Time to count Amar Singh’s cars!
Every time Amar Singh tries to rub the Congress the wrong way, the party quickly turns its focus to his flamboyant lifestyle and starts counting his assets in public. This time around, Congress spokesperson Sanjay Nirupam was counting the imported cars in possession of the Samajwadi Party leader.
He was apparently angered by Amar Singh’s acerbic remarks against Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh.
"If a rally can create a law-and-order problem, then let there be President’s Rule in Maharashtra instead of Uttar Pradesh as is being demanded by Congress.” These were the precise words Amar Singh used against Deshmukh. Hardly provoking.
But then, with the UP polls around the corner, who will let go a chance to score brownie points? So, Nirupam raised the asset bogey.
“Singh has three imported cars, a Lexus worth Rs 1 crore, a Volkswagen worth Rs 1.5 crore and a Bentley worth Rs 1.5 crore. From where did the former PRO of a Birla group company get this wealth?” Nirupam asks.
"There is a mention of Rs 150 crore being paid to some Thakur account in documents seized in I-T raids on a liquor company in Uttar Pradesh. We should know who is the owner of this Thakur account,” he demands.
Look, who is playing bhai-bhai
When Manmohan Singh and Hu Jintao played Hindi-Chini bhai bhai earlier this week, it was ‘business’ as usual: they hardly impressed, broke no new ground, gave no breaking news to 24x7 news channels.
But an hour-long meeting between these two Biharis was enough to leave the capital chatterati abuzz about a possible rapprochement between LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
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Nitish Kumar met the Union Minister for Fertilisers and Chemicals in New Delhi on Wednesday evening for close to an hour, arousing enough curiosity in the media as well as the political fraternity.
Nitish first said “there was no politics” and they talked Bihar’s development. "Better late then never," did someone say? When it came to joining hands politically for a “better political future” of the state just a year back, the two fought shadow boxing till the state went under President’s Rule again, requiring fresh polls.
The two leaders had raised political eyebrows by appearing together at a government function in Bihar recently.
Nitish himself did add some fuel to the wildfire of speculation. When asked if the meeting meant that the gap between the two was closing, Kumar gave a cryptic reply, “Dekhne se kya lagta hai (What does it look like)?” So, are they gearing up to form an anti-Lalu front? Not quite. It’s a ‘Bihar Vikas Front’, says Nitish.
Bihar observers, however, want to see it the other way. With Nitish himself feeling cornered after having failed to do anything significant to get the state out of the morass, he now needs more political friends than foes. In any case, loudmouth Fernandes is already out on the street to “unmask” him.
So, don’t be surprised if one fine morning he calls all the pressmen home to declare the February 2005 episode a ‘Historic Blunder’!!!
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