Politics in the family

Lalitha Kumaramangalam, the BJP candidate for the Tiruchi Lok Sabha seat, hails from a family, which is the only one, apart from the Gandhis, whose members served in the Union Cabinet for three generations. Her grandfather, Dr. P. Subbarayan, who was the first and only Tamil Chief Minister of Madras Presidency in the 1920s, served in Jawaharlal Nehru’s Cabinet as Minister of Transport and Communications from 1959-62. Her father, Mohan Kumaramangalam, was Minister of Steel in the Indira Gandhi government till his death in a plane crash in 1973. Her brother Rangarajan Kumaramangalam was a member in the P. V. Narasimha Rao and Vajpayee governments. Parvathi Krishnan, the veteran CPI leader and former MP, was Ms. Lalitha Kumaramangalam’s paternal aunt.

Going strong at 82

BJP leader L.K. Advani can claim a record of sorts during the campaigning in this Lok Sabha election. Mr. Advani, who began campaigning very early, addressed almost 130 election rallies covering as many parliamentary constituencies in all the States and Union Territories. The five-term Lok Sabha MP addressed about two to three rallies almost every day. Despite having crossed 82, Mr. Advani was the most active campaigner for the BJP in this election. Incidentally, Mr. Advan i has been involved in all elections since 1952 either as an active campaigner for his party or as a candidate.

Tech lesson from Naidu

Tech-savvy Telugu Desam president N. Chandrababu Naidu, at a post-poll review meeting, took partymen to task for not using the power of the SMS (Short Messaging Service) available on their mobiles. “We literally bombarded you with SMSes during the campaign, sometimes even at the dead of the night, but most of you did not respond, and we had to call you individually,” Mr. Naidu told partymen. “The cell (phone) is here to stay and you must catch up with the multitasking opportunities it offers,” he asserted. “I’ve arranged a class for you all at our IT cell, right now,” he said, before signing off.

The Maharaj forecast

Who will be the next Prime Minister? Mulayam Singh, according to self-styled astrologer, Rajesh Chirakuti Maharaj. The Maharaj has also predicted a Jayaprada victory from Rampur. Lest he is dismissed, the Maharaj passes around newspaper clips containing his previous predictions, among them Barack Obama’s victory and the National Democratic Alliance’s 2004 defeat.

Me or he?

Uttar Pradesh is waiting for the next big bombshell from Amar Singh, thanks to his promise to deliver a knockout surprise post-May 13 (voting day). Since Mr. Amar Singh made the announcement from a stage in Rampur, where he is engaged in a battle with Azam Khan, speculation has it that the SP general secretary will throw a “either me or Azam” challenge at party boss Mulayam Singh.

(Contributed by Syed Muthahar Saqaf, Sandeep Joshi, P V Sivakumar and Vidya Subramaniam)