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Changing
Tunes Delhi: Music
in the BJP office? No way, said party Vice-President Jana Krishnamurty. The occasion was
the release of the BJP's statement on the assembly elections by party President Kushabhau
Thakre. It was to be followed by lunch and some background music would do no harm.
Krishnamurty finally relented when he was told that even the Labour Party in UK had songs
sung by the Spice Girls at its political functions. That, of course, was not what wafted
through the music system to mingle with the aroma of fish curry -- another departure from
the past as the BJP seldom serves non-vegetarian cuisine and that too at its party
headquarters. It was a pleasant surprise for all those present to listen to Shobha Gurtu's
soulful numbers instead of the patriotic songs that Krishnamurty would have preferred.
Visual Break
Delhi: After
days of haggling over Tulbul and Siachen with their Indian counterparts, the Pakistani
delegation in Delhi decided to take a break. So during the weekend some of them, led by
their defence secretary, went on a pilgrimage to Ajmer to pay obeisance to Khwaja Garib
Nawaz. But others, like the Pakistani deputy foreign minister and its high commissioner to
India, were not so religiously inclined. They spent their weekend in Khajuraho -- only one
of them took his wife along -- admiring the erotic sculptures. As one of the delegates
said later, "We needed to take our minds off the hectic round of negotiations."
We quite agree.
Three for Sorrow
Jaipur: Besides
filing his nomination from Bali, Rajasthan Chief Minister Bhairon Singh Shekhawat wanted
to hoodwink the Congress about his second constituency. So he filed his papers -- without
the party's authorisation on the symbol -- from Jaipur's Johri Bazar, when he had actually
set his eyes on Hawa Mahal. Unfortunately, not only were his plans leaked to the press but
to his utter dismay Shekhawat learnt that the Election Commission's (EC) new guidelines
barred candidates from filing nominations for more than two seats. Which meant that he
could not file his papers from the safe Hawa Mahal seat at the last moment. After
initially blaming the EC, Shekhawat tried to hide his embarrassment by saying that he was
not really interested in the second seat.
Making Amends
Chandigarh: Chief
Election Commissioner M.S. Gill has raised the hackles in Akali circles by castigating
Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal's policies. At a convocation in Ludhiana recently, Gill
blamed his former political master's populist schemes -- like free power to farmers -- for
Punjab's ills. Though Badal acolytes called it "constitutional impropriety",
Gill's outburst was not without reason. Ever since he advanced the Punjab assembly
election last year, to Badal's advantage, the opposition Congress has charged him of being
"pro-Akali". And with that tag gaining currency in the Congress' campaign for
the forthcoming Adampur by-election, Gill grabbed the chance to make some harmless
anti-Badal noises. As they say, old loyalties die hard.
Buckets of Bounty
Thiruvananthapuram: The
AKG Centre, state headquarters of the CPI(M), boasts of a new building. The swank Rs 1.25
crore AKG Memorial Auditorium -- centrally air-conditioned, latest acoustics and a seating
capacity of over 1,100 -- was inaugurated by party General Secretary H.S. Surjeet
recently. The opposition Congress dubbed it as "another ostentatious possession of
the so-called working class party". State party Secretary Pinarayi Vijayan dismisses
such criticism, saying all assets have been built with public contributions. And how? For
instance, he says, in September party cadres went around with plastic buckets seeking
donations for the proposed E.M.S. Namboodiripad Akademi. And the response? A Rs 4 crore
booty -- collected in just two days! |
