By IANS,
New Delhi : Bhupinder Singh Hooda of Haryana is one of the most politically stable among chief ministers in Congress-ruled states. So there was some flurry over ‘breaking news’ on TV that he could resign!
A certain news channel showed the news that he had offered to resign over ticket allotments in Haryana for Lok Sabha seats, causing ripples in the state’s political circles. Hooda’s media managers immediately tried to set the record straight by rubbishing the report.
It turned out that the provocation for such ‘breaking news’ was differences within the Congress over allotment of ticket for the Sonepat seat. Finance Minister Birender Singh, who is a relative of the chief minister, apparently wants the ticket but the Hooda camp is resisting.
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NCP in Goa? Where is it?
Looks like the Goa unit of the Congress simply cannot come to terms with the fact that they had to concede the North Goa seat to ally Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).
When at a recent press conference, Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) spokesperson Vishnu was asked how the two parties were working out their joint campaign, he said: “What joint campaign are you talking about? They have no manpower.
“We give them our men. We give them logistical support. They did not have a candidate to field in the elections. So we even gave them a candidate to contest the elections!”
Vishnu was referring to the unprecedented political move wherein Jitendra Deshprabhu, a Congress member for four decades, was asked to resign by the party leadership and contest on an NCP ticket.
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Masks – only on the face of it!
Many office-goers in Mumbai were surprised to find hundreds of Rahul Gandhis and Sanjay Nirupams on their way to an election office. They were Congress supporters wearing masks!
The Congress workers were accompanying Sanjay Nirupam, the party nominee from Mumbai North, when he went to file his nomination.
Speaking to mediapersons later, Nirupam said this was merely a gesture of goodwill by his supporters. “Otherwise, we don’t believe in the politics of ‘mukhauta’ (mask). Our work is transparent,” he declared.
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Stars flock to Punjab, but not for politics
Bollywood star Salman Khan descended in Gurdaspur district of Punjab to root for actor-politician Vinod Khanna, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate. But he was an exception.
What hogged more attention the same day was a non-political visit by over 25 Bollywood celebrities to the Golden Temple in Amritsar to pray.
The visitors included Shilpa Shetty, Jitendra, Ekta Kapoor, Poonam Dhillon and Monica Bedi. A special flight brought them to the Sikh holy city for the religious visit.