Tax evasion to multi-crore scams: Inside the world of India's sham political parties

Coco-not yet: Actor-politician and Andhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan recently stirred an interstate kerfuffle by claiming that coconut tree deformities in his state were caused by the “Telangana people’s evil eye”. Telangana’s Cinematography Minister Komatireddy Venkat Reddy fired back, threatening to ban Pawan Kalyan’s films in Telangana unless he apologises. While experts blame the deformities on sea water intrusion from breached drainage channels, voters are left scratching their heads—why come out with such a narrative three years before the assembly elections? | Illustrations by Job P.K.

Political pause: Former IPS officer and former Tamil Nadu BJP president K. Annamalai’s plan to launch a new party is now on hold. Though he still has a loyal following, the BJP state leadership has kept him out of the media spotlight. Recent social media allegations about his corruption seem to be timed to block his ambitions. Annamalai had consulted a senior AIADMK rebel leader, who advised him to stay put in the BJP to avoid Delhi taking action. For now, the party is not on.

Battle of South Block: South Block’s ministries of defence and foreign affairs are under siege—by alpha male monkeys. These big, sinewy primates have made life miserable for housekeeping staff. Attempts to scare them off with langurs or their giant photos have failed. Now, South Block is making its last stand—it has deployed men armed with slingshots.

Tokyo files: Katy Perry and Justin Trudeau are Instagram official, with Katy sharing photographs and videos of the couple during their recent Japan trip. While the photographs Katy posted were of a budding romance—the couple smiling cheek-to-cheek and eating sushi together—the one Justin shared on X was more sombre, showing the pair posing with Japan’s former prime minister Fumio Kishida and his wife Yuko. Speculation about their relationship has been rife for months now, ever since they were photographed sharing a dinner date in Montreal in July. Later, Justin attended one of her concerts. Our guess is, that was what sealed the deal for the lady. Anyone who can sing their heart out to one of your songs has to be a keeper | Getty Images

Fashion’s ‘It’ girl: For Bhavitha Mandava, life came full circle when she opened Chanel’s Metiers d’art show, staged on a New York City subway platform. Because it was while travelling on a subway that a model scout discovered her and sent her photo to Chanel’s creative director Matthieu Blazy. Bhavitha, a graduate of NYU Tandon School of Engineering’s Integrated Design & Media & Human Computer Interaction programme, is the first Indian model to open a Chanel show. For this Hyderabad beauty, the future looks bright | Getty Images

Let the battle begin: The Golden Globes nominations have been announced and Leonardo DiCaprio’s One Battle After Another is leading the pack with nine nods, including for best musical/ comedy film. About the kidnap of a former revolutionary’s daughter, the film has bagged nominations for many of its stars including DiCaprio, Sean Penn and Chase Infiniti. Considering the three-month-long awards season is just starting, it is definitely going to be one battle after another for DiCaprio and team on their way to the Oscars, especially with such worthy opponents as Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein, the vampire drama Sinners and the Steven Spielberg-backed Hamnet | Getty Images

Southern delight: Salman Khan is all set to develop an integrated township and film studio in Telangana worth Rs10,000 crore. Apparently, Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy had met Salman in Mumbai in October and sought his support for the ‘Telangana Rising’ campaign. The township will feature a championship golf course, a race course, nature trails and premium residential spaces. But the chief attraction will be the film studio complex that will be able to support large format productions, OTT content and post-production facilities | AFP