Smoking out the plotThe management of an educational institution in Maharashtra’s Saswad was stunned when it invited former Shiv Sena MLA and exminister Vijay Shivtare to address students. He began by saying that in his childhood he wanted to be like Dhirubhai Ambani but was “very mischievous” and used to “steal money to smoke beedis till he collapsed” and all that was when he was in the “fourth standard”. Shivtare’s speech has raised a lot of eyebrows and it joins a long list of gaffes by Shiv Sena leaders. Difficult to fathomOpposition leader R Ashoka has claimed that CM Siddaramaiah engineered the defeat of Congress candidate DK Suresh in Bengaluru Rural to cut his brother and deputy CM DK Shivakumar to size. But the claim has not gone down well within sections of BJP leaders because CN Manjunath won by an impressive margin of 2.69 lakh votes riding what they believe is a Modi wave. So, now they are scratching their heads, unable to understand Ashoka’s analysis.Bamboo businessDuring a recent event, Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde spoke about the importance of planting trees and said that some are planting bamboo, which too is good for the environment as it gives a a lot of oxygen. Then, with a wink, he said that some people should also be given this bamboo (stick treatment). Shinde did not name anyone, but he indicated that he was referring to Sanjay Raut, member of Parliament representing the Uddhav Thackerayled party.
