He's an artist of some repute as well as the RJD's culture cell president and Laloo Yadav's one-man PR agency in Bihar. In the 1996 Lok Sabha poll, O. Masumi hit upon the idea of using parrots to propagate the (then united) JD's views. The birds refused to speak. Masumi now rationalises the failure: "Green feathers symbolised the JD. The red beaks stood for the communists who proved traitors." This time Masumi plans to use 5,000 pigeons to airdrop the RJD's manifesto. They will also carry tiny lanterns, that being the RJD's symbol. Other novel schemes to popularise the new symbol include puppet shows and "girls with lanterns dancing in villages and singing 'Election aya hai, Laloo bulaya hai'". Laloo may lose the polls but Masumi cannot but win the contest for most innovative impresario.

-- Sanjay Kumar Jha

Blue Blood and Gore

Bolangir and Kalahandi are among Orissa's most benighted districts. Now, they are the site of battles royal, literally. Anang Uday Singh Deo, younger son of R.N. Singh Deo -- a former maharaja as well as chief minister -- is a BJD MLA seeking the Bolangir Lok Sabha ticket. His rival is the BJP's Sangeeta Singh Deo, his elder brother's daughter-in-law. The stress is evident in the BJP-BJD camp and beyond -- for instance, in the ancestral Sailasree Palace which the Singh Deos share. Says Sangeeta, whose husband is an MLA and BJP activist since 1989: "We don't quarrel with our uncle because we are civilised." To Doon School-educated Anang Uday, "Whoever gets the nomination walks away with the family's political legacy." In neighbouring Kalahandi, the BJD's attempt to nominate Bhakta Charan Das, the outgoing MP, has been stymied by the BJP. Das is set to join the Congress and take on Bikram Kesri Deo, former Stephanian, local princeling and BJP leader. Now if only the foursome fought poverty as keenly.

-- Ruben Banerjee

Paraste Lost

An old Marwari proverb is current among Congressmen in Rajasthan: "She came to ask for yoghurt and became the landlady." Balram Jakhar and Buta Singh fled Punjab in the '80s to safe Lok Sabha seats here. Now they're back, Singh wants to recontest from Jalore and Jakhar from Sikar. Locals are livid, in particular Hari Singh, outgoing MP from Sikar. Jakhar is willing to settle for Bikaner but even Bikaner's Congress unit is not willing to settle for him.

--Rohit Parihar

Car Savour?

Jyoti Basu, West Bengal's chief minister, is taking the EC's directive not to use a helicopter seriously. He will travel in a custom-fitted (satellite telephony, bulletproof windows) Tata Sumo being put together for Rs 15 lakh. There's a problem though. The state's roads are a mess. Officials admit over 5,000 km of the total 14,660 km roadage is unusable. As Basu hits a bumpy campaign trail, long-suffering car owners are rubbing their hands in glee. No wonder.

--Udayan Namboodiri

Easy come, EC go

Vyalar Ravi, Congress chief in Kerala, is a clever accountant. "Every candidate will be issued coupons to collect money by himself," he says, "there will be no receipt books and hence no one is bound to submit accounts." What of the EC? EC? What EC? As P. Sudhakaran, Congress aspirant from Ottapalam, puts it, "It's in tune with the times. Bye-bye state subsidies." In the past, the party gave candidates Rs 5 lakh each; and post-poll, even losers drove new Marutis.

--M G Radhakrishnan

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