Mayawati's decision to field slain BSP MLA Raju Pal’s wife Pooja Pal in his place for the MLA seat raised an unusual debate in media circles. While this newspaper reported that Pooja was all set to fight the elections and was over 25 years of age (the minimum required to contest MLA elections), another national daily countered the next day saying Pooja was just 21 years old. Finally, Mayawati produced the ‘‘original birth certificate’’ of Pooja to establish that she was well over 25. The BSP supremo waved the other newspaper’s cuttings at the meeting, saying: ‘‘Yeh bhi Mulayam ki hi koi chaal hogi. Woh to paper bhi kharid sakta hai aur aisi news lagake Pooja ka manobal girana chahta hai.”One-man armyHoping to spread his Samajwadi Party to neighbouring states, Mulayam Singh is taking keen interest in the ongoing assembly elections. He has been out visiting either Bihar or Jharkhand practically every second day. At home, he runs the show from his official residence at 5, Kalidas Marg, with instructions like, ‘‘The area for my public meetings should not be less than three acres’’, or ‘‘When setting up the dais make sure I am facing the side from which people are coming in so that I can see the inflow and outflow’’.Playing ballK D Singh Babu Stadium was the stage for an episode of ‘Yes, Minister’ recently. State Sports Minister R K Chaudhary is quite keen that the stadium host a match during the forthcoming tour of the Pakistani team to India, instead of Kanpur. On his first visit, officials had tried to dissuade him. However, realising how dearly Chaudhary wanted this, they quickly changed tune: ‘‘Sir, Babu stadium gives much better view.”Compiled by AMAN SHARMA, ALKA PANDE & MAULSHREE SETH
