Rent Control Act
A central minister camping in the state capital has changed his address. He was staying in the most expensive hotel in Bhopal, but now, he has shifted to a rented house. The government was footing the minister’s hotel bills, but since the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) came into force, the government stopped doing it. Now that the BJP has to foot the bill for his stay in the state capital, he wanted to tighten his belt for the party. The minister has taken two houses on rent – one is near the Chief Minister’s house and the other is near the party office. Whenever he gets late anywhere at night, he takes a rest in any of the two houses nearby. Similar is the story of a senior leader of the Congress. Since paying hotel bills of the leader was weighing heavy on the Congress, the party has arranged a house for him in the state capital. Because the house belongs to a leader of the party, the Congress does not have to pay any rent. Besides, there is an unwritten rule – the house owner cannot ask for rent from a senior leader of the party. This is a smart act to control rent.
Enigmatic silence
It is election time in MP. Every politician has swung into action. Some are seeking tickets for themselves, and a few others are doing so for their lickspittles. On the other hand, those who are not aspiring for tickets are busy doing something or the other to justify their presence in politics. Against this backdrop, a woman politician, who has been active in the state election for many years, has mysteriously taken shelter into a retired corner of her home. Those taking interest in political developments in the state are unable to unravel this mystery. In the past, the woman politician would seek tickets from a particular assembly constituency, but this time, she has not shown any interest in doing so. Although she is holding an important position in the party, yet she neither attends any meeting nor plays any role in any event organised by the party. Nobody can understand the reasons for her indifference. A few leaders are trying to dig out the reasons for madam’s enigmatic silence. The issue is, however, connected to an untold story outside the state, and a controversial BJP leader has something to do with it. This secret anecdote has kept madam away from state politics.
Carrots for ticket!
Getting a ticket from a political party is an achievement for any politician. In trying to hit the bull’s-eye, a politician went to the house of a Congress leader, and that too with an advance payment to oblige the latter. The ticket aspirant from the Malwa-Niwar region has been using his clout to meet his purpose, but it came to light that a Congress leader from the region is opposed to him. So, he reached the residence of the leader concerned to cozy up to him with a pack of carrots. Initially, when he saw the packet, the leader flew off the handle; however, after a lot of persuasions, he agreed not to oppose the candidature of the ticket aspirant. The leader declined the packet, though. Yet, the ticket-seeker stuck to his guns, and sent the packet to someone who is contesting the election and is close to the leader, so that the dough may help him. Now, the ticket aspirant is happy, because he is convinced that now the leader will not go up against him.
Muscle flexing
The yarn of ticket distribution in the run-up to an election offers many unpleasant spins. Ergo, each tale about the ticket distribution for the upcoming polls smacks of the same old odour. The pong seems to be like a corked wine when the leader of a political party, given the responsibility for managing the election, flexes his muscles for a ticket. An office-bearer of the BJP, keen on getting a ticket from a district in the Gwalior-Chambal region, is just doing it. He has begun to do so after a female minister has refused to contest the upcoming election from the district. The ticket aspirant is using his clout in the party as well as strong-arm tactics to hit the jackpot, but it is not known whether his efforts would yield any outcome or not.
Wind is blowing
Poll fever has gripped the entire Madhya Pradesh, and the bureaucrats are not out of its clenches. They are calculating the election outcome on their own. So is doing a young IAS officer. He is so much consumed by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) that he has begun to see it win a few seats in the upcoming election. He feels the political wind is but slowly wafting a message of change. Therefore, he has begun to talk – apart from the chances of a win of the BJP and of the Congress – about the bright prospects of the AAP in some constituencies. There is, however, some reasons for thinking so. It is said that he is a distant relative of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. The officer’s feelings may be limned in the words of Bob Dylan: The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind …The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind…
Shattered dreams
Getting a ticket from the political party to contest an election is no less important than scoring a goal just a few seconds before the referee blows the final whistle of a football match. So, every politician is obsessed with the will to score that goal in a political football match. On being denied ticket, a senior BJP leader from the Vindhya region switched over to the Congress, but his shot went over the goal post. It so happened when a senior leader of the Congress advised him to ask three leaders of the party aspiring for tickets to support his demand for ticket. The leader said if that happened, he would get a ticket from the party; else, the Congress was ready to deploy its arms only to welcome him. Now that the Congress’s refusal to give him a ticket has dashed the party-hopper’s cup from his lips, the leader from Vindhya region is planning to contest the election as an independent candidate.
 (1).jpg)