Poll marry-go-round!
You wouldn’t think elections would make anyone think of getting married. But believe it or knot, that’s what an official on election duty is dreaming of. Consider this: The seven-phase Lok Sabha elections may have given the politicians ample time to cool their heels dreaming of a win, but it has given sleepless nights for a section of government officials deputed for election duty as they will be relieved only after the election results are announced. One such officer posted on duty and in charge of electoral rolls is fed up as it is often bachelors who end up doing this tedious job. He thinks he has hit upon a brilliant plan: of getting married to avoid poll duty! Some poll effect this!
For the sake of name
What’s in a name? For political foes, it means everything. In Mandya, you had many Sumalathas in the fray. Gulbarga constituency perhaps has its own share of namesakes. The idea is to confuse the voter and hoping to eat into the votes of the opponent. BJP candidate Umesh Jadhav perhaps doesn’t know that that there is another person who shares his name. His opponents searched every inch of the constituency to find another Umesh Jadhav. When they found him, they persuaded him to file the papers. They brought him to the office of the Returning Officer just 10 minutes prior to the deadline on the last day of filing nomination papers. The officials provided him the necessary papers. While he was filling the forms, he received a phone call. He stopped filling the form and just vanished. This happened nearly a month ago. And the people who discovered ‘Umesh Jadhav’ are still searching high and low for him.
Sea food festival? Chew on this!
Here is some food for thought. On Saturday, the first seafood festival at Bengre island was inaugurated on the sidelines of a wrestling tournament conducted by Bengre Veera Bhrathi Vyayama Shala. And the person who inaugurated it didn’t know then perhaps that he would have to ‘wrestle’ with the choice of fare before him. It was yummy and exotic alright. But there was a huge, huge problem. Panambur Inspector of Police Sathyanarayana along with community leaders inaugurated the seafood festival. The members of Bengre Vidyarthi Sanga Yuvaka Mandali, who organized the festival, laid out a royal spread for the Inspector. He was impressed no doubt. But it turned out that the Inspector was a vegetarian and had to content himself ‘feasting’ on the cucumber and onions meant for the salad while others wolfed down prawns, squid, clams and fish items. This is what is called ‘bite off more than one can chew’!
No kidding! Neta says sorry
Political dishum-dishum is the norm. And when gloves are off, Congressmen are known to cross the line of control. No remorse, no regrets. But there is this Congressman who not only realised he was being ungentleman like but also apologised for it. And the ones who made him look inward were his children. Five days after he made a scathing and specifically gross personal accusation against actor Kangana Ranaut, Congress spokesperson Brijesh Kalappa withdrew his statement. “My father asked me last night what I had tweeted about Kangana Ranaut that was so controversial. My children were around, so I said that I would respond later. It then struck me that if I can’t explain to my children what my political stand was, I’d clearly not done the right thing. It’s been five days since my tweet on her. Some newspapers reported that I had deleted it instantly. I had not. I just did it. My profound apologies to her. I truly appreciate her as an actor and was angry that she had unjustifiably called our regime ‘Italian’ (sic), he tweeted on Sunday morning.