CN Heard

And the ticket goes to?

Congressmen (and women) in Haryana continue to be hopeful of getting a ticket for the Lok Sabha elections,in spite of the high command having hinted at giving the sitting MPs another go. While some have been trying to pull the right strings in Delhi,some,including Haryana Finance Minister Birender Singh,have made their wishes vocal. Birender time and again has declared his intention to contest from Sonepat.

Difficult remarriage

The Sonepat seat is currently with the BJP,which is having troubles of its own. The party is still to arrive at a seat-sharing formula with alliance partner INLD. With the BJP wanting six of the 10 seats in the state and the INLD vouching for five each,the saffron party has asked its leaders to send names from all the 10. Looks like the remarriage is turning out to be a difficult one.

Wanted: brave souls

The Chandigarh Municipal Corporation is facing a scary problem these days. The civic body is finding it hard to find people willing to work in the city’s cremation grounds. The problem has reached the grassroots,with even gardeners hard to come by. Given the spooky tales attached to cremation grounds,the problem is quite (super)natural,no? But with plans in place for renovation of the cremation grounds,the search is on for some brave souls.

Modesty at its worst

SAD president,and now Deputy Chief Minister,Sukhbir Badal,routinely rubbished the media reports on his then-expected coronation. And now that he has taken charge,meaning that the reports were not mere speculation (as he put it),he is crediting the media for the ever-expected elevation. During his maiden press briefing after taking charge,Sukhbir said had the media not written so much about him in the last two years,he probably won’t have been where he is. ‘How modest’,was a reporter’s remark,dripping with sarcasm.

The others’ tally

There is no race or scramble for the BSP tickets though. The centralised (hence,democratic?!) selection procedure of the party has ensured that it has already announced candidates for the nine seats it would contest. As for the Haryana Janhit Congress,the way its leaders are deserting the party,it might just be reduced to a case of the last man standing.

‘Tagore Marriage Palace’

A marriage bureau owner recently promised his client a wedding function at the newly-renovated Tagore Theatre. The client wondered if weddings take place at the drama hub,to which he replied,“With the kind of money they charge nowadays,othe draame taan nahi hunde,viaah hi honge (Staging plays is out of the question,yes,marriage functions are quite possible!).” All part of a Punjabi play though,staged at the poor cousin,Punjab Kala Bhawan in Sector 16,but seeing (rather listening to) the audiences’ reaction,one couldn’t help but picture a blingy signboard reading ‘Tagore Marriage Palace’ atop a building in Sector 18.