Andar Ki Baat: Playing With Political Fire

There is this political leader who is masterminding the violence in the state. His target is Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. He wants the youthful BJP leader out of office at any cost. In the past, this neta had ejected a chief minister from office by instigating riots and he is trying to repeat this experiment all over against to unseat Fadnavis. But, the latter has proved to be made of sterner stuff. If the BJP's centre leadership extends its fullest support to Fadnavis, it is only a matter of time before he shows this mischievous neta his place.

Sex, Spy Aur Dhoka

Investigations into the espionage case in Pune have revealed the extent of penetration of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) into the defence and research establishment in Pune. The army's Southern Command and several top research bodies are located in Pune. Such a level of penetration could not have been possible without local support. It is learnt that senior scientist Pradeep Kurulkar was only one among the many honeytrapped by the ISI. In Kurulkar's case, a beautiful Pakistani woman befriended him on the social media and even invited him to romantic rendezvous at Kathmandu, Nepal. Kurulkar spent two nights with this woman in a five-star hotel in Nepal's capital. The woman secretly recorded the raunchy bedroom activities and on the third day started blackmailing him. She invited an ISI agent to the hotel room and introduced him to Kurulkar as his handler from that day.

In A Predicament

The decision of the Eknath Shinde government to summarily withdraw cases of rioting and arson registered against Maratha quota activists of Jalna and the suspension of three officials have severely demoralised the state police. Sources said had Tushar Doshi, the disgraced superintendent of police of Jalna, not ordered the lathicharge and firing of teargas shells, then the violence in Jalna would have gone out of control and even spread to neighbouring districts. IPS circles are unhappy that cases against those who attacked as many as 40 policemen have been withdrawn by the Shinde government. The problem of the police is what happens if violence breaks out in future. Are they supposed to tackle it and face political music later or just let the rioters have their way?

Turbulent Affairs

The ongoing probe of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) into Naresh Goyal's affairs is leading to the doorsteps of the Dawood Ibrahim gang. If the investigation is carried to its logical end, then it will open a huge Pandora's box. The names of so many businessmen and politicians will be dragged into the messy controversy. The billion dollar question is whether the ED will be allowed to conduct a no-holds-barred investigation. Incidentally, a defunct airline is also believed to be have links with the don.

Tailpiece

Home ads to boost raddi sales! There is this newspaper which is publishing lots of in-house ads these days. You know why? Well, the idea is to have more pages which, in turn, will increase the raddi value of the newspaper! Truly the height of desperation! Samajh gaye na?

Compiled by S Balakrishnan

Published on: Wednesday, September 13, 2023, 12:33 PM IST