Lucknownama: Spot the reason

Why is Mayawati camping in Lucknow while the political theatre in Delhi has come alive after the TMC withdrawal of support to UPA? Sources said she wants her main rival Mulayam Singh Yadav to keep guessing about her next political move. Also,while in Lucknow,she can talk to whosoever she wants on the telephone,without the TV cameras chasing her for a byte. She is going to stay here until the BSP national executive meeting on October 10.

Super CM

SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav is sometimes described as super Chief Minister. At the SP national executive meeting held in Kolkata,he intervened when the issue of giving a Rs 3,000 monthly pension to those who were jailed during the emergency came up for discussion. He announced that the pension would be doubled. Azam Khan,who sat next to him,held Mulayam’s hand and remarked: “Netaji,you are acting like a Mughal king distributing largesse. Let the CM take the decision.” The gathering burst into a laughter.

Mighty thief

Congress secretary Avinash Pande had his pocket picked at the function organised to welcome new state Congress president Nirmal Khatri. Sources said Pande realised this when he was seated on the dias,along with senior leaders of the state. But,precisely for this reason he did not make much noise,although he had lost a decent sum of money. The incident left the senior leaders bewildered. But it gave the party men enough fodder for cracking jokes about the identity of the pickpocket.

Post Script

Fresh from his Israel trip,PWD and Irrigation Minister Shivpal Yadav sounded highly impressed by their water conservation model. He spoke enthusiastically about it to everyone who met him,and promised to bring the technology to UP. However,after listening to him,one visitor reminded Shivpal that Israel is one country which Muslims dislike most. Praising Israel and hobnobbing with its government may alienate the community,the minister was told. Since then,Shivpal has stopped talking about his Israel experiences.

Treasured gun

Among the prized possessions of former BSP minister Yashwant Singh of Meerut is a 7.65 mm Spanish pistol,worth about Rs 8 lakh. Recently,it got sold for Rs 500. It so happened that a bag containing the pistol and other valuables was stolen from the former minister’s vehicle. He lodged a complaint with the police which,within four days,arrested two thieves and recovered the bag,minus the pistol. During interrogation,the thieves disclosed that they had sold the pistol to a junk dealer for a mere Rs 500,thinking that the weapon,which was very small in size,wasn’t worth much. Police went to the junk dealer and,luckily for Yashwant Singh,found he had not sold it further yet.