“Santa Claus” from Finnish Lapland with children at an event to celebrate Christmas in New Delhi on Saturday. — G.N. JHA

It’s true that nothing comes for free. Not even the anti- corruption movement. In Karnataka, a state dubbed the most corrupt in the country, India Against Corruption activists and a number of other volunteers made matters worse for themselves by fanning out among the crowd at Freedom Park in Bengaluru on Saturday asking for donations of `1,000 a head.

A number of eyebrows were raised when the Samajwadi Party general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav shared the dais with Anna Hazare at Jantar Mantar last Sunday. What surprised most was that Yadav offered full support to team Anna for their key demands. This was very much a U-turn, as the party had earlier been a sharp critic of team Anna.

Self-styled Gandhian Anna Hazare’s attempt to unite the Opposition against the government received a jolt with CPI national secretary D. Raja pointing a finger at him for “paving the way for emergence of authoritarianism and fascism”. Even CPI general secretary A.B. Bardhan, who attended Mr Hazare’s Jantar Mantar rally on December

Ending the fifth leg of his state-wide Seva Yatra amid growing criticism from the Opposition parties, Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar returned to Patna on Saturday and self-assuredly emphasised the sustained usefulness of his on-the-spot inspection of development schemes in several districts.

About a dozen prominent minority community leaders in the Congress are yet to get a role in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, expected early next year.
The reports coming from UP are encouraging with Bahujan Samaj Party supremo and chief minister Mayawati recognising the Congress as her party’s main rival in the coming electoral battle.

After wooing Brahmins, OBCs and dalits, the ruling Bahujan Samaj Party is Uttar Pradesh will extend its hand to Muslims, Thakurs and Vaishyas at a rally in the state capital on Sunday. The rally is part of the party’s strategy to consolidate its sarvjan (all castes) formula that had catapulted it to power in 2007. The BSP will be focusing on three vote banks that are believed to have shifted to other parties in recent months.

With Anna Hazare on Saturday saying that doubts have arisen over whether the Lokpal bill will be passed by December 23, his volunteers in Mumbai are gearing up for his proposed indefinite fast on December 27. This agitation will see initiatives such as “Anna badges and masks” as Christmas trees ornaments along with utilisation of local trains as “Jan Lokpal Express trains” to spread awareness about the cause.

Addressing a 50,000-strong gathering here on Saturday, Congress president Sonia Gandhi spoke at length about how her party was sensitive towards Goa’s environment — something which the local Congress has been repeatedly criticised about, given the illegal mining scam.

Congress MP Rahul Gandhi wrapped up his five-day tour of Uttar Pradesh on Saturday by exhorting the people to work towards a change in the upcoming Assembly elections.