Ringing a Bell
At the conference on the National Education Policy in Chennai, three Parliamentarians explained to the audience how Parliament functioned. One of them was Tiruchi Siva, who has been nominated to Rajya Sabha by the DMK . An engaging speaker, he kept his audience comprising college teachers and educationists attentive by explaining how the upper house functioned on Fridays. Normally, it is difficult to get a quorum on Fridays, he said. “The bell has to be rung at least 10 times to ensure that there is a quorum of 25 members in the house to discuss a Bill on a Friday. They are like boys who rush out of the school the moment the bell is rung. When I wanted the Bill on separate public toilets for transgenders to be taken up, it was posted for Friday and I used my personal friendship with the members to ensure that they were not only present but also voted for a discussion on the Bill,” he mused.......................................................
Escalating it right
Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu poked fun at himself while giving a compliment to his colleague Pon Radhakrishnan at a function in Chennai. Dedicating several development works of Southern Railway at Chennai Central station on Sunday, he said the government was giving top priority to providing passenger amenities. “There was a time when people thought that escalators could be found only in airports. We are changing that. It is very helpful for senior citizens like me, but young people like Radhakrishnan do not need it,” he quipped.......................................................
The other Amma
Chief Minister Jayalalithaa has become synonymous with the moniker Amma.. But now, there seems to be new claimants to this title. Over the weekend, posters calling former IAS officer V.S. Chandralekha “Amma” appeared in a few parts of Chennai. The word “Amma” was written boldly in saffron and green, the colours on the party flag of the BJP. The poster had the pictures of both Ms. Chandralekha and Rajya Sabha MP Subramanian Swamy.......................................................
Embarrassing no-show
Officials attached to Salem Railway division suffered some embarrassment when all the elected representatives of the ruling AIADMK who were invited to participate in the function to inaugurate the escalators at the Salem Railway Junction on Sunday failed to turn up. The plaque marking the commissioning of the escalators by Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu through video conferencing from Chennai prominently carried the names of PWD Minister ‘Edappadi’ K. Palaniswami, Salem Mayor S. Soundappan, AIADMK MP V. Panneerselvam and three MLAs, including the DMK’s Rajendran, as guests of honour. But all of them stayed away. Railway sources said that proper invite was extended to the local elected representatives. Even the General Manager of the Southern Railway had spoken to the invitees.......................................................
Merging and bonding
After the Makkal DMDK, the breakaway faction of DMDK, merged itself with the DMK, there has been a perceptible rejuvenation among the DMK cadres ahead of the elections to local bodies. Incidentally, the DMK Erode unit, ridden as it is with factionalism, is happy that the Makkal DMDK leaders, including former Erode East MLA V.C. Chandirakumar, had declared they would not seek any post in the DMK. Currently, the faction led by former Minister S. Muthusamy, who once represented Erode East on AIADMK ticket, is calling the shots in the DMK. It, however, remains to be seen whether Mr. Chandirakumar’s entry into DMK will add strength to the party or further accentuate factionalism.......................................................
Sticking to time
It is common for State government officials and political leaders to wait even for hours for the arrival of Ministers to start a function. But the Southern Railway officials on Sunday did not wait endlessly for the arrival of Information Technology Minister M. Manikandan when Railway Minister Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu dedicated the ‘First Green Train section’ between Manamadurai and Rameswaram via videoconferencing from Chennai. The Madurai division had made ready a plaque to be unveiled by Mr. Manikandan after the Railway Minister dedicated the section. The plaque also read that Mr. Prabhu would dedicate the section in the “august presence” of Mr. Manikandan, but the latter could not make it on time. When Mr Prabhu finally dedicated the 'green train' section, Divisional Railway Manager Sunil Kumar Garg unveiled the plaque.
(Contributions from R. Sujatha, K. Manikandan, Sruthisagar Yamunan, Syed Muthahar Saqaf,
R. Krishnamoorthy and
D.J. Walter Scott)
