Singer Daler Mehndi

With Assembly election season getting closer, various political parties have started roping in their crowd-pullers to the campaign trails. The latest amongst these is Punjabi pop singer Daler Mehndi.

The singer is understood to be seeking a ticket from the Congress to contest the Assembly polls from a west Delhi constituency. He is also learnt to have been assured of a ticket by none other than chief minister Sheila Dikshit.
The CM and Mehndi were seen sharing the stage at a recent event where Daler gave a live performance and regaled the crowds. Though the singer tried to confine himself to patriotic songs, he had to buckle under popular demand and sang his famous Punjabi songs to please the crowds.

Flights of humour
Civil aviation minister Ajit Singh is well-known for his sense of humour and this was again seen when reporters sought to quiz him about why the Tatas were launching a new airline in India in partnership with Singapore Airlines when they (Tata Sons) also have a sizeable stake in the new low-cost carrier in India to be launched with AirAsia. “If you want to open a fast-food business (too), I won’t ask you why,” the minister laughed, before driving off in his official car.

Whipping boy
RJD chief Lalu Yadav has become the favourite whipping boy of both the ruling JD(U) and BJP in the state. While chief minister Nitish Kumar is not tired of pushing the case that Lalu is in secret alliance with the BJP, his rivals are also trying to push back the ball in his court. BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi maintains that Kumar is in a pact with Yadav. It appears that Yadav has become like a ball being kicked by both Kumar and Modi in their opponent’s court.

Maoists’ strong & secret network
While the security forces claim to have cornered the Naxals with their two-pronged approach of police action and development, the security officials confess that there is one odd thing they have not been able to resolve so far, that is whether the CPI(Maoist) have been able to hold their party congress or not!
This speaks a lot about the Maoists’ huge network which they have been able to keep under wraps despite several inroads made by the forces into the Naxal belts.
Even as intelligence agencies are on the job in the Naxal strongholds, security sources said that just like last year, this year too they have no information on whether the grand meeting of the banned outfit has indeed taken place in the so-called liberated zones of Left wing extremism affected states.
An official confessed that the party congress may have indeed taken place without the knowledge of the police forces. “We cannot say for sure,” the official said.
Sources added that the Maoists may have been set on the backfoot, but it is still a long-drawn battle ahead till the security forces can actually hit at the Maoist movement in the country which has grown out of deprivation, landlessness and existence of many who continue to remain cut off from basic amenities and government schemes.

Tracing Indian roots in China
External affairs minister Salman Khurshid recently had some interesting observations to make on links between India and China. Speaking at the inaugural meeting of the India China Media Forum, the minister noted that the two countries have a significant link historically and culturally.
He told the gathering that the Mahabharata has no less than seven references to China. And said that “in our understanding of Islamic philosophy, China is seen as a destination in search of knowledge and connectivity with the world”.
The minister had yet another interesting nugget to share — that Mandarin scholars have found nearly 35,000 words of Pali and Sanskrit origin in the language. Not surprising perhaps given the two Asian giants’ geographical proximity to each other.

Caught in name game
What’s in a name? Quite a lot, going by the popular tradition in the country of lengthy names. This because, as per custom, people not only carry their family surnames but also the name of the village to which they belong as part of their names.
The name of minister of state for home, Ratanjeet Pratap Narayan Singh, who because of his longer name is popularly known as “RPN”, and the minister has the habit of responding to his shorter name. But recently at a function in Vigyan Bhawan, the host of the function announced the longer version (Ratanjeet Pratap Narayan Singh) of the minister’s name to which not only the audience behaved “oblivious” but also the minister. Later after the function got over, RPN was heard saying that even he was not sure if his name was announced; as for the last many years no one had called him by his full name.

Sex back in sensex
Internationally reputed economist and new RBI governor Raghuram Rajan has developed quite a fan following among women. At 50, Rajan is one of the youngest RBI governors and there are many women who find him “hot”. At corporate birthdays and parties it is Rajan who is the main topic of discussion these days. A leading female socialite-cum-columnist even called Rajan the guy who brought “sex” back in “sensex”.