Crunchy deets: A confident bear of a man

A confident bear of a man

In the run-up to the 2018 Assembly elections, the then TPCC chief Uttam Kumar Reddy declared that he would keep his beard untouched until his party ascends to power. Fast forward to the election results and let’s just say the outcome didn’t exactly match Reddy’s grooming expectations. The poor man not only lost the election but also had to face the music of humiliation orchestrated by the winning party, which compared him to a wild bear. Now, here’s where it gets interesting.

Despite his vow to let his facial hair flow freely until victory, he did trim, perhaps hundreds of times since then. But wait, there’s more to the story as Uttam has grown his beard again. When a curious reporter dared to ask the burning question -- ‘would the beard stay or would it go?’ -- Uttam, with a chest reportedly expanding to a proud 52 inches, probably anticipating victory, declared that this time, the razor would finally meet its match.

So confident is Uttam that he has even talked of political ‘sanyas’ if he doesn’t win with a 50,000-vote majority. Or maybe he just doesn’t expect people to take politicians seriously.

World Cup final truce of 2023

After a few months of gruesome trench warfare in Europe, guns fell silent in many places on December 24, 1914. World War 1 saw a temporary pause, the so-called Christmas truce. In Telangana, with less than two weeks to go for polls, all political parties have been trying to woo voters with their roadshows, meetings, padyatras and whatnot. However, Sunday was a bit different.

Many party workers took a temporary break to watch the ICC World Cup final between India and Australia. Many candidates and leaders such as Mallikarjun Kharge and senior leader KC Venugopal were seen catching a bit of the match amidst their busy schedules. While the World Cup final ended in disappointment for Indian fans, roads in Hyderabad did enjoy a day of quiet.

Contributions: B Kartheek, Ireddy Srinivas Reddy, S Bachan Jeet Singh

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