Lucknownama: Meet the parents

Fact or farce

State Congress president Rita Bahuguna Joshi is no admirer of Mayawati. On Education Day,Joshi issued a statement,calling Mayawati “undemocratic” and “fascist”,who had insulted the constitutional office of the Prime Minister by stopping Manmohan Singh’s message to school children and,instead,sending her own. Mayawati could have ordered that both messages were read out in schools,an angry Joshi said. But both messages were actually read out in schools. Obviously,when some politicians decide to hit out at rivals,facts don’t matter.

Ticketing office

On Saturday,BJP organisation secretary Rakesh Jain inaugurated the “office’’ of Rajesh Bhardwaj in Atrauli constituency in Aligarh district. BJP sources said it was as good as an announcement of Bhardwaj’s candidature. Why will a politician open an office in a constituency if he is not a candidate? At present,Kalyan Singh’s daughter-in-law Premlata Devi is BJP MLA from Atrauli. She did not leave the BJP with her husband and father-in-law,obviously to avoid disqualification. Now,she will contest on the ticket of Kalyan Singh’s Jan-Kranti Party,and the BJP has to field a candidate. Ticket-seekers in the BJP have not liked this virtual announcement of Bhardwaj’s candidature. They point out that the BJP maintains it has not finalised any candidates. They also point out that earlier,party vice-president Vinay Katiyar had announced the candidature of state president Surya Pratap Shahi from Pathardeva constituency.

Not so bovine act

There is an interesting story behind the recent transfer of Lucknow IG Ashish Gupta to Allahabad. A buffalo was stolen in Unnao but the police did not lodge an FIR. The aggrieved owner approached a Samajwadi Party MLA who took up the matter with a top police officer who,in turn,ordered an inquiry. The IG reportedly conducted the inquiry and ordered registration of a case against some men and a local police officer. One of the men named in the FIR knew a BSP MP whose clout has been lately growing. The MP complained in the right quarters,accusing the IG of harassing innocent people. Promptly,the IG was transferred and an inquiry by CB-CID was ordered into the episode.

Numero uno act

Like many others,Lucknow Mayor Dinesh Sharma was also obsessed with 11.11.11. He inaugurated three projects — a park,a crossing and a road dedicated to the late Sheema Rizvi — on November 12,but the date engraved on the plaques was “11.11.11”. Sources in the Lucknow Municipal Corporation said that the Mayor preferred to unveil the projects in back date as he thought 11.11.11 was lucky for him. He also junked the conventional way of writing dates,which was “November 11,2011’’. Further,he called the last meeting of the Lucknow Municipal Corporation house on November 11,although its term ends on Monday.