Indian railway minister Lalu Prasad and Microsoft founder Bill Gates have one thing in common. They both know what to keep count of when they travel south. In the minister?s case, however, who could have guessed he can add fan clubs to the list? While his popularity in home state Bihar has sagged in recent times, more and more people are warming to him in south India. In fact, a particular NGO in the Union Territory of Puducherry is so impressed by Lalu that it wants to do even better than decorate the horizon with giant cut-outs of his likeness. The NGO wants to install a statue of his at the Karaikal railway station. The railway minister, it says, deserves this solid honour for sanctioning a broad gauge rail link between Karaikal and the pilgrim centre of Nagore near Nagapattinam. Travellers would approve, it claims. But would Lalu?
Rush more
Tamil Nadu chief minister M Karunanidhi is in a rush again to leave his mark on the landscape of economic theory. His latest focus of attention is inflation. According to him, a good way for the Centre to mount an attack on inflation would be to follow his state government?s lead, by procuring pulses and edible oils in bulk from farmers and distributing them at subsidised prices through government outlets. This will act as a lid on open market prices, he asserts, as has already been witnessed in Tamil Nadu.
