Mishpacha Newspaper (link to Kikar article) is reporting that PM Benjamin Netanyahu wanted to go to Rav Chaim Kanievsky to get a bracha for success in the upcoming elections. Deri heard about the plan and vetoed the visit. he was worried that pictures of Netanyahu getting a bracha from Rav Chaim Kanievsky would only increase Haredi support for Netanyahu and help him take voters away from the Haredi parties and cause them to vote Likud.

Deri is probably right that that would have happened had the meeting taken place.

Deri should have also considered that Shas promoting Netanyahu in nearly all their campaign advertisements might also do that (there were reports yesterday that Netanyahu has benefited the most from those Shas ads, far more than Shas has and Shas is now going to change campaign strategy because of it)...

Deri already showed he controls Netanyahu (somewhat) and the government when he successfully vetoed a deal between Netanyahu, Habayit Hayehudi and Eli Yishai that had nothing to do with Shas. Now he is showing that he also controls the gedolim - not just the sefardi gedolim but also the Ashkenazi gedolim.

Aryeh Deri gets to decide who gets in to Rav Chaim Kanievsky for a bracha and who does not? Let Rav Chaim decide that - he is pretty smart and savvy and would know how such a picture could be used and he can decide to allow it or not.

Assuming Rav Chaim Kanievsky's brachas help, withholding that bracha from Netanyahu could also be a disaster for the Haredi parties who have thrown their lot in with Netanyahu. If he does not win, the Haredi parties will be in a bind for a while.