Through the third eye
As elections loom, star power is coming into its own with the phenomenon of celebrities-as-politicians becoming even more common.
By ET Bureau |
Star gazing
As elections loom, star power is coming into its own with the phenomenon of celebrities-as-politicians becoming even more common. The latest rumour on that front has to do with actor Preity Zinta contesting from the Hamirpur parliamentary seat against incumbent CM���s son Anurag Dhumal in Himachal Pradesh. Though senior state Congress leaders are hesitant to confess all, the BJP camp is taking this development seriously.
���Hamirpur parliamentary constituency has always been a stronghold of the BJP. Congress needs to have a strong candidate and I think they are playing it wisely this time. I won���t be surprised if some celebrity steps in,��� a senior BJP leader said, requesting anonymity. But former CM Shanta Kumar avers it is impossible to beat the BJP in Hamirpur. ���In the last few days I have met Preity Zinta four times. She is a wise lady and knows that winning from Hamirpur is impossible.��� Well, one never knows, does one?
Cakes n pain
For the Congress��� Kashmiri man, Ghulam Nabi Azad, who has just taken over as in-charge of Tamil Nadu Congress as states warm up for the Lok Sabha elections, it was almost literally a cake walk. When the AICC general secretary came down to Chennai soon after taking charge, he headed to meet DMK supremo M Karunanidhi at his residence. Talking about his own ���back pain��� days, Azad found something to share with the DMK patriarch.
A liberal spread of cakes, carrot ���halwa���, cashews and orange juice was served as the two got down to discuss their poll strategies. Azad���s visit assumes significance considering that AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa is desperately trying to woo the Congress. Nuts and bolts politics, huh?
Left���s Pranab shocks
The Congress-Trinamul Congress poll tie-up in West Bengal comes as yet another realisation for the Marxists that Pranab Mukherjee���s commitment to his party���s core interests can���t be influenced by showering him with public praise. For a fortnight, various Bengal CPI-M leaders had been courting Delhi���s ���other PM��� with subtle reminders of how the Congress and Left may have to do business again after the LS polls.
���Hamirpur parliamentary constituency has always been a stronghold of the BJP. Congress needs to have a strong candidate and I think they are playing it wisely this time. I won���t be surprised if some celebrity steps in,��� a senior BJP leader said, requesting anonymity. But former CM Shanta Kumar avers it is impossible to beat the BJP in Hamirpur. ���In the last few days I have met Preity Zinta four times. She is a wise lady and knows that winning from Hamirpur is impossible.��� Well, one never knows, does one?
Cakes n pain
For the Congress��� Kashmiri man, Ghulam Nabi Azad, who has just taken over as in-charge of Tamil Nadu Congress as states warm up for the Lok Sabha elections, it was almost literally a cake walk. When the AICC general secretary came down to Chennai soon after taking charge, he headed to meet DMK supremo M Karunanidhi at his residence. Talking about his own ���back pain��� days, Azad found something to share with the DMK patriarch.
A liberal spread of cakes, carrot ���halwa���, cashews and orange juice was served as the two got down to discuss their poll strategies. Azad���s visit assumes significance considering that AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa is desperately trying to woo the Congress. Nuts and bolts politics, huh?
Left���s Pranab shocks
The Congress-Trinamul Congress poll tie-up in West Bengal comes as yet another realisation for the Marxists that Pranab Mukherjee���s commitment to his party���s core interests can���t be influenced by showering him with public praise. For a fortnight, various Bengal CPI-M leaders had been courting Delhi���s ���other PM��� with subtle reminders of how the Congress and Left may have to do business again after the LS polls.
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It was no secret that the comrades, mortally afraid of a Congress-Mamata alliance against the Left, were hoping that ���Pranab Babu���, who is also the PCC chief, will look at the Bengal scene through the post-poll ���national perspective���. Having enjoyed every minute of the public show of courtesy by the CPI-M, Pranabda drove down to Ms Banerjee on Sunday night to script a poll pact that dashed Left hopes.
But then, the CPI-M brass seems to be making a habit of erring in reading how he will react. Remember how AKG Bhavan behaved as if Pranabda was a ���comrade��� when he was leading the Congress-Left negotiations on the Indo-US civil nuclear deal which also ended up in the Left getting nuked?
Tailpiece
There���s another side to the Slumdog Millionaire success story ��� the movie has become a springboard for hosts of America���s many daily shows to launch their hilarious barbs. Most of them try to pun on the slumdog and millionaire themes, and, of course, extend it to whatever���s left of America���s banking system.
However, Jimmy Kimmel, on his eponymous daily show in ABC, took the cake: ���Slumdog was the big favourite going in. They���re saying the only way it could have possibly lost is if it had picked Sarah Palin as a running mate!���
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