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Book Ringside Seats For May 15 Post Poll Poker In Bengaluru

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Book Ringside Seats For May 15 Post Poll Poker In Bengaluru

~By Saeed Naqvi

On May 15, when the Karnataka election results are announced, and the Congress, BJP and Deve Gowda’s JDS find themselves in an almighty scrum bargaining for power, a certain mysterious lady will be watching the proceedings from her suite in the country’s most luxurious, seven star Leela hotel on Bengaluru’s old airport road.

The hijab clad, 45 year old, Nowhera Shaik, President of the All India Mahila (Women’s) Empowerment Party (MEP) is fielding candidates in all the 224 assembly seats. It is a mistake to regard MEP as a woman only party. “A woman has a brother, father, son”, she says. Moreover, there is no taboo on men seeking MEP tickets.

Her hijab is a far cry from a docile acceptance of male oppression. It is an assertion of feminine independence. She is CEO of Hyderabad based Heera Group of companies, dealing with a wide range of commodities across the globe – building material, gold and diamond. The last mentioned, happens to be something of an obsession with her. Heera, name of her company, means diamond. Her election symbol is Diamond. Who knows her name Nowhera may be a contortion of Nav Heera, which means “novel diamond”.

In the Sherlock Holmes classic, mystery deepens when the dog “does not” bark. In Ms. Shaik’s case the deathly silence of politicians and the media at the high voltage election debut is as intriguing.

Book Ringside Seats For May 15 Post Poll Poker In Bengaluru

There are all sorts of ironies involved. The latest congress policy towards Muslims is based on the appraisal that the BJP’s shrill allegation, that the party appeases Muslims, has begun to affect the majority community. The Hindu increasingly sees the Congress as a “Muslim Party”. How should a party which is greedy for Hindu as well as Muslim votes, cope with the predicament.

It was to meet this situation that the new “cloak and dagger” policy towards Muslims was enunciated. The party will distance itself from Muslims to prevent a hemorrhage of Hindu votes. But by hint and gesture the Muslim voter will be persuaded that this “distancing” is only a tactic in the Muslim interest. The Muslim must not leap into the Congress lap in full public view, but, with expert slyness, sneak towards the Congress polling agent.

The game acquires a touch of situation comedy when an audacious, hijab wearing lady, with wealth beyond measure, a credible image of a philanthropist, jumps into the electoral fray. The Congress cannot throw up its hands and scream, “Help, help, she is nibbling away at Muslim pockets in a close election where even a few hundred votes matter.”

Nor can the BJP be ecstatic: “Welcome dear Begum Sahiba; go, damage the Congress.”

Unobtrusively, she just may end up marginally harming the Congress. If each one of her 224 candidates is pillowed with cash, the law of averages may return two, three or five winners. This may give her a hand to play in post poll poker. Her ambitions for 2019 leave one gasping.

If the Congress loses the Karnataka election, it will be difficult for the party to escape the label the opposition is in gleeful readiness to paste on the Congress forehead: P2, a party confined to Punjab and Pondicherry.

While nobody is conceding outright victory to the Congress, punters are willing to give it the largest single party status and therefore hope for coming state elections.

A representative group of eight senior journalists and political activists (including two having deep links with Communists and RSS) pondered over the election scene in my Bengaluru drawing room. There was no great difference of opinion on the way the cookie was expected to crumble on May 15. Congress, BJP and Deve Gowda led (JDS) Janata Dal Secular were expected to poll 95 to 100, 85 to 95 and 35 to 40 seats respectively. A hung house will enable the JDS to play a leading role in the post poll poker.

Let us pick up the narrative in 2010 when Siddaramaiah, then in the opposition, chastised the infamous Reddy Brothers (more popularly known in Karnataka as the Bellary mining mafia) on the floor of the state assembly.

The Reddy’s promptly dared him to repeat his charges in Bellary where, they threatened, he “would be finished”. Siddaramaiah took up the challenge. He undertook a 200 mile padyatra to Bellary. The voter, desperately searching for something he can respect, spotted a touch of heroism in “Siddaramaiah”.

There are now three principal caste groups (hundreds of smaller ones) in the contest:

Siddaramaiah with his diligently consolidated Kuruba caste; Deve Gowda, something of a Vokkaliga stalwart and B.S. Yedurappa the tallest Lingayat who had almost been ruled out by the BJP because of a jail term for massive corruption. His powerful caste Lingayat, has trumped all negative considerations.

Siddaramaiah is not a classical Congressman. Rather, his background should be a cause for concern for the Congress: there is in his DNA a trace of Lohia Socialist. This is what kept him in the JDS for 35 years. But his parting with Deve Gowda was so bitter that theirs is now a blood feud. Deve Gowda would rather jump in front of a train than allow Siddaramaiah a second term in Bengaluru.

Yedurappa poses the Lingayat challenge. This has propelled Siddaramaiah towards an audacious gamble. An old demand by a section of Lingayats seeking a status outside the Hindu structure has been dusted up by him. Yes, he says, Lingayats will be outside the Hindu fold. This is far reaching, tearing into Veer Shaivaite  Lingayat divide.

Trust a Lohiaite to have played this hand. There are echoes of V.P. Singh’s implementation of the Mandal Commission report. V.P. Singh himself was not a beneficiary of his machinations. But the post Mandal tumult brought to the fore Mayawati, Mulayam Singh, Lalu Prasad, Rath yatra to Ayodhya and so much mayhem. Let’s see how Siddaramaiah’s gamble plays itself out.

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Video of Sikh shopkeeper fending off robbers in London goes viral, users laud the shopkeeper | Watch

The Sikh man can be seen alarming and screaming at the masked men as they run out of the store and lurk on the gate in a bid to intimidate. However, the Sikh man then can be seen rushing towards his cabinet and pulling out a cricket bat which made the robbers flee.

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A video has been making rounds on the internet where a Sikh shopkeeper can be seen fending away men trying to rob his shop. The video is reported to be from a shop in London. The video, so far has been viewed by 61 thousand people.

In the video, several masked men can be seen entering and browsing through the shop as the Sikh man approaches the counter. However, things take an awry turn as one of the masked men try to jump over the counter. The Sikh man can then be seen reaching for his Kirpan, after which the Robber’s retire.

Watch video here:

The Sikh man can be seen alarming and screaming at the masked men as they run out of the store and lurk on the gate in a bid to intimidate. However, the Sikh man then can be seen rushing towards his cabinet and pulling out a cricket bat.

Upon witnessing the Sikh shopkeeper pulling out a bat, the robbers flee from the place. He can then be seen rushing toward the gate to lock it in a bid to stop them from attacking again.

Read Also: Karnataka Assembly Elections: ECI announces single-phase polling, result on May 13

Twitter user’s reaction

After the video of the incident went viral, many users came forward to add their take on the incident as one user wrote praised the Sikh man for being brave, implying that the Sikh man fending away 3 robbers from his shop is a brave act.

One user highlighted how the robber who tried to jump over the counter had a change of heart after witnnessing the Sikh man pulling out a weapon. The user further praised the Sikh man for his braveness.

One user wrote that the robbers fled even before the Sikh man could take out his Kirpan. The user further wrote claimed that the robbers must have thought that the Sikh man was armed and was pulling out a gun.

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Video of US couple feeding alligator grilled sandwich in Florida goes viral, users in splits | Watch

After feeding it, the man goes on to pick another piece of the grilled sandwich as he waits for the alligator to come back. The woman in the video can also be seen in an unfazed state as she continues to snack on the grilled sandwich that is left.

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US couple feeding alligator

A bizarre video has come to light from the USA’s Florida where a couple can be seen feeding an alligator a grilled sandwich. The video was uploaded by a page named Onlyinfloridaa which usually shares videos of incidents that happen in Florida.

In the video, a man can be seen sitting in a stream with his partner as he goes on to offer a piece of grilled sandwich to an alligator, unfazed by the thought of getting eaten by the feral animal. The man can be seen feeding the alligator with the sandwich and then petting it as well.

Watch video here:

After feeding it, the man goes on to pick another piece of the grilled sandwich as he waits for the alligator to come back. The woman in the video can also be seen in an unfazed state as she continues to snack on the grilled sandwich that is left.

User’s reaction

After the video of the incident went viral, many users came forward to add their take on the incident as one user wrote and question if the woman was eating grilled cheese, implying that the Aligator might have spared the couple because of the grilled cheese sandwich they offered.

One user wrote and said that everyone believes that alligators associate people with food and further facetiously wrote that alligators must have thought that the couple is food and have come with appetizers.
One user wrote and said that they watched the whole video in hopes that they would see the alligator grip the couple and do the death roll that the feral animal is famous for.

One user wrote and said that their partner was asking to go out for a date and after watching this video, they know where to take their partner on the date. The user further termed the date to be very unique.

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Pakistan cannot afford bananas during Ramzan

Pakistan’s economic crisis is worsening with each passing day with prices of basic vegetables and fruits rising up continuously.

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Pakistan banana price

The world is aware of Pakistan’s economic crisis and it seems bananas can now only be eaten by affluent households in the country. The Banana Republic of Pakistan! Yes. This is how internet users named the country after bananas’ price skyrocketed to Rs 500 per dozen during Ramzan.

Pakistani journalist Naila Inayat took to Twitter to share a post that read that prices of bananas shoot to Rs.500/Dozen in Pakistan.

Have a look at the tweet here:

Apart from bananas, prices of other fruits including grapes have also increased during the Islamic festival celebrated across the world.

Pakistan’s economic crisis is worsening with each passing day with prices of basic vegetables and fruits rising up continuously. The Pakistan Bureau of Statistics said the inflation based on sensitive price indicators was recorded at 47 per cent year on year on March 22.

A report in Mint said the prices of onions in the country increased by 228.28 per cent, wheat flour by 120.66 per cent, cigarettes by 165.88 per cent, gas charges for Q1 by 108.38 per cent, and Lipton tea by 94.60 per cent. Bananas’ prices have spiked by 89.84 per cent, diesel by 102.84 per cent, eggs by 79.56 per cent, and petrol by 81.17 per cent.

Read Also: 80-year-old woman earns Guinness World Record for donating 203 units of blood

Pakistan is currently going through a massive lack of foreign currency to maintain its balance of payments as a result of the ongoing economic crisis and the holdup in IMF loans.

Meanwhile, Muslims across the globe will observe their Day 4 of Ramzan today. During the month, people have only two meals in a day called Sheri and Iftar.

Sehri and Iftar timings for March 27 In Delhi

  • Sehri- 04:58 AM
  • Iftar- 06:37 PM

Sehri and Iftar timings for March 27 In Mumbai

  • Sehri- 05:23 AM
  • Iftar- 06:52 PM

Sehri and Iftar timings for March 27 In Lucknow

  • Sehri- 04:45 AM
  • Iftar- 06:22 PM

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