Lucknownama

Poll back-up
If the details of the ongoing Youth Congress elections in the Central Zone are put online every day,the credit goes to a software engineer from Haryana who has been camping here for the last 15 days. Gaurav Chanda has set up a control room at a local guesthouse,which also functions as the link between Rahul Gandhi’s office in Delhi and the election team working in the state. Gaurav has been sent to assist the election team in solving all software-related problems. Very few people know about him. “Yes,there is someone from RG’s office who is helping the election process. But since he is not a political person,there is no need for people to know about him,” explained a senior Congress leader.

The medal chase
A police officer is going to great lengths to bag the President’s Medal for Gallantry. The state government had recommended his name,along with three others,to the Centre in appreciation of their role in the encounter last year in which dacoit Ghanshyam Kewat was killed in Chitrakoot. Turning jittery after some colleagues raised objections,the officer visited the offices of the Ministry of Home Affairs a few days ago,and showed senior officers a CD of the operation to convince them about the genuineness of his claim. It is not known yet what effect the exercise had,but officials say never before had anyone lobbied so hard for the President’s Medal.

Playing games,not sport
A few days ago,the Lucknow girls’ football team was forced to spend a night in the waiting room of the railway station at Shahjahanpur after reaching there to participate in the Sub-Junior Girls’ State Football Championship.
The organisers,who had not been informed,had made no arrangement. Asked about it,DFA secretary Kanhaiyya Lal said he did not know that a Lucknow team had gone to Shahjahanpur. In the ongoing district football league in Lucknow,walkovers have become the order of the day. The DFA president,Satish Shukla,blames the secretary for the farce: “Kanhaiyya Lal got many teams included,but now he is not ensuring that these teams turn up for their matches.” With the president and the secretary busy trying to outplay each other,the sport and the players are suffering.