Delhi confidential: Caps in the ring

In the run-up to the April 10 polls, the cap, similar to those worn by AAP workers, emerged as a favourite headgear among party workers campaigning in the state.

Caps in the ring

Call it the AAP effect or a plain bankruptcy of ideas, but the INLD’s move to make party workers wear green-coloured caps with “Main hoon Tau Devi Lal (I am Tau Devi Lal)” written on them has grabbed eyeballs in the state. In the run-up to the April 10 polls, the cap, similar to those worn by AAP workers, emerged as a favourite headgear among party workers campaigning in the state. Meanwhile, the Election Commission clarified that leaders, workers or sympathisers of political parties would not be allowed to wear caps carrying political symbols or slogans inside polling stations and counting venues. Only plain caps, without any symbols or slogans, would be allowed, the EC said.

India-Pak ties

The new Pakistan High Commissioner to India, Abdul Basit, has an interesting connect with the Indian establishment. While this is his first Delhi posting, he and Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh were both envoys in Germany before taking up their respective jobs. So he has a “personal rapport” with Singh. In fact, his predecessor Salman Bashir and then Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao were also envoys in China at the same time. Many in South Block are wondering whether this is a coincidence or coordinated selection for key positions in both countries.

Loyalist to critic
He was once Shashi Tharoor’s closest aide, defending and shielding the Congress leader amid a series of controversies during his first stint as union minister. But Jacob Joseph Puthenparambil, now based in Singapore, has become a vocal AAP supporter. An avid twitterati, he is not very kind to Tharoor. “This time in TVM, Shashi Tharoor will finish third. Will be surprised if he crosses 200,000 votes,” he tweeted on Wednesday. On Tuesday, after Kejriwal was slapped, he tweeted, “Every slap, we become stronger, we will not hit back. We will vote.”

The EVM spin
At a BJP meeting, a new interpretation was given to the term EVM — the Electronic Voting Machine. The co-convenor of the Friends of BJP cell that organised the meeting, Manoj Arora, said EVM should now be read as “Every Vote for Modi”. Among the panelists were new party entrants Hardeep Puri and M J Akbar, besides BJP candidates Meenakshi Lekhi and Dr Harsh Vardhan.