Mobile phones have the most ‘annoying’ habit of making their presence felt at the wrong time, to the embarrassment of their owners. P.M. Suresh Babu, KPCC executive committee member, is one such ‘victim.’
At a recent press meet, Mr. Babu was sharing the dais with KPCC president V.M. Sudheeran, who was the chief guest. Mr. Sudheeran was speaking when Mr. Babu’s phone started ringing. The latter decided to answer it, trying his best to not be a bother by cupping his hand over the mouthpiece. Unfortunately, the phone conversation cut into Mr. Sudheeran’s address. This saw the KPCC chief turn towards Mr. Babu asking him to stop. Though he was initially quite oblivious of the happenings around him, repeated efforts from colleagues finally drew his attention and the phone line was immediately cut. Mr. Babu was later seen trying to explain the ‘lapse of attention’ to all and sundry.
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DCC president K.C. Abu is known for his fun-filled speeches. Recently, when KPCC president V.M. Sudheeran was in the city to inaugurate a State-level campaign of the Kerala Students Union against corruption, the audience was treated to humour that was quintessentially Mr. Abu. In his desperate attempt to eulogise Congress leaders, Mr. Abu likened the State unit of the party to the Malayalam film industry today. He said the party (Congress) had the right mix to sustain the interest of the audience, like the film industry. “It has its mega star, its super star, the youth icon, and even new generation heroes,” he said, without specifying any names.
Interestingly, the DCC president’s references were confined to male members of the industry, as if it had no female actors. Mr. Abu cannot be entirely blamed for the metaphor. There were over 30 khadi-clad male leaders of the party on stage. Only one of them was a woman.
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The LDF camp in Kozhikode was happy to welcome a faction of the CMP that had broken away from the UDF.
The Sports Council Hall where the party workers’ convention was held on Sunday was packed, much to the enthusiasm of the leaders who hailed the workers for their participation.
However, 10 minutes into the meeting, the assembled media entourage decided they had enough for the day and walked out together, leaving the leaders to address less than 20 workers in the front rows.
In their enthusiasm, the leaders had failed to notice that half the hall was filled with media personnel and not party workers.
(Reporting by Krishnadas Rajagopal, Jabir Mushthari, and Aabha Anoop)
