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Deep Throat

A regular column on the essential buzz

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Deep Throat
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Maharashtra
All In The Game

New state DGP Satish Mathur and batchmate Rakesh Maria, who was made DG (Homeguards) overnight during the Sheena Bora murder probe, are playing a snakes-and-ladders game. Maria had superseded Mathur (and Ahmad Javed) to become Mumbai’s top cop, and now Mathur’s previous­—and coveted—post of DGP (Anti-Corruption Bureau) is up for grabs. That’s what Maria is reportedly eyeing, but his perceived closeness to the erstwhile Congress government could stand in the way. And Ahmad Javed, who replaced Maria, has gone away to Saudi Arabia.

West Bengal
Sting Isn’t King

The ‘Narada sting’ before the assembly elections showed 13 TMC politicians taking cash for favours. Mamata Banerjee cried “dirty vendetta”, the BJP joined the clamour against TMC and the L.K. Advani-led House ethics committee issued notices to five MPs. The committee hasn’t met since April. Post elections, both parties are soft-pedalling the issue. Only the CPI(M) is trying to flag it, given how quickly AAP MP Bhagwant Mann’s case on live streaming of a video on Parliament House was sent to a nine-member panel.

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Madhya Pradesh
Worm Doesn’t Turn

Breakfast plates for Rs 1,625 a piece; stethoscopes for Rs 7,000; rubber hand gloves, Rs 2,250; surgical scissors, Rs 7,038; thermos flasks, Rs 14,000. Circa 2050? Wrong. This is what the Shivraj Singh Chauhan government paid for the items, for the mega Simhastha fair that ended in May. When Congress MLAs quoted these figures during an assembly debate, the treasury benches accused them of hurting Hindu religious sentiments. “Worms will infect the body of those who have made money in Simhastha,” said a minister.

Heard Culture minister Mahesh Sharma sat through a three-hour Kuchipudi recital of top PM aide Nripendra Misra’s grand-daughter.

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Overheard Minister said he’d stop the secretary’s empanelment for promotion. Secretary shot back: “I am already empanelled, sir.”

And Also

  • Convicted
    Peepli Live co-director Mahmood Farooqui, 38, who revived dastangoi, a lost art of storytelling, of raping an American research scholar
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  • Debuted
    Lakshan Sandakan, a left-arm wristspinner who can turn the ball both ways a la Brad Hogg but without Paul Adams’s frog-in-the-blender action, mesmerising Australi­ans on his Test debut for Sri Lanka
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  • Retired
    Investment banker Nimesh Kampani, 70, who brought Ratan Tata and Kumara­mangalam Birla to sign up for a telecom deal, and hel­ped Mukesh Ambani demerge with Anil, handing the baton to son Vishal
  • Hacked
    Rajnikanth’s Twitter account was broken into by an unidentified techie on July 2. Surely, it was no joke for his fans when Thalaivar’s official ­handle ­­@superstarrajini tweeted “Rajinikanth #HitToKill”.
  • Shuttered
    India’s oldest biscuit factory, Ramesh Chauhan’s Parle-G, in Vile Parle, Mumbai, downing its shutters after 87 years.

Contributed by Prachi Pinglay-Plumber, Bula Devi, K.S. Shaini and Pritam Sengupta

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