Taste Of Gujarat
After making the BJP remove the word ‘Pappu’ from its electronic ad campaign for the Gujarat Assembly polls, the EC has now denied the party permission to draw mileage from ‘khakranomics”. The BJP wanted to advertise the slashing of GST on khakra–a Gujarati crispy snack–but the EC apparently denied permission, saying that the party could not go into specifics and had to keep it general. The EC is also believed to have pulled up the Ministry of Civil aviation when it asked permission to start international operations from Surat airport from December 10. What’s the hurry, the EC has asked.
Hero Co Comedian
Actor Vishal realised the hard way that there was a huge gap between his sudden political ambition and Tamil Nadu’s electoral system. First, he was made to wait in a long queue to collect his nomination papers–”sorry, no VIP treatment.” His papers were rejected as two proposers said they had not nominated him and their signatures were forged. When Vishal claimed the RO had assured him later that the papers would be accepted, he was told that only written orders had value. His appeal to the Chief Electoral Officer representing the EC was wrongly addressed to the commissioner who conducts panchayat elections. “Vishal’s predicament only proved how quickly a film hero can be reduced to a comedian in politics,” quipped a fan.
Foreign Fund-Red
A foreign fund that finances several Indian news portals is in the soup. First, the finance ministry started looking into its affairs. After the Paradise Papers revealed the fund’s use of tax havens, the home ministry is also taking a look. The portals, with an anti-Modi stand, have been low on content of late, leading to speculation about their finances. One recently launched a new parent company and assigned new contracts to employees. The other, a self-styled news watchdog, has had salaries delayed. Co-incidentally, this happened around the time of the expose as it awaited a fresh inflow from the same fund.
Overheard Sonia Gandhi reportedly told party leaders to delete 10, Janpath from their GPS system and add 12, Tughlak Lane instead. All roads should lead to RG’s house after his elevation.
