Beyond elections: Dimple Yadav touches Mayawati's feet, seeks blessing

If there were any doubts relating to the sustainability of the Samajwadi Party (SP)-Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) alliance beyond the Lok Sabha elections, Dimple Yadav made sure they were demolished

Sealed with a pranam

If there were any doubts relating to the sustainability of the Samajwadi Party (SP)-Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) alliance beyond the Lok Sabha elections, Dimple Yadav (pictured) on Thursday made sure they were demolished. Dimple, the SP candidate from Kannauj and wife of party president Akhilesh Yadav, touched BSP chief Mayawati’s feet on stage at a rally in her Lok Sabha seat of Kannauj and sought her blessings before addressing the crowd. Dimple had won the seat in 2014. Some, of course, said their doubts were dispelled after Mayawati and former SP chief and Akhilesh's father, Mulayam Singh Yadav, shared the stage last week after more than two decades of bickering.
 

RCB caught and bowled Dinda

Indian Premier League team Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) has not had a great season so far and its bowlers have borne the brunt of the trolling on social media. Some social media users dubbed a couple of RCB bowlers — mainly Mohammed Siraj and Umesh Yadav — as students of the “Dinda Academy”, a somewhat derisive reference to former India and RCB pacer Ashok Dinda for his propensity to give away runs. On Wednesday, however, RCB won against Kings XI Punjab with Yadav bowling some tight overs. Looking at the victory as an opportunity to hit back at the trolls, RCB tweeted, "Dinda Academy? What's that?" with the fast bowler’s picture, only to delete it later. But the screenshots returned to haunt the franchise, fuelling much speculation online about who masterminded the tweet in the first place and who was behind the removal.
 
Swinging fortunes

When the Indian markets posted one of their biggest gains of 2019 on Wednesday, an influential brokerage firm attributed the rise to “increased hopes” that the Bharatiya Janata Party will return to power. However, the optimism proved short-lived as the markets gave up almost all the gains on Thursday. “Till the election results are declared, the markets will swing wildly and experts will offer comments to suit the narrative. Historically the market has been bad at gauging/predicting election outcomes,” said an expert.