Monday, April 13, 2009

Dr Acharya addresses Congress meeting!

Sample of the present day hype...and news manufacturing!
A minister visits a group of 30 people belonging to opposition party (it was not a formal party function as it made out to be...in fact, no permission was sought, for it to qualify as a political meeting, and no banners/flags)...some miscreant sends SMS, which becomes the fodder for for the news manufacturers...and now the news has aquired international status thanks to the local feeders (TOI) for the BBC...which terms it as...A minister in the Indian state of Karnataka has made a quick exit after realising he was addressing the wrong election rally!.
(not to be left behind, the usual suspects too join the Acharya bashing!)
The question here is, is it wrong to extend courtesies to your political rivals?
When Congress leaders address their own workers in meetings, there are chaotic scenes, unruly behaviour...However, here is an event wherein Dr VSA walked into an informal gathering of Congress activists, and had an interactive session in a cordial setting!
Here is the news item which appeared in The Hindu.
Udupi: It is election time, and every political leader is more than eager to speak at the earliest opportunity about the achievements of his party if only it can help get some more votes. But rarely does a seasoned leader make the right speech at the wrong place as it happened at Hiriyadka village, 15 km from Udupi.
Home Minister and senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader V.S. Acharya faced severe embarrassment when he accidentally landed in a meeting of Congress workers on Sunday morning.
Udupi Taluk Panchayat member Ramesh Kanchan told The Hindu that a meeting of the local Congress committee was being held at the office of the president of the Hiriyadka Congress Committee, Vinod Kumar Rao, at 11 a.m. The meeting was being held to discuss the opening of the election office of the Congress candidate for Udupi-Chikmagalur parliamentary constituency K. Jayaprakash Hegde on April 16.
He said about 30 Congress leaders and workers were participating in the meeting. Suddenly, Dr. Acharya entered the office. Since he was the Home Minister and a senior leader, a chair was offered to him. Soon Dr. Acharya started his speech and elaborated on the achievements of the BJP government, and criticised the Congress-led governments for their “inadequacies.” It was at this point that the Congress leaders there began firing questions at him. They asked him why the BJP government was giving funds to religious maths instead of giving land to the poor. Why did the repair of roads begin when the Lok Sabha elections were about to be announced?, they asked.
“It was then that Dr. Acharya realised that he was at the wrong meeting. He got up and quietly left the place. He had probably come there to condole the death of Sridhar Mallya, senior BJP leader, who passed away a couple of days ago, but accidentally landed in our office. The house of Mr. Mallya is just little ahead of this office,” Mr. Kanchan said.
Mr. Vinod Kumar Rao, later said: “Since this is election time, Dr. Acharya might have wanted to canvass for his party. But he did not know that the local Congress committee meeting was being held at my place. Congress workers did ask him some questions.”
When contacted, Dr. Acharya told The Hindu that he had gone to Hiriyadka to condole the death of Sridhar Mallya. “Then I saw Mr. Vinod Rao. I thought of talking to him. When I went inside his house, I found many people there. I had an interactive session with them as a Minister. We discussed certain current problems. That’s all,” he said.
News Courtesy: The Hindu
Bloggers versions: liberalbureaucracy

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Athithi Devo Bhava - Kudos to congress party workers for practising indian culture than preaching

Unknown said...

Sir,

When I first heard this news.. It was hilarious :D ..

Never mind!

Shrinidhi Hande said...

ok, but I read a more interesting version in Vijaya Karnataka...

Any comments?

Anonymous said...

Simply hilarious. The cover up after that was even better.

Umesh said...

BBC lost its credibility when it fell for the Charlie Chaplin statue prank.

It appears media expects rivals to fight it out like boxers.

Thankfully in places like Udupi rival party leaders can still talk to each other in civil manner. I can't imagine that happening in Bihar or even our own Bellary without bloodshed.

Ganesh Raj Saralebettu 9844579327 said...

In Udupi people of all political parties maintain good relationship, except for Communist backed outsider politicians. Elections come and go, human relationships matter...

9844579327 said...

Was it also part of Operation Kamala?

Unknown said...

I liked the last comment..

Is it part of Operation Kamala ? :)

Ganesh Patil said...

Mr 9844579327
How can one have a mobile number name? Heights of mobile mania?

I feel that there is nothing wrong in meeting opposition party members...

especially when the opposition party members were cordial!