Didi smiles, Akhilesh sulks

LADY LUCK BY DIDI’S SIDE

The year 2016 has been extra kind to West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee. In the run-up to the Assembly elections, the Opposition and a large section of the media had launched a belligerent campaign against her party. The collapse of a flyover in Kolkata and the Narada sting video exposing top Trinamul Congress leaders taking money on camera dealt a deadly blow to her party’s poll prospects. However, the election results stunned everyone: she stormed back to power with a bigger majority.

Only months after this electoral landslide victory, the Supreme Court order on Singur gave her another “landmark victory”.

Only two days after the Supreme Court order, the Trinamul Congress was granted national party status, yet another feather in her cap. Her Singur movement will soon find place in the syllabus of schools.

“Didi has acquired the Midas touch. She can do no wrong. Those who think she has achieved this stupendous success only through luck must not forget the old dictum: fortune favours the brave,” said a powerful state minister who is considered close to Didi.

STING ALERT The wise man learns from the mistakes of others. Clearly, the Congress in Punjab is trying to follow this adage.

The AAP was recently in the news for the wrong reasons as a sting on its leader Sucha Singh Chhotepur came to light, who was allegedly shown taking money from a person for securing a party ticket. Following the video, Mr Singh was removed as party convenor.

Taking a lesson from the AAP, the Congress in Punjab asked its leaders to remain alert and not to talk about money on the phone. In a meeting chaired by state Congress president Capt. Amarinder Singh, a warning was issued to all Congress MLAs to remain alert as in the coming days the AAP and Akalis might try to do a sting operation on some Congress leaders.

The Congress asked its leaders who are seeking tickets not to believe any person who tells them they can get party tickets in lieu of money.

A MISSIVE FROM LORD SHIVA When people are unable to ensure that their grievances reach their netas, they try to take divine help.

It is well known that Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan is a devotee of Lord Shiva. During the month of Shravan, he participated in the royal procession of Lord Mahakaal in the temple town of Ujjain in MP every Monday, beating cymbals and singing hymns.

So intense is his devotion that he was a host to a “Parthiv Shivling Nirman” festival at his official residence. Hundreds of devotees joined him and his family members in creating miniature clay images of “Shivlinga”. The rituals also involved chanting of mantras praying for the well-being of the devotees who scribbled their names in slips along with the “shivlingas” they had built.

When the priest started reading out the names, one slip read: “The CM helpline is of no use. That is why we are not scribbling our names in protest.” This led to an uproar with many saying that this is “a missive from Lord Shiva for the CM”. Embarrassed, Mr Chouhan was seen taking refuge in Lord Shiva as he kept singing bhajans after a brief interruption.

AKHILESH LOSES HIS SMILE The ever-smiling and normally affable Uttar Pradesh chief minister, Akhilesh Yadav seems to be in an unpleasant mood these days. If the grapevine is to be believed, it has a lot to do with the tensions prevailing within the Yadav clan. The chief minister has been snapping at bureaucrats and is refusing to meet his own party legislators. While speaking in the Assembly, he even snapped at newly-appointed Leader of the Opposition Gaya Charan Dinkar (BSP), when he said: “You are worse than even Swami Prasad Maurya (his predecessor).” The statement, coming from the CM, left everyone aghast since he has never been known to use harsh words even against his opponents. Then the media was asked to stay out of a function in which the gallery of portraits of former UP chief ministers and Speakers was inaugurated by Mr Akhilesh Yadav. All legislators, staff members, drivers and security personnel were invited to the lunch thereafter, but mediapersons were again not invited. Samajwadi Party leaders are hoping that the chief minister’s mood is set right before the meeting for their tickets is held, or else many of them may end up on the chopping block.

A CANDID CONFESSION Remembering the struggles of the past can be a humbling affair as those days of trials and tribulations remain etched in one’s memory forever. All the luxuries and affluence is no match for the tough days of one’s childhood. This is what Jharkhand governor Draupadi Murmu told a capacity audience at an international seminar. The lady governor, who belongs to a tribal community in Orissa’s Mayurbhanj district, said: “Those days were golden days of my life. Along with my friends, I would enter the forests almost to collect firewood. The ever-flowing streams, chirping birds and the soothing sound of cool breeze were alluring attractions for us I desperately miss all these blissful moments.” The audience, that included delegates from around the world, looked at her in awe. Now that’s some candid confession from a governor.

COMEDY OF ERRORS In what may be called the mother of all bizarre cases, a four-member gang of thieves went to steal an ATM machine and succeeded. However, the Assam police acted swiftly and caught four of them — Sahab Ali, Saiful Rahman, Mainul Haque and Saddam Hussain, with the ATM machine that was stolen from the Vinobanagar State Bank of India building in Guwahati. In what was the real comedy of errors for the gang, when the police caught them and brought them for interrogation to the police station, thieves came to know that instead of an ATM machine they had picked up a passbook-printing ATM. The police said that gang of the “four musketeers” were caught when they tried to run away with the machine in a Chevrolet car, which interestingly had a VIP pass. Now the police is also trying to find out how they had got the VIP car pass.