Behind the News is your round-up of musings from the corridors of power. Read what goes on behind the scenes for news & newsmakers.
Rumor has it that the BRS government in Telangana, in their infinite wisdom, launched Kanti Velugu for a rather peculiar reason. (Supplied)
Telangana is going through an election year and cymini sectores — as Francis Bacon would like to term them — are on an overdrive.
Instead of keeping a microscopic watch on dissected cumin seeds, the latter-day political cymini sectores — specifically the overly critical in the Opposition parties — are vivisecting the ruling BRS’s every move and initiative. The “findings”, often, are comic.
Dubbaka by-elections, 2020. The ruling TRS, now BRS, lost to the BJP by 1,079 votes. It was an election the BRS was expecting to win. What was the reason for this heart-wrenching defeat? Well, hold on to your seats; it’s a wild one.
During this election, a whopping 15 independent candidates decided to crash the TRS party. Can you imagine the headache they caused to the contesting parties? Six of these independent candidates managed to garner more than a thousand votes each!
Impressive, right? Here is the twist. These independents were assigned symbols that resembled the BRS’s poll symbol, the car. The BRS explained the defeat: Voters, bless their hearts, got so confused that they accidentally cast their precious votes for the wrong candidates. Well, vehicles cause accidents!
And let’s not forget the Munugode by-election drama. K Shivakumar of the Yuga Thulasi Party was assigned the road roller as his poll symbol. Still smarting from the Dubbaka defeat, the TRS raised hell.
The returning officer was quick. He replaced the “road roller” with a “baby walker”. However, the Election Commission of India stepped in and restored the road roller. The TRS, however, won the bypoll by a margin of over 10,000 votes.
The Telangana government launched a grand scheme called “Kanti Velugu”. It aimed at conducting comprehensive and universal eye screening for each and every citizen in the state. Sweet, isn’t it? But wait before reaching a conclusion.
People with refraction errors get spectacles, and surgeries are organised for eye disorders — from cataracts to glaucoma, retinopathy to corneal disorders. And the cherry on top? All these are being provided free of charge.
The cymini sectores mentioned earlier have, however, found the “real” intention behind the “Kanti Velugu”.
If they are to be believed, the BRS, in its infinite wisdom, launched Kanti Velugu as the party leaders realised that several senior citizens identify their party by the car symbol.
With multiple candidates vying for attention, these poor seniors often end up pressing the wrong button on those tricky electronic voting machines.
To save the day, the BRS government came up with the brilliant idea of providing eye check-ups and glasses to these seniors. Now they can spot that car symbol from a mile away and vote correctly.
Talk about going the extra mile for your supporters, is it? The seniors now can clearly see other poll symbols too, did someone say?
May 04, 2024
May 04, 2024
May 03, 2024
May 03, 2024
May 03, 2024
May 03, 2024
