The importance of being Nitin Gadkari

Ominous sign?: A news conference of senior Congress leaders in Guwahati ended with an unintended visual metaphor. Former Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel, seated in the front passenger seat while leaving the venue, had to step out after the crowd noticed the car’s left front tyre had gone flat. Baghel shifted to another vehicle, and took a back seat. For onlookers, the moment mirrored the party’s current political fortunes. Congress workers, however, are quietly hoping they can puncture the BJP’s momentum in the upcoming assembly elections | Illustrations by Job P.K.

Trouble times five: As Punjab heads toward the 2027 assembly elections, the principal opposition is fighting unwelcome controversies. The state Congress president Raja Amrinder Warring recently said that 12 multiplied by five equals 48, and his arithmetic skills quickly found their way into meme culture. For a leader taking on seasoned political rivals, it was an unfortunate slip—one the opponents were quick to exploit. With over a year to go before polling day, this particular number may linger longer than the speech itself.

Family drama: Bharat Rashtra Samithi working president K.T. Rama Rao has a peculiar way of responding to allegations. Months ago, brushing aside Congress claims over alleged phone tapping during the BRS regime, he joked that a jail stint might help him lose weight through yoga. Now, summoned by a special investigation team probing the case, KTR dismissed the inquiry as political vendetta, likening it to a daily serial. The plot, however, has a twist. His estranged sister K. Kavitha—who once said she was among those whose phones were tapped—has now alleged collusion between the Congress and the BRS, predicting that the investigation will lead nowhere.

Harvard calling: The 23rd edition of the India Conference at Harvard University—scheduled on February 14 and 15—will be headlined by Priyanka Chopra. In conversation with Anjula Acharia, Chopra will speak on the theme ‘The India We Imagine’, describing her diasporic experience and what it means to represent India abroad. Organised by Harvard students, the India Conference is an annual meeting to discuss Indian business, policy and culture. Other speakers this year include Shashi Tharoor and author and scholar Amitav Acharya | AP

Time to mambo: Nobody puts Baby in a corner. Or keeps her off-screen. Jennifer Grey, who starred in the 1987 hit Dirty Dancing opposite the late Patrick Swayze, has confirmed her return to the sequel. “I have long wondered where we might find Baby years later and what her life might be like, but it’s taken time to assemble the kind of people that I felt could be entrusted to build on the legacy of the original film,” said Grey, who received a Golden Globe nomination for her portrayal of Frances ‘Baby’ Houseman in the film. Dirty Dancing—a coming-of-age drama about a girl who falls in love with a dance instructor during a summer holiday at the Kellerman’s resort in New York State’s Catskill mountains—was that rare cocktail of escapist yet rooted, feel-good yet insightful | Getty Images

Learning from pain: A new documentary on writer Salman Rushdie’s experience of being stabbed 15 times while delivering a lecture at New York’s Chautauqua Institution in 2022 got a standing ovation at the Sundance film festival. “For the authoritarian, culture is the enemy,” the writer said at the premiere of Knife: The Attempted Murder of Salman Rushdie. “The uncultured and ignorant and tyrannical don’t like it. And they take steps against it, which we see every day.” Directed by Alex Gibney, the documentary contains never-before-seen footage recorded by Rushdie’s wife Rachel Eliza Griffiths. Interweaving incidents from his life with harrowing shots of his recovery, critics hail the film as moving, disturbing and deeply arresting | AP

So long, farewell: In a move that shocked his many fans, Arijit Singh, one of the most in-demand singers in Hindi cinema, announced his retirement from playback singing. “I am calling it off,” he shared on social media. “It was a wonderful journey.” He will, however, continue to make music independently. Singh made his playback debut with ‘Phir Mohabbat’ from Murder 2 in 2011, and since then has sung in Hindi, Bengali, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Marathi, earning accolades for his soulful numbers. Last year, he beat Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran to become the most followed artist on Spotify | PTI