CM’s fitness mantra
After the Shiv Sena’s support brought much-needed relief to the Bharatiya Janata Party, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis is spirited about completing a full term in office. And to deliver on his promises, he has decided to pay attention to his health too. Mr Fadnavis has settled in his official bungalow “Varsha” at Malabar Hill without making any interior changes to the house, which was well maintained by his predecessor Prithviraj Chavan.
The only addition he’s made is a treadmill. A famous fitness firm recently installed a treadmill at the Chief Minister’s residence. Since it is tough for a Chief Minister to keep his food habits and fitness in check due to his busy schedule, Mr Fadnavis has decided to run on the treadmill while at home to save time. Let’s hope that Mr Fadnavis is able to keep up his fitness regimen that would help him bring the state’s economy — which is under a debt of Rs 3.44 lakh crore — back into shape.
Bigger birthday bashes
The birthday mania seems to have gripped the Samajwadi Party. After the mega birthday bash for party president Mulayam Singh Yadav in Rampur, it is now Shivpal Singh Yadav who will witness a similar celebration for his birthday. Virendra Singh, a Samajwadi Party leader from Jaunpur, has announced that he will celebrate Mr Shivpal Yadav’s birthday on a grander scale.
“Shivpalji will be taken in two specially designed limousines with an open top and the celebrations will be the kind that no one has seen before. The event will be held in the magnificent Jaunpur fort and all modalities have been worked out,” he said. Interestingly, Mr Shivpal Yadav’s date of birth in official records is April 6, but like most politicians, insiders say that the real date of birth is different and that he was born in winter.
Mr Singh says that he is waiting for the senior SP minister to return from Dubai, where he had gone to attend a wedding, before finalising the event. “The date and other things will be done after getting Shivpalji’s nod,” he added. Apparently, birthdays in the Samajwadi Party are becoming a big affair and also a show of strength by leaders and their lackeys.
When humour backfires
Orissa agriculture minister and senior Biju Janata Dal leader Pradeep Maharathy has got an acerbic tongue, which often drags him into unnecessary controversies. Proprietor of an opera troupe, Mr Maharathy often quotes dialogue, mostly of villains, from the plays staged by his opera. His favourite is, “Sari nahin rajneeti, mari nahin Maharathy (the politics is not yet over nor is Maharathy dead)”.
But Mr Maharathy’s humour backfired badly during the the just-concluded Winter Session of the Assembly. Targeting BJP woman legislator Radharani Panda, who was demanding chief minister Naveen Patnaik’s resignation over the chit fund scam, Mr Maharathy said, “Ghia bahar karidevi (I will churn the butter out of you).” It hurt Ms Panda who sobbed bitterly in the House, evoking sympathy from all quarters.
Leader of the Opposition Narasingha Mishra and the BJP members interpreted Mr Maharathy’s remark as a direct threat to subdue Ms Panda’s voice. The pressure from the Opposition Congress, the BJP and civil societies for the skin of Mr Maharathy became so intense that he had to apologise to Ms Panda. This incident pro-mpted the gossip-mongers to spread the message, “Sari nahin raja-neeti, mari gale Maharathy (the politics is not yet over, but the commander-in-chief died).”
A risky nap
While there were many high points of the 49th Annual Conference of Directors-General of Police/Inspectors-General of Police held in Guwahati, the most talked about incident was the encounter between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and then CBI director Ranjit Sinha.
After addressing the police conference, Mr Modi personally met each and every police officer and congratulated them. However, when he came face to face with Mr Sinha,
Mr Modi blamed him for some bad publicity the conference received from the media. Obviously Mr Modi was referring to the moment when Mr Sinha was caught napping in the police conference, that too when Union home minister Rajnath Singh was addressing the conference. According to the officers present during the meeting,
Mr Modi asked Mr Sinha about the number of days left for his retirement and before Mr Sinha could come up with a decent reply, Mr Modi said “two days”, and turned to other senior officers. Seems like Mr Sinha must have realised the perils of snoozing.
