Mamata, Derek O'Brien inspired by many chowkidars to change Twitter DP?

Even as the blame game between the Trinamool and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) — over who is responsible for damaging Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar’s statue in Kolkata — continued on Wednesday, the former tried to wrest the perception advantage from the saffron party. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and several top Trinamool leaders changed their Facebook and Twitter display picture (DP) with photographs of the 19th century reformer-polymath. The party said that this was a way to protest the desecration of Vidyasagar’s bust. The list of those who changed their Twitter DP included Derek O'Brien and Madan Mitra. Inspired by the many chowkidars?

Rally minus candidate

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati, along with the Samajwadi Party (SP) president and former Uttar Pradesh chief minister, Akhilesh Yadav,held a joint rally in Ghosi on Wednesday. Nothing out of the ordinary — the two parties have held quite a few rallies together in recent weeks — apart from the fact that the candidate for the seat was conspicuous by his absence. If speculation is to be believed, Atul Rai, the BSP candidate from the seat in Mau district, might have just flown the coop. He has been absconding since an FIR was registered against him on May 1 by a college student, who alleged that he had assaulted her. A policeman said there were chances of Rai fleeing to another country and that the police had issued a lookout notice for him. Notwithstanding a looming arrest, leaders of both the SP and BSP urged people gathered at the rally to vote for the alliance candidate.

Dear TV?serials, not dearer

The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam-Congress alliance in Tamil Nadu is not in a mood to let go of any issue it can use to attack the state government. With four Assembly seats set to go for a bypoll on May 19, the alliance leaders are trying to mobilise support on the entertainment plank by promising cheaper cable bills. Sometime back, it was Karti Chidambaram, the Congress candidate from the Sivaganga parliamentary constituency, who assured the women attending his rally that they might not have to pay a higher amount for watching television serials if they chose the alliance. DMK President 

M K Stalin also made the same promise while campaigning for the Aravakuruchi bypolls. Realising that some of these women had to skip their favourite television serials to attend his speech, he asked them how much they were paying for the cable connection (provided by state-run Arasu Cable). Upon learning that the amount was Rs 300 per connection, he recalled that the monthly bill during the DMK regime was Rs 100 and promised to go back to the same rates if voted to power.