| Published on 11-03-2008 In National |
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| Corridor Whispers - Mar 11 Part - 2 |
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Written by
Insider |
Deshmukh—Great Survivor
Another man facing constant speculation over his exit from office is Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, but AICC insiders say Deshmukh may have earned a reprieve thanks to the guest-list at his son Amit's wedding.
From the A-list, Amitabh Bachchan, wife Jaya and Amar Singh were missing. Deshmukh camp said this was in keeping with a "similar" treatment that Bachchans had accorded to him during the famous
Ash-Abhi wedding. Bachchans had kept Deshmukh out while his actor son Riteish was invited. As a tit for tat, only Ash-Abhi were invited for Amit's wedding, which was attended, by Shah Rukh Khan and Preity Zinta.
In Congress circles Deshmukh is seen as a great survivor when it comes to tackling the Delhi durbar. The joke is that Deshmukh can run crash courses for new chief ministers (alas rare to come by these days due to party's dismal electoral record). After Amit's wedding was solemnized, Deshmukh supporters have come up with another plea to Sonia Gandhi. It says if Deshmukh is removed as chief minister of Maharashtra, his daughter-in-law could face "in-auspicious" slur. Now that amounts to too much injustice under gender-sensitive Sonia-led Congress. The milk of kindness is flowing and Deshmukh household is hoping to be safe.
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Now Renuka is a Jat!
Union Minister for Women and Child Welfare Renuka Chowdhary is not known to sit idle. Under flak from various quarters, Chowdhary has got herself elected as president of All India Jat Mahasabha. She
is not a Jat, but Renuka is now sharing the office with Jat icon wrestler Dara Singh. When Renuka was asked how she achieved the feat the minister quipped, " I guess I am the female Dara Singh" while making a joke at her rather plump profile.
Dara Singh may be a BJP sympathizer but Renuka has been traveling with him and sharing dais. The duo was present when another Jat Ajit Singh launched son Jayant Choudhury in politics. Renuka-Dara addressed a Jat rally in Muzzafarnagar district of Uttar Pradesh and plans another in election-bound J&K. Renuka said many consider her a Jat, as she loves to drive tractor in rallies and had used it to highlight the plight of farmers. At Muzzafarnagar rally, the minister gave away awards to some 50 jat women who had won bronze, silver and gold medals in a shooting competition. Renuka liked their traditional attire so much that she plans to use two winners as poster girls in her ministry's publicity material.
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VHP's swearing saints
It is one day that Chattisgarh home minister Ram Vichar Netam will not forget in hurry.
Hundreds of Vishwa Hindu Parishad "saints" and activists stood outside his house protesting against the police's high
handedness during Congress-VHP clash. The clash over VHP's Ram Vilas Vedanti's derogatory remarks against Sonia Gandhi saw the Congress youth brigade getting better of VHP crowd. The protest before Netam slowly turned ugly. The anger gave way to choicest of obscenities and the minister helplessly heard the men of god using swear words that surely were not parliamentary and devoid of any civilized behaviour. When Netam brought it to the attention of chief minister Dr. Raman Singh, the ayurveda doctor asked him to ignore the VHP, a religious-cultural organization. Since then Netam has been asking is this the kind of culture that the VHP proposes to propagate.
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Tantrum Sadhvi
Sadhvi Uma Bharti is in an agitated state nowadays. Unable to get inside the parent organization BJP or check the mass exodus from a defunct Bharatiya Jan Shakti (BJS), Uma has begun shooting her mouth in all directions. In home state Madhya Pradesh, she declared that films featuring Nana Patekar will not be allowed to be screened. Uma was opposing Patekar's call to back Raj Thackeray. When her (handful) of supporters pointed out that Nana's films were not running in any theatre, she turned her glare on Salman Khan who had reportedly signed a petition opposing the gag order against Raj. The Sadhvi had to be told that Salman too has not had a release in recent days.
The Sadhvi has also been alleging that Shivraj Singh Chauhan regime has been performing some occult art, tantra and magic on her so that she is not physically fit to take on the BJP. The allegation has not
been countered so far.
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Mamta's dilemma
Another firebrand leader Mamata Banerjee has been biding time to approach the Congress. The biannual Rajya Sabha polls are due but Mamata does not have enough numbers to ensure another term for party MP Dinesh Trivedi. The Trinamul has 30 MLAs while the Congress tally is 26 and together they can see a nominee through. Mamata is promising that in 2010, she will let a Congress nominee win if Trivedi is given Congress support. In Delhi durbar, Trivedi is doing enough networking with Ahmad Patel and others to see himself through. But Trinamul's association with NDA is posing a hurdle. |
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