The Hindu : National : Language no bar

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Apr 27, 2006

National

National

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Though he spoke in English, Bharatiya Janata Party vice-president M. Venkaiah Naidu (in picture) struck a chord with the audience at an election rally in Madurai. The audience did not wait for the Tamil translation to react. It burst into laughter when Mr. Naidu said the United Progressive Alliance was nothing but an "Ulta Pulta Alliance." Accusing the Communists of having a negative mindset, he said the "right hand proposes and the left hand disposes." No development work took place during the UPA regime as "the Centre takes one step forward, three steps backward and hence the situation is awkward." Comparing the UPA to a bus, he said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh sat on the driver's seat but Congress president Sonia Gandhi held the steering wheel. While the Communists applied the brakes, Railway Minister Lalu Prasad had exclusive control over the handbrake. And what did Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam president M. Karunanidhi hold? A remote control to operate all of these.

DMK's Dhoni

An enthusiastic DMK activist made the most unexpected comparison during party president M. Karunanidhi's tour of Virudhunagar district. At a meeting venue in Rajapalayam, he started reeling off over the public address system the titles given to the leader in a bid to enthuse the gathering. But the crowd did not respond when he said, "Thee mu kaawin Dhoniye." Presumably, the gathering was confused and could not make sense of what he said. Realising this, the youth went on, "Thee mu kaawin Mahendra Singh Dhoniye" (DMK's Mahendra Singh Dhoni). The activist, who was perhaps a cricket fan, was comparing the septuagenarian leader to the new batting sensation of Team India. Only the previous day, the dashing batsman topped the ICC's ranking list for One-Day International batsmen. Cricket-lovers among the crowd were appreciative of the reference.

CM to the rescue

There was a flutter during West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee's campaign in the Alipore area of Kolkata on Monday after Communist Party of India (Marxist) candidate and film actor Biplab Chatterjee took ill and slumped in the jeep in which they were travelling. Mr. Bhattacharjee was quick to react. He sprinkled water on Mr. Chatterjee's face in a bid to revive him. Another actor Soumitra Chatterjee also lent a helping hand.

Mr. Biplab Chatterjee was rushed to hospital, where doctors said he had collapsed due to the heat. Mr. Chatterjee is popular among Bengali cinemagoers. Among those pitted against him is another popular actor, Tapas Pal, the Trinamool Congress nominee. Mr. Chatterjee was discharged from hospital after treatment. But Mr. Bhattacharjee continued his campaign without skipping a beat.

(Contributed by S. Vijay Kumar, S. Sundar and Marcus Dam)

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