Cong trying to turn MP bypolls into battle between Nath and Scindia

Quarantine in watchtower

Two brothers in West Bengal have made an unusual choice for a quarantine facility — not out of choice but compulsion. A 25-foot-high watchtower in an elephant corridor outside their village in the state’s Jalpaiguri district has been their Covid-19 quarantine facility for the past few days. One of the two had returned from his workplace at a luxury resort in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, while the other had travelled to Siliguri to bring him back home to Malibhita village, about 35 km away. Panic-stricken villagers turned them away, urging them to stay outside the village during the 14-day quarantine period. Left with no option, the duo made the watchtower, located about half a kilometre outside the village, their home during the quarantine period. The forest range officer doesn’t approve of such use of the facility but has allowed the brothers to stay on till alternative arrangements are made.

Princely problem

A popular Indian restaurant in Shanghai found itself in a spot for its overzealousness. To showcase the cultural background of the Mughlai cuisine it offered, it got the photographs of a former Indian princess in Uttar Pradesh printed on its menu card. Following a complaint filed by her family to the Indian Embassy in Beijing, the pictures of princess Mehrunnisa Khan, daughter of Nawab of Rampur Syed Raza Ali Khan, were removed. According to the complainant, the restaurant did not take permission from the Rampur Nawab family to use the photos and it was an invasion of the princess' privacy. After quickly replacing the menu card, the restaurant said the issue was "settled".

Nath vs Scindia in bypolls 

The Congress in Madhya Pradesh is trying its best to turn the coming by-elections into a battle between Jyotiraditya Scindia (bottom), who recently left the party and joined the BJP, and former chief minister Kamal Nath. The reason? Sixteen of the 24 Assembly seats for which the bypolls will take place fall in the Gwalior-Chambal region, where Scindia has immense influence. And in that region, terms such as vishwasghatak (betrayer) and baimaan (dishonest) are much more than just cuss words — such people are deemed pariahs. That’s the reason local Congress leaders are targeting Scindia and trying to portray him and his supporters as “cheats”. Attacking Scindia in a recent tweet, Congress leader K K Mishra said, “What a joke! The word 'Srimant' is missing from the name of the person who joined the BJP on March 11. His name is at sixth place on the list of election coordination committee members of the BJP.”