I’d written about the coming together of a bunch of extremely diverse politicians to form the third front a few weeks back. My concern was the fact that there was no common ground. By common ground, I mean a rationale common ground to form an alliance. Alliances like these are extremely opportunistic and nothing more than trying to get a leg up in the on-going political battle.

In exactly under 2 weeks, the TRS has pulled the plug on the TDP in Andhra Pradesh, differences apparently on the seat sharing issue. A rediff article that I read talks about this in detail and articulates the grounds of the severance – ill treatment of the kith and kin who were made to wait from 2230 hrs to well past mid-night and the fact that the number of seats to be shared between these two foes turned friends was something short of the expectations of our friend, Mr. Chandrashekar Rao.

The article goes on to show the level of immaturity of our politicians – our friend (read TRS) called some reporters personally, late in the night to inform them of the break up. Spare a thought for the reporter who was woken up in the middle of the night and informed of this! He now wants to go alone in AP!

Having lived in the AP for a good part of my working life, I believe that the state has progressed significantly over the last 2 decades. A lot of this is the doing of Mr. Naidu and his unwavering commitment to development. Dr. Reddy has been an able successor, in the fact that he’s kept the development agenda going.

The pace at which Hyderabad and AP are growing for sure gives its neighbors the jitters – Karnataka was in the receiving end over the last year and a half odd as AP smartly pulled the mat from under to move some very lucrative business start ups out of Karnataka. Any rationale businessman would do that and I won’t complain if I was a businessman. I want value for every buck I spend and will go to even Timbuktu, if I had to.

The simmering rivalry has now left the state, on the brink of assembly elections with 4 big parties in the fray – The ruling Congress, the opposition of Mr. Naidu and the TDP, fledgling Mr. Chiranjeevi’s Praja Rajyam and of course, Mr. Rao’s TRS – pardon me for not including the BJP! If you do, this becomes 5. I don’t know the pulse on the ground and people’s penchant for change here today. With so many choices and each party capable of tapping the right hot buttons, the verdict of a hung assembly is a no- brainier!

Hung assemblies set up the stage for coalition politics and arm twisting – literally. I wont be surprised to see the same folks who were friends become foes, become friends again in 60 odd days time.

At the root of this all is the fact that we just let any man and his dog form a political party ( I don’t mean to be disrespectful here, this is just an expression). With so many options, people are confused and so too are parties. Can’t we just move to a US like 2 party system to manage this chaos better? They are a democracy too and largely successful. If you think 2 is too small, let’s make it 3! No more! You have to be a part of either – you don’t like it, move around! Till we get a handle on this, I am sure we will have many more parties and many more such stunts of alliance break ups and going back to hug one another on an opportunistic basis.

Any guesses on who’s pulling the next plug?

My money is in my wallet as I think anyone guessing that right is a true genius! If someone does indeed guess that right, I’ll doff my hat off to you and connect offline to see how you guessed!

Image Credit: Blmurch

Popularity: 18%

I would have been around 9 years old when I saw Mohammed Azharuddin for the first time on television. If I remember correctly, it was in the winter of 1984 and England was touring India. The first two matches saw results – both the teams had won a match each in the 5 Test Match Series. India had won the opener in Bombay and England defeated India convincingly at the Ferozshah Kotla Maidan in Delhi.

Golden Debut

Both teams met at the Eden Gardens at Kolkata for the 3rd Test. It was in this match that Azhar made his debut at Eden Gardens when India was down at 126/3. Azharuddin’s debut was as fabulous as one can imagine.

He went on to score three centuries in three consecutive test matches – At Eden Gardens, MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai and Green Park stadium in Kanpur and thus etched his name in the annals of Indian history as the only player to score three centuries on debut. Some would term it as “Golden Debut”

Compare that to his grand entry to the Congress team.

The Andhra CM is battling his political life – With the Satyam scandals giving him nightmares, Asaduddin Owaisi and his All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen turning out to be a roadblock for Muslim votes in Hyderabad and Chandrababu Naidu gaining strength to strength, Congress had to find a savior who would take the baton and move on. With three big threats and a possible loss in the assembly elections looming, Congress sees a savior in Azhar – out to lambast the opponents. Azhar announces his grand entry into politics and yet another Golden Debut.

Will have to wait and watch, this time, if he can prove his critics wrong.

The Foreign Connection

Azhar was always compared to David Gower for his wrist flicks – a shot that he became characterized with, for the rest of his life. The grace and fluidity of his wrist once prompted John Woodcock, a noted cricket writer, to say,

“It’s no use asking an Englishman to bat like Mohammad Azharuddin. For, it would be like expecting a greyhound to win the London Derby!”

And now when he joined Congress, his foreign connection seems to have resurfaced again– No prizes for guessing the foreign connection!

The Moolah Machine

If you are not from a business family, a corporate czar or a black marketer in India, there are only three ways you can make money – Politics, Bollywood or Cricket. With his entry into politics, Azhar seems to be the only one who has hit the jackpot in all the three fields. Will his second innings prove to be as pocket heavy as in the first ? Only time will tell.

When Chips Are Down

Azhar has this uncanny knack of picking up things when the chips are down. Take his entry into cricket – it was when India needed support in the middle order and in walks Azhar who along with Ravi Shastri would hold the turf for years to come. And who would forget Azhar’s entry when Sangeeta lost her love interest in Salman. And now Congress!

One thing for sure – There is no denying the fact that he is talented and that fans still love him. We want him to succeed and may be he will. Hopefully he does so, doing the right thing, fighting for the right cause..and winning many hearts ….unlike his previous innings!

Image Credit: Prakhar

Popularity: 22%

India has the distinction of being one of the biggest democracies. But sometimes when I look at the kind of people who are leading this country, this distinction suddenly appears to be a “dubious” one. I find that the so called ‘people’s representatives’ (read MPs & MLAs) don’t have any the basic etiquettes that are required by people who lead a nation.

The incidents that have happened a few days back in the UP, AP and the Orissa assemblies, wherein the ‘honorable’ members of the house resort to utter lawlessness makes me feel shameful as a citizen of the country for having voted them to power.

Just consider these incidents

• Members of the UP assembly were hurling paper balls on the Speaker of the House
• Members of the Orissa assembly were literally hitting each other as if they were in a wrestling ring and one of the MLAs of the Orissa had the audacity to scale the speakers podium to grab the microphone
• 46 MLAs of the opposition party were physically bundled out of the AP Assembly by the Marshals.
• During these incidents the Leaders of the House neither stopped their party members from exhibiting this kind of unruly behavior nor did they take action against them

These are not just a few instances of misbehavior, they have been happening time and again. But no action is taken against them by the party leaders or the speaker.

Shouldn’t these MLAs be punished for these kind of unruly behavior?

For instance when a cricket player or a soccer player misbehaves on the field he may be banned not only for a few matches but also for life. But in the case of these MLAs I don’t see any kind of severe measures taken for misbehavior.

When players and professionals like CA, Doctors and lawyers have professional code of conduct, why should not our MLAs and MPs have one?

On the contrary, these guys should have more stringent code as they are responsible for creation of laws of land and hence they can’t resort to lawlessness. When will these people (read MLA’s and MP’s) realize that they are in the Assembly or the Parliament not to fight their personal battles but for the people whom they represent.

I, as citizen of this country, seriously feel that some kind of legislation that defines the code of conduct of these people should be brought in as soon as possible.

What do you think?

Image Credit: Tarotastic

Popularity: 15%