All set to roar
Wheelchair-bound Ajit Jogi, former chief minister of Chhattisgarh, has proved that disability need not be inability. The senior Congress leader, who faced virtual political isolation within his own party after he became paraplegic following an accident on April 4, 2004, refused to bow down to his fate and adopted the Ekla chalo re policy to get on with his political life.
He continued his electoral campaign for both the parliamentary and the Assembly elections that were held together in 2004.
The undeterred neta, who is currently touring the entire state, has announced that he would be able to walk with the help of robotic legs by March, creating ripples in political circles in Chhattisgarh, particularly in the Congress. The maverick politician has also been able to hold his influence over the state unit despite attempts by party rivals like Motilal Vora, V.C. Shukla and Nand Kumar to marginalise him in the Congress.
“I will prove the dictum, ‘A wounded tiger is more dangerous than the normal one,’ when I will be on my own (robotic) legs. I know how to trample my rivals,” Mr Jogi announced sounding a warning to his political adversaries.
A clean neta
Politicians, especially ministers, who lead a simple, frugal life, are rare. But when Karnataka minister for higher education V.S. Acharya passed away on February 14, his modest living came to light.
When Acharya’s body was taken to his spartan official residence, party workers could not find a bed in the house on which they could lay the minister’s body. Few knew that the Udupi native slept on the floor, albeit on a mattress, since childhood. His supporters were forced to lay the body on an old Godrej table.
Acharya was a rarity. His lifestyle was in contrast to the luxury that is the wont of Karnataka’s ministers. Acharya, often referred to as “Mr Clean”, refused to buy or build a second house in Bengaluru, saying he didn’t want to be seen as corrupt.
No wonder senior BJP leader L.K. Advani, who flew to Udupi to pay tribute to the stalwart, said, “He was a ray of hope in a slippery state of politics (sic).”
Where’s the love?
Lalu Prasad Yadav is a man who sees no cloud without a silver lining. Even in the thick of tension over recording of his statement in a special CBI court in Ranchi over the fodder scam, the Rashtriya Janata Dal chief did not abandon his trademark sense of humour.
The day being Valentine’s Day, reporters asked Mr Yadav for his views on the celebration of love. Pat came his response, quite in line with his well-known stance on such matters, “Our culture is getting ruined. Is it America?”
When reporters told him that his arch rival and Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, a widower, had promised couples full security on Valentine’s Day, Mr Yadav laughed and said: “Woh apna kahin jugaad lagaye hain kya? (Has he — Mr Kumar — found a fix for himself somewhere?)”
Mr Yadav surely knows how to diffuse tension.
Scams in a vase
Flowers, with their bright colours, fragrance and freshness, lift the mood in workplace. But certain flowers leave a stench that stalks.
For the release of the Congress manifesto in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, the dais at the party’s state headquarters was decorated with white gladiolis and orange geraniums. About three dozen bunches of flowers were placed along the dais to beautify the occasion.
However, after the manifesto was launched, one of the newly appointed media managers sent shockwaves in party circles when he presented a bill of `50,000 for the flowers. The bill is now being passed around for all to gape at and contribute their two bits of gossip about “commission” in flowers.
A senior party leader said, “We are going to investigate this. The Congress can ill-afford a scam — howsoever small it may be — at this stage. The person responsible for this will be questioned after the polls.” The bill will lie unpaid till then, and all flower requests will henceforth not be entertained easily.
Friendless at the top
Goa chief minister Digambar Kamat’s political hopscotch seems to have come to a final stop. According to sources, Mr Kamat’s days as chief minister are numbered even if the ruling Congress manages to form the government once again in Goa after the elections.
In fact, former deputy chief minister Dayanand Narvekar’s recent public outburst that the party high command had assured him and others that Mr Kamat will not continue as chief minister confirms this.
Seven years ago, Mr Kamat — then a BJP man — was lured by the Congress with the promise of the chief minister’s post. The former builder took the bait, but didn’t bother making friends in the party. So, Congress leaders in the state see him as an outsider, and his old BJP colleagues think of him as a turncoat. Also, he is low on bargaining chips as his compatriots from the BJP who tagged along with him to the Congress have not been given tickets this time around.
In Mr Kamat’s case then, we can’t even say, back to square one.