| Published on 24-11-2008 In General |
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Written by
Insider |
Stamped out of Favour
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A commemorative stamp of Margaret Alva's in-laws --- late Joachim and Violet Alva was recently released by President Pratibha Patil coinciding with the birth centenary year of the couple but Congressmen including the minister-in-charge of the Department of Post Jyotiraditya Scindia were missing.
Alva and her family shared the moment of family legacy with the President, Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, Himachal Pradesh Governor Prabha Rau, union Communications Minister A Raja and former Prime Minister I K Gujral.
Violet and Joachim were elected to the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha respectively in 1952, making them the first couple in history to be elected to Parliament of the country.
Born in Udupi in the then South Canara district of the erstwhile Madras Presidency, Joachim played an important role in the freedom struggle. Violet was born in Ahmedabad. They had met in Bombay's Government Law College and married on November 20, 1932.
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Secular or not secular
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Union minister for Mines, Chemicals and Fertilizers Ram Vilas Paswan has written a letter to his human resource development counterpart Arjun Singh accusing a leading information technology firm of propagating Sangh ideology. Paswan claims that the IT firm which is running several educational institutions has libraries that are packed with books allegedly spreading communal virus. But Paswan's allegations are being taken with a pinch of salt as the firm's public face is known for probity and secular credentials. In fact, after Gujarat violence, he had come out with a scathing piece against Narendra Modi regime in a leading newspaper.
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Life Saving power cuts
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Power cuts can be life saving too. Former union minister Dileep Singh Bhuria swears never to complain about power cuts. He has strong reasons for it. Bhuria, now in BJP was touring in Jhabua, Madhya Pradesh where his helicopter got entangled in electric wires. The tribal leader is said to have shut eyes and said his prayers. But he
escaped as pilot hurriedly made a landing in a field. The wires did not have current thanks to one of the frequent power cuts. Bhuria is now looking forward to hug chief minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan and thank him for not supplying uninterrupted 24X7 power in the state.
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Another Mahajan on the way
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The Mumbai South MP Milind Deora may be happily enjoying new found marital bliss, but his political opponents are working overtime to throw a challenge to him in the coming round of general elections. Large posters of a young and glamorous Poonam Mahajan have come up in Mumbai staring down at passerby and urging them to cast their votes. It does not say when and for whom but for the politically inclined, it is Mahajan junior's way of building campaign – step by step. The logo of the BJP is visible at the bottom of the posters. Officially the BJP has not named her as its candidate against Milind, but Poonam is leaving nothing to chance.
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Tribal Revelry
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Ajit Jogi may not be the official chief ministerial candidate but in popular imagination, the bureaucrat-turned politician has emerged as hot favourite in the event of Congress winning the tribal state.
On the last day of campaigning, Jogi urged the tribals to accept "murga-daroo (chicken and local liquor) from the BJP but vote for the Congress.
Coupled with his continuous description of chief minister Dr. Raman Singh as 'Labara raja (liar king), the ruling BJP was left fuming.
The choice of Chhattisgarhi 'Labara" has strengthened Jogi's son-of-the-soil credentials. In contrast, the BJP's slogan to call the chief minister "chaul wale baba" lacked the impact. While 'chaul' (rice) has been coined from the local dialect, both 'wala and baba' are not. Moreover, in appearance, Raman Singh does not fit into 'baba' mould as in Chhatisgarh, the word is used for the elderly while the genial ayurveda doctor is barely 55.
Raman Singh and the BJP may have ferociously denied hosting murga-daroo feast, but it is an open secret that when it comes to wooing the tribals, it's a time-tested formula. Like this time, during 2003 assembly polls too hundreds of such feasts on the eve of voting day were hosted. If there were two feasts by different parties on the same day nearby, young tribals would attend both. It was not difficult to make out if many were party-hoppers. In good spirits, many did not bother to take of the publicity caps provided by the parties. This time the word among tribals is that while they will enthusiastically attend various feasts, they will avoid revealing about who they are voting for.
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Avoiding a face-off with Sheila
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Where is the BJP's chief ministerial candidate Vijay Kumar Malhotra? The veteran Delhi wallah is reportedly facing a gag order from the top BJP leadership. Many of the television interviews, programmes based on spending a day with the chief minister-in-waiting have been cancelled without any plausible explanation. The whisper in the BJP is that it has to do with party's strategy to avoid making Delhi battle as "Sheila Dixit versus Malhotra." The party has also asked Arun Jaitley to enter in television debates and discussions to match Sheila's appeal. The question that is doing the rounds now is why did not BJP field Jaitley instead of Malhotra for battle of Delhi?
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Empty Promises
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When it comes to offering sops, the Samajwadi party is a clear winner. In poll-bound Madhya Pradesh, the BJP offered wheat to those below the poverty line (BPL) at Rs. two a kg. The Congress manifesto pegged it at Rs. one a kg for the poorest of the poor, but SP went a step further and promised free wheat to the poor. When somebody sought to ask Mulayam Singh Yadav how he will manage its fiscal discipline scale, the SP supremo looked blank but one of his lieutenants mocked the person posing the question and whispered, if he actually believed that SP was coming to power in the state?
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Calm after the Storm or before it?
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It is a coincidence the politically inclined souls are unwilling to let go. Since electioneering began for six states, the internal security situation in the country has improved considerably. Barring few cases of violence including a daring attack on an IAF helicopter in Chhattisgarh, the country has not witnessed too much terror related violence. Does it mean that some violence had something to do with polls or that now the polls are on, there is a sense of calm?
Tailpiece
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Heard in the Congress office in Bhopal: If the people of the state had their way, the Congress will win in MP. However if the faction ridden Congress leaders had their way, the BJP will win the state! |
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