Welcome to The Political Fix by Rohan Venkataramakrishnan, a newsletter on Indian politics and policy. To get it in your inbox every week,...
Welcome to The Political Fix by Rohan Venkataramakrishnan, a newsletter on Indian politics and policy. To get it in your inbox every week, sign up here.
We don’t charge for this newsletter, but if you would like to support us consider contributing to the Scroll Reporting Fund or, if you’re not in India, subscribing to Scroll+.
The Big Story: Hot seat
The last few years have been unkind to Indian chief ministers who have spent decades in power.
Pawan Kumar Chamling lost power in Sikkim after more than 24 years in 2019. A year before that Manik Sarkar stepped down from the top post in Tripura after almost 20 years.
December 2018 also saw Bharatiya Janata Party stalwarts Raman Singh and Shivraj Singh Chauhan, of Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, lose elections after three terms at the helm. Chauhan would later find himself back in power in Madhya Pradesh in 2020, after the BJP convinced a number of Congress leaders to jump ship.
Amid all this, Naveen Patnaik still soldiers on, having run Odisha since 2000.
After him, on the list of incumbents in power for the longest time is Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. Technically there is a hole in Kumar’s calendar. He gave up the chief minister’s post to Janata Dal (United) compatriot Jitan Ram Manjhi in...
