Karyakarta Mahakumbh: Hang on, let me sing first, Kailash Kher tells BJP MP

Kailash Kher was invited to entertain the gathering, which BJP estimated drew one million people

The Madhya Pradesh unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) organised its Karyakarta Mahakumbh (party workers' conference) on Tuesday. Those who attended the event included Prime Minister Narendra Modi, party president Amit Shah and state Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan. Popular sufi singer Kailash Kher was invited to entertain the gathering, which the party estimated drew one million people. While waiting for the PM to arrive, BJP leaders began to address the gathering. At one point, it seemed Kher had been all but forgotten. He waited patiently but when BJP MP Nandkumar Singh Chauhan was about to climb on to the dais to begin his address, Kher grabbed the microphone and said, “Let me sing first. Then only you give your speech.”

Non-essential spirit
 

Ever since Finance Minister (FM) Arun Jaitley announced the government's intention to curb imports of certain non-essential items by raising tariffs, a number of representations have been made to the government on what these items should or should not be. One of the most hilarious was a letter sent to the FM's office by a mid-level distiller. In the letter, the distiller suggested that the government should ban premium imported alcohol that are not from the country of origin. For example, scotch from only Scotland should be allowed into India. Similarly, cognac should be allowed only from France, Japanese whiskey from Japan and certain categories of beer only from Germany. The government’s list of items came out on Thursday night, and needless to say, this proposal wasn't taken up. 

Degrees of separation
 

On Wednesday, in his twitter wishes to former prime minister Manmohan Singh, former president Pranab Mukherjee addressed Singh as his “long-time colleague in the party, the government and ‘my Prime Minister’.” The tweet got 3,400 retweets. On September 17, Mukherjee had tweeted birthday wishes to the current Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It was a more formal message. “I extend my warm wishes to Prime Minister Shri @narendramodi on his Birthday. May you be blessed with a long, healthy & happy life and continue to serve the nation for many more years to come.” The tweet got more than 18,000 retweets. Some of Mukherjee’s twitter followers raised eyebrows at his expression ‘my prime minister’ for Singh, and not Modi. Mukherjee had served in the Singh-led Union cabinet.