Grin and bear it

The smiling face of Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh on ambulances that provide emergency services has piqued the opposition Congress leaders in the state.

So much so that in the Chhattisgarh Legislative Assembly, Congress legislators pointed out that the ambulance service was part of a scheme funded by the central government and Singh had been presumptuous in pasting his photo on the ambulances instead of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s. Raman Singh’s response was that it didn’t matter whose picture was on the vehicle since a person in critical condition was unlikely to notice it. That unassailable logic left the opposition speechless, but the ruling BJP has discovered another reason to worry. As some BJP MLAs explained later, Singh should not be smiling in the poster. That’s because a patient who used the ambulance after recuperating would think Singh had been smiling when he or she was in critical condition.