Neta turns teacher

Shyam Sundar Vattam | NT

Had former CM Siddaramaiah not chosen politics as his profession, he would have been a good teacher. He has displayed his teaching skills on many occasions. Recently, the Congress leader took a class during a training programme for newly-elected MLCs. Donning the role of teacher, Siddaramaiah, asked a Janata Dal (Secular) member the full form of GST? The JD(S) member had no reply and as he fumbled, Siddaramaiah explained that it was Goods and Services Tax that replaced Value Added Tax and Sales Tax which existed earlier. The GST was implemented in 2015 and the money accrued is being distributed among states. The member was given the full description of GST in a nutshell in five minutes. Other members were no doubt awestruck seeing the deep knowledge of the seasoned politician on various issues and his passion for learning.

Tit for tat

Ruling BJP leaders had a lot of defending to do while replying to the criticism on the recently presented Union Budget by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. But the best reply came from the CM’s Political Secretary and Honnali MLA M.P.Renukacharya to the comments made by the lone Congress MP from Karnataka D.K.Suresh.

Suresh had termed the Union Budget bland and ‘without taste.’ The MLA replied on Twitter that the loss of taste and smell is a symptom of the Covid-19 virus. He was jocularly hinting that Suresh should undergo the RT-PCR test to check if he had Corona or not. The tweet, as expected, received kudos from several BJP leaders. It turned out to be a bit of fun, amid all the serious political stuff.

Tongue-in-cheek

The mike sometimes leaves politicians so mesmerised that they even forget that the media is around. Sports Minister C.Narayanagowda for instance sportingly made a statement recently that landed him in an embarrassing spot.

Addressing BJP members in Mandya recently, the minister forgot that the media was present in the hall to cover the event and went on to explain in detail how the BJP candidate who lost in the recently held Council polls from the local bodies constituency, did a mistake by distributing money among voters two days before polling.

He was immediately alerted by a local BJP leader that the media was present and he should not blurt any more of the party’s hidden secrets. So the lesson for all politicians: Think before you speak for the media is watching...and hearing your every word.