Even as he fights a keenly poised election in Amritsar, former Punjab chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh has been receiving requests from other Congress candidates of Punjab to canvass for them. Among those who have sought his help are former Union minister Ambika Soni. However, one person who has so far not asked Capt to campaign for him is bitter rival and Punjab Congress chief Pratap Singh Bajwa. Amarinder, however, has told all and sundry that if Bajwa “requests” him, he will campaign for him too. EC SCANNER Coming down heavily on government websites that continue to eulogise government achievements as personal achievements of ministers and politicians, the EC has asked the Centre and state governments to remove all such references till the time the Model Code of Conduct is in place. This follows a plethora of complaints received by the EC wherein both the Centre and several state governments were accused of displaying ‘achievements’ of ministers despite clear instructions to delete any such references. THE BIHAR SLIP Even after the BJP was first off the block in Bihar by snapping up Congress’s former ally Ram Vilas Paswan’s LJP, Rahul Gandhi chooses to use the state as a rather unusual example on alliances. Trying to draw a comparison between the alliance partners of the Congress and the BJP in answer to a question during the release of the Congress manifesto, the party vice-president Rahul Gandhi said the Congress had allies in many states while the BJP did not. He also mentioned Bihar, ignoring the fact perhaps that the BJP had forged an alliance with the LJP even before his party had sealed the alliance with Lalu Yadav’s RJD in the state. FLYING PANDA As candidates vie to grab eyeballs, BJD candidate from Kendrapara Lok Sabha constituency Baijayant Panda upped the cool quotient of his campaign when he tweeted about his intention to fly his own aircraft. “EC list of fancy helicopters & their market rates for campaign accounts doesn’t include the low-cost piston single engine Robinson R44. So wrote to EC to add it & also, like 2009, allow me to acct at a slightly lower rate, since I’m not hiring a pilot, will fly myself”, Panda, an avid aviator, tweeted.
