Role model

Last week, leading Kannada actor Pooja Gandhi joined former Karnataka chief minister B S Yeddyurappa’s newly formed Karnataka Janata Party (KJP). Not that she has abandoned the Bharatiya Janata Party to join the new party — like many other MLAs in the current Assembly. In fact, she had been a member of former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy’s Janata Dal (Secular). Why did she leave? The symbol of the JD (S) being a woman carrying freshly harvested paddy on her head, Gandhi often had to stand on the dais holding freshly harvested paddy on her head during campaigns to personify the party symbol. According to those in the know, she probably didn’t like being used as a model by the party and preferred to join someone who would treat her as a celebrity. The result showed when there was a huge turnout at the KJP’s inaugural rally, where she was the star attraction.