP leader Vanathi Srinivasan BJP leader Vanathi Srinivasan who was included in the party’s Central Election Commission (CEC) on Wednesday is one of the party’s senior women leaders and the national president of the Mahila Morcha, its women’s wing. The 52-year-old has close ties to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. She was mentored by Pon Radhakrishnan, a veteran BJP leader from south Tamil Nadu. A moderate figure in the party, she lost the 2011 Assembly election from Chennai’s Mylapore constituency and then again from Coimbatore South in 2016. She won the Assembly polls last year in her third attempt. She considered late Sushma Swaraj “a pillar of strength”.
