One For The Poli Road
A regular column on the essential buzz
One For The Poli Road
Just when he thought he had done his last movie and would soon launch his own party, Rajnikanth is apparently under pressure from his wife to do another. The wife, Latha, was incidentally ordered by the Supreme Court to pay up Rs 6.2 crore she owes an advertising agency. Rajni is said to be averse to the idea as he does not want to sully his political take-off with the poor business decisions made by his wife and daughter. Instead of doing one more movie, Rajnikanth may sell one of his properties to settle the debt. “His family could be his biggest liability in politics just as it has been for his film career,” quips a producer.
Unite And Rule
The much-touted patch-up between former Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit and her bugbear Delhi Congress president Ajay Maken has failed to impress sceptics in the Grand Old Party. They believe the truce is tenuous and may not survive long. With the AAP government in Delhi floundering, sources claim the Congress ‘high command’ thinks putting up a united front would improve its chances of a comeback. There is also the ‘ghar wapsi’ of former Delhi minister Arvinder Singh Lovely, who was said to have quit due to differences with Maken to join the BJP nine months ago. The tantalising prospect of recovering the ground so thoroughly lost in the last assembly and Lok Sabha elections may just help the party keep its flock together.
Outsourced Laloo-Isms
RJD chief Laloo Prasad Yadav is in jail, but his Twitter handle hasn’t stopped buzzing. If anything, the tweets are coming in fast and furious since his sentencing in the fodder scam. Eleven tweets were sent out in 22 minutes on the day he was convicted; one compared him to Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King. Apparently, the account’s handling has been outsourced to someone who has the hang of Laloo-isms. On February 20, a tweet in Hindi took a potshot at PM Modi, saying he set all the enforcement agencies—ED, Income Tax , CBI—after Laloo, allowing “Chhotka (Nirav)Modi and gang” to flee the country.
Overheard Likely to be announced after the Congress plenary next month, Rahul Gandhi’s new team is pipped to be a balanced blend of experienced seniors and the younger, energetic lot.