Reporters' diary: Out of school at neta's house

With the Samajwadi Party facing an informal split of sorts, ministers in the Akhilesh Yadav government are tripping over each other to profess their loyalty to the chief minister, lest he gives them marching orders. Recently, UP minister for jails Balwant Singh Ramoowalia crossed all limits when he called over about 120 schoolgirls to his official residence and made them hold up placards praising the CM. The schoolgirls were also made to shout slogans like “Hamare neta kaise ho, Akhilesh bhaiyya jaise ho.”

The minister did not leave it at this — he gave a lecture to the schoolkids on the achievements of the Akhilesh government and the need for the state to repeat the government by voting it back to power. Later, when asked by mediapersons, the children simply said they did not know why they had been brought to the minister’s residence. The minister, on the other hand, said he had visited schools a few days ago and the children seemed inquisitive about the policies of the government. The length that some politicians will go to save their positions in the government is best seen in UP on election eve.

Baba’s theory on corruption
Odisha’s saffron-clad Biju Janata Dal Lok Sabha member from Bhubaneswar Prasanna Patsani never knows what he says in public meetings. He goes on making garrulous speeches, which often lack coherence and subject. Nor does the MP care about what the world thinks of him if he makes mistakes while giving sound bites to the electronic media. When journalists covering a vigilance week ceremony asked him to explain why high-salaried government officers were accepting bribes and getting caught by state vigilance sleuths, Mr Patsani, who is fondly called as Baba, proffered his own and yet strange understanding on the subject.

“I think wives of senior officers are to some extent responsible for their husbands becoming corrupt. When they (wives) become more demanding and spend lavishly on their fashion needs, their husbands indulge in corruption to buy peace with them,” the BJD leader said. The leaders of women’s wings of the BJP and Left parties immediately lapped up the issue and said the BJD leader’s remark was against their dignity and honour. They demanded an immediate apology from him. Mr Patsani had no other option than yielding to the demand.