Did Baba Siddique Meet Tejashwi Yadav for a Rajya Sabha Ticket?

Could Baba Siddique who was shot dead while he was bursting crackers outside his  MLA son Zeeshan’s office on Vijaya Dashami lived if he had moved out of Maharashtra politics just as he had wished? The former Congress leader, who hailed from Bihar, was apparently wanting to return to his roots and had even met with RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, seeking a Rajya Sabha berth before making the switch to the NCP led by Ajit Pawar. It seemed he had enough of Mumbai politics and deals. Responding to Siddique’s tragic news, Tejashwi Yadav merely acknowledged how he had interacted with Siddique and his family during his recent visit to Mumbai. Siddique hailed from Gopalganj district. For some reason, Siddique was uncomfortable with the Congress and Shiv Sena(UBT) alliance, and had decided to opt out of the party in March this year.  A three-time MLA from Bandra West assembly constituency, Siddique had served as a minister in the Congress-undivided NCP government in the early 2000.While his exit would be a big loss to Ajit Pawar ahead of the assembly polls, Sharad Pawar too hailed  him as a   leader who fought for the “minority community and championed secularism”.  A close associate of actor-turned-politician Sunil Dutt, who helped him secure his first Congress ticket in 1999. Siddique is credited for bringing to end frosty ties between actors Shahrukh Khan and Salman Khan in 2013 (By Lakshmi Iyer)

 Go For 6s, A Strategic Move By India In Twenty20

India’s Twenty20 team — a new look team — after the  Twenty20 World Cup win has been going full throttle, starting with the five-match series against Zimbabwe in Harare. Zimbabwe made India — led by Shubman Gill — trip in the first outing, but since facing that one-off reverse by 13 runs, the men in blue have won in a canter, almost every match. After the World Cup win — Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja bid adieu to the short format to make way for youngsters. The selectors made the biggest change, appointing Suryakumar Yadav as captain of the Twenty20 team, not Hardik Pandya. Yadav was rested for the Zimbabwe tour, but the ball-basher from Mumbai has been going great guns from the three-match series against Sri Lanka. The best though, India reserved it against Bangladesh, smashing them out of sight in the three matches that ended with the home team posting a mammoth 297 in Hyderabad. The team was without Yashasvi Jaiswal, Gill, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Rishabh Pant, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj. Out of 11 matches, India won nine of 10 matches with ease. The third and final match against Sri Lanka ended in a super over finish. Yadav, it appears has taken a leaf out of Rohit Sharma’s Kanpur book — going after the bowling and taking the game forward. In all India struck 57x 4s and 44 x 6s in three Twenty20s accounting for 492 runs. Such was the annihilation of the Bangladesh attack, a significant pointer to hit sixes as a strategy to mount pressure and bring down the opponent.(By G Viswanath)

Popular Malayalam Star Jayaram Gives The First Invitation For Son’s Wedding To Tamil Nadu CM

Sixty-year old popular star Jayaram Subramaniam has created a soft and stylish spot for himself in Kerala films despite Mammootty and Mohanlal’s reigning supreme as evergreens. His performance in the hit period drama Ponniyin Selvan (as Alwar Kadian Nambi, the articulate comic Brahmin) was as much the highlight of this epic drama as the pivotal characters of Ponni and Karikala  Chozhan. His 26-year old son Kalidas Jayaram has created a niche for himself in the film industry. Recently he was cast in the Dhanush film Raayan, and showed his mettle in the Tamil OTT anthology Pava Kadaigal in which he played a transgender. Kalidas is all set to marry Tarini Kalingarayan, a former Miss Tamil Nadu 2019, well known model and alumnus of MOP Vaishnav College. Jayaram and wife Parvathy had just celebrated daughter Malavika’s wedding in grand style , and it came as no surprise that they announced Kalidas ‘ wedding  too in quick succession. The only surprise was that Jayaram, Parvathy and Kalidas honoured MK Stalin, TN CM with the first invite. Not surprising it created a buzz as why had he not given the first invitation to the Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan? In the world of politics and cinema events occur not according to the logic of mundane society. Celebrities have their own exalted status or political predilections. Superstar Mammootty’s son Dulquer Salmaan’s was an arranged marriage in 2011 to Amal Sufiya whose family is from North India. Mohan Lal’s son, Pranav Mohanlal’ marriage with Kalyani Priyadarshan has remained an enigmatic topic.  (By Padma Ramnath)

RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat Enthuses Mahayuti By Calling For Hindu Consolidation

RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s Dussehra address in Nagpur is seen as an endorsement of the BJP’s policy of Hindu consolidation. It is like a green signal for the party to proceed with its agenda, the insiders feel. Bhagwat’s remarks will be helpful in boosting the BJP’s prospects in the upcoming Maharashtra assembly election since there is no ambiguity in his message. The tone of the address, delivered at the beginning of the centenary year of the RSS, will be interpreted severally but the RSS will continue its work undaunted, its veteran members say. The BJP had suffered in the Lok Sabha election since the RSS had not immersed itself fully in the contest. The BJP took due note of its displeasure and took corrective steps. The result was that it bagged Haryana, though with a nominal margin. The same formula will now be emulated in Maharashtra where the BJP lost 16 Lok Sabha seats due to minority collective vote in favour of the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi candidates. Learning a lesson from the debacle, the ruling Mahayuti partners have been implementing their strategy in an organized manner. Still, there was uneasiness in the saffron camp given the clout of NCP founder Sharad Pawar. The announcement of the election dates and the candidates of respective parties is expected to occur at any moment now.  Hence, Bhagwat’s clear call has come as a welcome breather for the Mahayuti. (By Dilip Chaware)

Baba Siddique Murder Churns Maharashtra Polity, Mahayuti Faces The Heat

Former Maharashtra minister Baba Siddique’s tragic death in a shooting attack has once again churned the state politics on the eve of the coming assembly election. A former Congress leader, Siddique had only recently joined the Nationalist Congress party (NCP) led by deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar. Incidentally, but for a handful pockets, the party has no political space in Mumbai. Hence Siddique’s loss will be felt by it intensely. His son Zeeshan is a Congress MLA from Nirmal Nagar in Bandra. Siddique’s death just outside his son’s office and despite having ‘Y’ grade security has put the three-party Mahayuti alliance in the dock. The focus, however, is on deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis as he handles the home portfolio. His critics have once again trained their guns against Fadnavis, perceived as the main challenger for the opposition-led Maha Vikas Aghadi. The demand for his resignation had started no sooner than Siddique was being moved to hospital. Congress scion Rahul Gandhi is among the prominent politicians to castigate the state government for the tragedy. Even some NCP (Ajit) functionaries, too, have joined the chorus. The police are investigating various possible connections behind the killing in the congested busy locality. A popular figure among politicians and Bollywood, the image of the Mumbai police has suffered but the fallout will have to be faced by the political leadership. The embattled Mahayuti will need a herculean effort to emerge from the situation. (By Dilip Chaware)

Securing City Women’s Safety The CCTV Way

Women’s safety is an often-spoken subject. Yet, the assault on women finds constant notice in the media. Has there been a practical way to end this? Not really. But, this UAE-based organization is coming out with a unique campaign. In a first of its kind initiative, Secure Cam, a security surveillance and IT solutions provider, will be launching the “Secure Our City” campaign. A novel effort, this will see Secure Cam organize a charter flight by 100 women from various walks of life at the Chennai International Airport. The DGCA has reportedly approved the in-flight introduction of the “Secure Our City” campaign on December 10. The flight will take off at 11:35 am and return at 13:05 pm. Ostensibly, the flight is intended to raise awareness of women’s safety. Rijoy Thomas, Chairman and CEO, is of the view that an unconventional launch method will spread the message to a wider audience effectively. An opportunity will be given to women from various BPL social groups to take a plane. As a part of the campaign, Secure Cam plans to provide free installation of security surveillance systems (CCTV) for more than 10,000) buildings across a city. Chennai will be the first city, and the firm plans to cover five cities in all. To begin with, Secure Cam will be honouring 100 women by offering complimentary CCTV installations. One small step towards a giant effort, it appears.(By KT Jagannathan)

MAT Stays Maharashtra Govt’s Appointments After Covid-19 Yodhyas Denied MO Posts

The Maharashtra government’s appointment of 283 Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery (BAMS) doctors as Medical Officers has been set aside by the Maharashtra Administrative Tribunal (MAT) for not factoring in their Covid-19 public service to society – they were supposed to get additional marks. MAT ordered the state on October 10 to refrain from assigning postings to 283 shortlisted BAMS MOs. The CM Eknath Shinde government was keen to project a pro-jobs initiative on the eve of state assembly elections (to be) scheduled in November 2024. However, the MAT stayed these postings over the lack of due procedure followed while selecting the best candidates for the MO posts. Advocate Gaurav Deshpande, who secured the stay for 24 candidates out of 22,000 odd who applied says, “The written examinations conducted in two sessions last month by IPBS (Indian Banking and Public Services) did not factor in the aspect of normalization of the marking system.” As per the JD for the posts the good doctors would be eligible for enhancement in final scores (out of 200 marks) for every year of public service experience they possessed (to a maximum of five marks). The erstwhile MVA government has emphasized upon the doctors who volunteered for Covid-19 duties at the height of the pandemic terming them as medical ‘Yodhyas’ (warriors). Only, on October 5, 2024, the results of the written examinations were officially announced when these medical warriors were left out without gaining due weightage of enhanced marks that they truly deserved. Just before the 2024 Lok Sabha also 14,000 (legal) notaries were appointed in a similar ad-hoc manner for votes that faced no legal challenge though. (By Renni Abraham)

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