Selfies are turning to be political hot potatoes. A selfie clicked in the run-up to the 2014 general election landed Narendra Modi in controversy. The case filed saying that in clicking the selfie, Mr. Modi had violated poll code is still going on. In Tamil Nadu, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam treasurer M.K. Stalin had his share of controversy with selfie. A video went viral on social networking sites allegedly showing Mr. Stalin pushing/assaulting an enthusiastic autorickshaw driver who tricked to click one with Mr. Stalin when he was touring the northern part of Coimbatore district. To control the damage, Mr. Stalin took pains to explain that he did not do so and that during the course of his walk, his hard or wrist might have inadvertently touched the driver.
Then went viral another video showing the driver concerned saying that the DMK leader did not assault him. If that was not enough, Mr. Stalin’s men sent around pictures showing the driver clicking selfie with the leader in Coimbatore. The picture was clear but whether it cleared the storm remains to be seen.
The Coimbatore Corporation’s Smart City consultation meeting caused some embarrassing moments for the ruling AIADMK dispensation when its councillors not only spoke about area-specific problems in their wards but also said how the civic body had been slow in addressing the problems. Taking a cue from the grievances aired, almost all councillors narrated grievances making people wonder if it was a council meeting or consultation meeting.
This made a few councillors quip that the corporation administration should have first conducted the council meeting and then the consultation so that the elected representatives had the right forum to vent their grievances.
A recent function got up by Southern Railway for inauguration of the Rail Museum at Mettupalayam by inviting elected representatives resulted in embarrassing moments as well as airing of certain vital grievances of the area.
Elected representatives kept asking for more trains, additional stoppages and so on besides extension and termination of additional trains at Mettuppalayam. They were aware that these matters were in the purview of the Railway Board and not the prerogative of the Zonal Railways. The General Manager of Southern Railway, who spoke at the meeting, said that very shortly there would be a meeting of MPs wherein they can give in their suggestions and demands. Some of the demands by the MPs that won loud applause from the audience included increase in frequency of Coimbatore – Mettupalayam passenger train and running it on Sundays, extension of the Blue Mountain Express (complete coach composition to Mettupalayam instead of partial termination at Coimbatore), addition of second class sleeper coach in the same train, besides extension of the Coimbatore – Mangalore Intercity Express and Thiruvananthapuram - Palakkad Amrita Express up to Mettupalayam.
(Reporting by
Karthik Madhavan and
V.S. Palaniappan)
