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Martyred ATS chief Hemant Karkare was a 1982 batch IPS officer.

Salute the martyr
Martyred ATS chief Hemant Karkare was a 1982 batch IPS officer. His tragic end in the line of duty was a deeply disturbing news to several of his batchmates, some of whom are serving in Punjab. These include Inspector Generals of Police Suresh Arora, Sumedh Singh Saini and Sanjeev Gupta.

Remembering his acquaintence with Karkare, a top cop said, 8220;He was trained as an engineer in Nagpur. A man of few words, he was subjected to the most unfair and politically motivated criticism in the past few days in the Malegaon episode. It is a shame that politicians doubting his integrity are now paying glowing tributes to him. I think it shows their own lack of integrity and credibility. Parochial politics apart, the nation has lost one of its most brilliant officers.8221;

Deputy CM alias Phantom
To trace the location of Haryana Deputy CM Chander Mohan last week was more difficult than fixing an appointment with the Phantom. Even as he himself remained untraceable, a spate of phone calls were received by some Indian Express reporters from men/women who claimed to know about his whereabouts. A peculiar call came from a woman who said, 8220;I can8217;t tell you who I am, but I know where he is. But I can8217;t tell you that now. I will do that later at an appropriate time8221;. Well, the caller was even more mysterious that the missing man himself. Meanwhile, the staff at the house and office of the minister continued to offer a range of cock and bull stories, 8216;explaining8217; his disappearance. These ranged from 8220;He has gone to canvas for the Congress in the assembly elections8221; to 8220;he has gone for devi-pooja8221;.

Oh Brother
Unlike his 8216;missing8217; brother, Kuldeep Bishnoi, president of Haryana Janhit Congress, is never short of words. In a recent interaction with the media, he threw a gauntlet for the incumbent Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and his predecessor Om Parkash Chautala. He said that all three including him should contest the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections from Bhiwani-Mahendragarh constituency. The premise of his challenge was simple. 8220;These two have been the Chief Ministers of the state while I am a prime contender of the post in future. So it will be a clash of the titans.8221; Ahem!

All in the family
The incompetent and good for nothings, transformed into family members in a matter of a few hours. At a recent meeting of the Municipal Corporation, our agitated and hyperbolic councillors blasted the officials for their 8216;incompetence8217; and 8216;ineptitude8217;. Four hours later, the councillors suddenly appeared to have thawed. As one of them remarked, 8220;The officers should not take these allegations personally. It is all in the family and we should sort out the issues through discussions.8221; True so, after all, every family has its share of no-gooders!

India is Mumbai and Mumbai is India
The Mumbai blasts reminded everybody of Raj Thackeray8217;s statements, in which he kind of 8216;owned Mumbai8217; and 8216;directed8217; all outsiders to move out of Maharashtra. An SMS was received by numerous mobile phone users, which read 8211; Where is Raj Thackeray and his brave 8216;Sena8217;? Tell him that 200 NSG commandos and hundreds of other armymen not only Marathi; but lots of them from South, North, East India have been sent to his 8216;Amchi Mumbai8217; to fight terrorists so that he can sleep peacefully. Would he take up the 8216;cudgels8217; and ask non-Marathi commados to leave Mumbai now?8221;

Bathinda whispers
Speculation is rife these days about the likely candidate for the Lok Sabha elections from Bathinda. There have been strong expectations that the Badal family would field one of its own from the seat. The discussions and conjectures have now zeroed on to three likely candidates, that is, Sukhbir Badal, his better half, or the wife of the Chief Minister.