‘We give J&K 90 percent subsidy on everything but no one regrets it’

UNTIL A few days ago, Anurag Thakur was merely the son of a chief minister and a BJP MP. Several persons answer to that description, so it wasn’t a big deal. Now, suddenly, Thakur is being billed as one of the next big things in the BJP. His Ekta Yatra was a big show for a party that hadn’t done mass politics for a while. It must count for something in a notoriously slow party when you can get Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj rushing to be seen at your show. When TEHELKA met Thakur for its Upcomer series, where promising Indians are interviewed to get an early sense of their perspective, he was presiding over a bustling Yuva Morcha office unlike a somnolent BJP office next door. There have been highprofile youth leaders in the BJP who have slowed down as they moved into the core party. What goes on in Thakur’s mind that can save him from a similar slowdown? Excerpts from an interview:

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‘The choice is between us and misrule under Lalu’

JP leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi tells KUNAL MAJUMDER that allies cannot dictate terms during the Bihar poll campaign. “Modi is our senior leader and commands mass appeal. The Bihar campaign is going to start in October and we are still finalising the details. It’s too early to say anything. We are in the process of drawing up the list of possible rallies that we will organise on our own and the ones that we will jointly hold with the Janata Dal (United). The final decision will be taken after consultations with leaders at the state and national level.”

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