What a royal idea
Union minister Farooq Abdullah stunned senior Congress leader Karan Singh at a book release function recently. Talking about the Kashmir issue, Abdullah suggested that Singh, being the erstwhile ruler of Jammu and Kashmir, should make serious efforts to unite the state. One such step would be to live in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (POK) for some time. A stunned Singh was left groping to give a fitting reply to one of his 'erstwhile subjects'.
A linguist with a twist
Sushma Swaraj is taking her job of overseeing the BJP's poll work in Tamil Nadu and Kerala seriously. Though the party's prospects are nothing to write home about, she visited the coastal areas of Tamil Nadu to 'understand' the difficulties facing the families of the fishermen killed in waters close to Sri Lankan territory. Known for her ability to pick up languages, Swaraj managed to impress the fishermen's wives with a few sentences in Tamil. BJP old-timers recall her learning Kannada when she fought for the Bellary Lok Sabha seat in 1999. They also recall that she lost to Sonia Gandhi whose language skills are not legendary.
Tweet and sour
AIADMK Big Mama J Jayalalithaa is upset that someone is posting messages on Twitter using her name. The imposter has camouflaged herself (himself?) so well that the entries read very much like her views. Though she knows her technology, she has made it clear that "I am not on Twitter and as such the tweeting purportedly done in my name is by an imposter or impersonator. I am initiating criminal action through the police cyber-crime department." She also requested her friends, followers, party cadres and colleagues not to be misled by the tweets attributed to her. That this request came from the real Jayalalithaa was indeed confirmed.
The guest lecturer
When the NDA leadership came together at LK Advani's residence to release a report on black money, one of the authors of the report, IIM Bangalore professor R Vaidyanathan, stole Advani's thunder. He offered to speak when Advani was waxing eloquent. Advani gracefully obliged. The prof went on for a good 15-20 minutes - with Advani, Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley and SS Ahluwalia looking nervously at one another. Vaidyanathan didn't pull his punches when he said that the public image of politicians was low. It was a group of journalists whose abrupt, although ironic, applause made the professor finally stop. Jaitley, sitting next to him, told him: "You were very brief!"
The guest lecturer
When the NDA leadership came together at LK Advani's residence to release a report on black money, one of the authors of the report, IIM Bangalore professor R Vaidyanathan, stole Advani's thunder. He offered to speak when Advani was waxing eloquent. Advani gracefully obliged. The prof went on for a good 15-20 minutes - with Advani, Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley and SS Ahluwalia looking nervously at one another. Vaidyanathan didn't pull his punches when he said that the public image of politicians was low. It was a group of journalists whose abrupt, although ironic, applause made the professor finally stop. Jaitley, sitting next to him, told him: "You were very brief!"