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West Bengal’s industry-friendly CPI(M) Chief Minister, Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, has again landed in trouble with his party and Leftist compatriots, this time for having said he is opposed to the culture of strikes and bandhs. Speaking at an Assocham function in Kolkata Tuesday, Mr Bhattacharjee had said: “It’s unfortunate that the party I belong to supports strikes.” The CPI(M) is expected to seek an explanation from him on what it perceives as “anti-party” remarks.

The CPI(M) state secretary and Left Front chairman, Mr Biman Bose, distancing himself from the Chief Minister’s remarks, said on Wednesday: “This is not the party’s stand.” Mr Bhattacharjee’s candid remarks have sent shockwaves in Left circles across the country. Fellow CPI(M) leaders and Left trade union bosses are up in arms at such un-comrade-like behaviour, which they consider akin to an attack on the “constitutional rights of workers.” Mr Bhattacharjee had said: “I do not support any bandh, but at the same time I am a member of a political party. So long I have kept mum. But now I will speak out.”

The CPI(M) politburo member, Mr Hannan Mollah, speaking to this newspaper, said that “no party which claims to be Left can oppose the workers’ right to strike.”  Mr Bhattacharjee said he had opposed the nationwide bandh call by Left trade unions on August 20.

Rani Mukerji and her good friend filmmaker Aditya Chopra had a small tiff recently. They were so angry with each other that they stopped talking for over a week. However, they seemed to have cleared up their differences and are back to being “just good friends”.

There were many issues that led to the tiff between the two. Firstly, Rani, who was always a part of Yash Raj ventures, was a little miffed by the fact that she was not doing any of their future projects. With only two films in hand — one opposite Shahid Kapur directed by a debutant director Anurag Singh and the next titled Hidaba, Rani was not happy since she was not at all considered for any more of their projects. Now that Rani is going through the leanest patch of her career, the actress was disturbed and frustrated by the fact that no more female-oriented or central characters were being made for her under the banner.

Rani was expecting more support from Aditya especially after Thoda Pyar Thoda Magic flopped.

However, Aditya chose to concentrate more on his marketing strategies and new scripts with other stars. Aditya is also upset with her since she revealed her look in Hidaba to a few people. The film was a closely guarded secret and Rani had spoken off the record to her friends. Rani is playing the role of a man in her next film, Hidaba where she will be seen sporting a moustache on the sets of the movie. The film is based on cricket. Her character in the film desperately wants to play cricket so badly that she disguises herself as a man to get into the team.

When Aditya confronted Rani over this, all her pent up frustration burst forth and she bluntly said that she had no control over what the media chose to write. Soon this argument spiraled into a bigger verbal conflict. Rani accused him of being a changed person.

Rani had visited Yash Raj Studios just a few days back but she did not meet Aditya who was present in the studio premises at that time.

Nevertheless, all’s well that ends well. It was learnt that Aditya finally made the first move and initiated a meeting. They both met at Yash Raj studios and they have sorted their differences.

Tirupati, Aug. 26: Actor Chiranjeevi on Tuesday announced the name of his political party, Praja Rajyam, amidst thunderous cheers from lakhs of hysteric fans and vowed to change the politics of Andhra Pradesh. Giving full play to histrionics, Chiranjeevi, the son of a police constable, recounted the difficulties he had faced as a child in an emotion-choked voice and charged up the crowd in the temple town with a few interactions before announcing the name of his party with a dramatic countdown.

In fact, Chiranjeevi waited till sundown to announce his party’s name and stretched his speech till then, so that the display on the giant screen behind him and 18 screens located at the ground would be eye-catching.  As the name of the party was splashed on the huge screens to the accompaniment of music, the 53-year-old actor got a handicapped person to unfurl a green and white flag with a red sun in the middle.

The roaring crowds surged ahead, breaking barricades and alarming security men, even as Chiranjeevi declared that he was entering politics to ensure social justice and development. Around 40 persons were injured in the melee.  “People want me to join politics,” said Chiranjeevi, who earlier entered the stage dramatically with his arms stretched wide.  “I am here to restore respect to politics. After spending 30 years in the glamorous world of films, I could have lived a cosy life. But I decided to be in your midst.”

“How blessed are my eyes to see these crowds who love me,” said Chiranjeevi, as people roared in appreciation.  “I am overwhelmed by your support. Now it is time for me to give it back.”  The actor in Chiranjeevi was in play throughout the speech, which was carefully crafted and touched upon all major issues though giving the appearance of spontaneity. “Mine will be a democratic and secular party, born from the hearts of the people,” he said.

“Its goal will be the contentment and happiness of the state.”  Though high on rhetoric, the actor’s speech was devoid of courage or imagination when it came to crucial issues. He said he was not averse to a separate Telangana but added that his first priority would be trying to end the backwardness of the region. He also sought more “brainstorming” to solve the Maoist problem and said the issue of backward status to Kapus should be examined thoroughly.

However, Chirnjeevi vigorously opposed the concept of Special Economic Zones and said land was meant for cultivation. “My top priority would be to make agriculture viable,” he said. “Even a soap manufacturer can decide the price of his product, but not a farmer.”  The actor said that only at few people were cornering all benefits in societies and major communities were being denied opportunities and added that he would put an end to that. He said he was also aware of the plight of the middle classes who did not get the benefits of any scheme.

“They can neither send their kids to government schools nor pay huge fee at corporate schools,” he said. Taking a subtle swipe at other political parties, Chiranjeevi said that his party had no rivals. “Problems are our rivals.  We have entered the battlefield but our battle is against problems,” he said.

Astrologers, numerologists and Feng shui experts say the flag of Chiranjeevi’s Praja Rajyam does not fit with celestial rules

Purohits
Tuesday has always been lucky for Chiranjeevi. “He believes in Hanuman for whom Tuesday is auspicious. He announced his political entry on Tuesday, and also his political party, said Govardhanam Bhattacharya official purohit of Chiranjeevi.

Astrologers
Chiranjeevi announced his party at 6.22 pm, the time of Aarudra star and Khumbha lagnam whose lord is Saturn or Shani. In the ‘administration house’, Mars [Khuja] is in eighth place which is dangerous. When Khumba lagnam began at 5.56 pm, there was disturbance in his rally and police had to resort to lathicharge. His party flag has the red sun which symbolises violence. There will be lot of disturbances in his party and it cannot come to power, said astrologer Srinivasa Gargeya. G Veerabhadracharyulu, head of astrology department in Telugu university, astrologer Santosh Kumar Sashtri, and Narayana Sharma, numerologist, said the time and date at were not auspicious.

Numerology
Chiranjeevi announced his political entry on the 17th [1+7=8] and his party on the 26th. [2+6=8]. Eight is the favourite number of Shani and has never been successful. As per Cheiro numerology, the alphabet ‘P’ with which his party name starts doesn’t spell success. “Someone misled Chiranjeevi, 8 is not at all auspicious,” said Mr M. Ramana Rao, a numerologist.
Feng Shui
The flag shouldn’t have red colour as it may cause aggressiveness. “White and green signify peace and prosperity, red is not a good colour .This colour may cause aggressiveness. He should change it to orange shaded red,” said Inciyah Nazir, Feng shui expert.

Colombo, Aug. 24: For the second time in the series, the Indian new ball bowlers proved unplayable. A track which played dead for most part of the Indian innings came alive in the latter half, as the fast bowlers sliced through the Sri Lankan batting like knife through hot butter. The hosts were stymied in their own conditions as the Indian attack pushed the Lankans into a far corner, but Mahela Jayawardena came out counter-punching and almost snatched an improbable victory at the R.Premadasa stadium on Sunday night.

Riding on half-centuries from Mahendra Singh Dhoni (76, 80b) and Suresh Raina (53, 80b), the Indians put up a competitive 237/9 in 50 overs and it turned hugely combative as the Lankans seemingly made a mess of the chase, losing five of their batsmen with just 58 on the board in the 17th over.

The Indians had worked their way from 91/4 to their eventual total and Lankan skipper Jayawardena replicated his counterpart’s good work with a magnificent 94 (110b) to take his team to the threshold of victory. Unfortunately, he fell nearing the target to end the Lankans’ hopes.

Praveen Kumar and Zaheer Khan had made most of the conditions and struck in tandem in the evening and before you could say Jack Robinson the Lankan top-order had vanished. The hosts, who threatened to make a match of it during a fighting 81-run eighth-wicket partnership between Jayawardena and Thilan Thushara (30, 55b) were finally bowled out for 204 to hand the Indians a 33–run victory and a 2-1 lead with two matches to go in the series.

But much of the Indian victory was owed to Dhoni and his two valuable associations for the fifth and sixth wickets which shaped the Indians’ recovery.

The skipper added 54 for the fifth with Raina and a busy 67 off 66 deliveries for the sixth with Rohit Sharma to lead the charge after opting to bat first. Having made a bold gamble of going in with three medium-pacers and one spinner, Dhoni had to justify his decision but it looked like a good toss to win as Virat Kohli looked in pleasing touch early on.

Though the Indian openers were a study in contrast with Gautam Gambhir prodding around uncharacteristically, Kohli made up for it. As luck would have it, the youngster fell to a good piece of work in the field by Chamara Silva who ran him out with a direct hit at the non-striker’s end.

Gambhir’s tenure ended when Nuwan Kulasekara trapped him in front and with Yuvraj Singh, pushed up to No 3, also falling to medium-pacer, the visitors were in a spot of bother at 62/3. The tensions heightened as S. Badrinath, promoted up the order, perished after an unconvincing stay to Ajantha Mendis.

The key to the Indians’ recovery, however lay in the manner they tackled Mendis and with Raina leading the way, the mystery spinner’s threat was thwarted.

Unlike in the latter part of the innings, there wasn’t much by way of assistance from the track and Mendis, who claimed 3/56 in ten overs, did come in for some rough treatment.

Just when the partnership between Dhoni and Raina, who pulled Mendis for a superb six over square-leg, appeared to gaining momentum, the left-hander fell, albeit to a run out, following a bit of hesitancy in responding to Dhoni’s call for a quick single. It actually brought about the most fruitful partnership for the Indians. Rohit, who is deceptively slow, joined forces with his skipper and the twosome baulked the Lankans as Dhoni completed his 23rd ODI fifty before picking up pace towards the end.

Scorecard

India
Batsman how out runs balls 4s 6s
V Kohli   run out (Silva)   25   38   4   0
G Gambhir  lbw b Kulasekara  8  20  0  0
Yuvraj Singh  c Jayawardene b Kulasekara  12  17  0  1
S Raina  (run out) 53  80  4  1
S Badrinath  c Vaas b Mendis  6  19  0  0
MS Dhoni  c Jayawardene b Mendis  76  80  8  0
R Sharma  c Kapugedera b Thushara  32  32  3  0
Harbhajan Singh  c Sangakkara b Mendis  2  6  0  0
P Kumar  (not out)  2  3  0  0
Z Khan  c Muralitharan b Thushara  1  6  0  0
Extras (b 2, lb 6, w 11, nb 1)      20
Total (50 overs)      237/9

FoW: 1-39 (Kohli, 8.5 ov), 2-40 (Gambhir, 9.4 ov), 3-62 (Yuvraj Singh, 13.6 ov), 4-91 (Badrinath, 22.5 ov), 5-145 (Raina, 34.5 ov), 6-212 (Sharma, 45.5 ov), 7-229 (Harbhajan Singh, 48.2 ov), 8-229 (Dhoni, 48.3 ov), 9-237 (Khan, 49.6 ov).

Bowling O M R W (E)
C Vaas  10  2  33  0 (2w)
Kulasekara  7  1  32  2  (2w)
T Thushara  9  1  36  2  (5w)
A Mendis  10  0  56  3  (1nb, 1w)
M Muralitharan  9  0  48  0
S Jayasuriya  5  0  24  0

Sri Lanka
Batsman how out runs balls 4s 6s
S Jayasuriya  c Dhoni b Kumar  13  15 3  0
K Sangakkara  lbw b Khan  9  12 2  0
C Kapugedera  lbw b Kumar  12  17 1  1
D Jayawardene  c Kumar b Patel  94  111 6  1
C Silva  lbw b Khan  1  5 0  0
T Dilshan  c Dhoni b Patel  16  21  3  0
C Vaas  b Harbhajan Singh  0  4  0  0
N Kulasekara  lbw b Yuvraj Singh  11  30  0  0
T Thushara  b Khan  30  55  2  0
A Mendis  (not out)  6  10  0  0
M Muralitharan    b Patel   6   14   0   0  Extras (lb 2, w 4)      6
Total (49 overs)      204/10

FoW: 1-18 (Jayasuriya, 4.1 ov), 2-26 (Sangakkara, 5.2 ov), 3-37 (Kapugedera, 8.4 ov), 4-40 (Silva, 9.4 ov), 5-58 (Dilshan, 16.3 ov), 6-59 (Vaas, 17.2 ov), 7-94 (Kulasekara, 26.5 ov), 8-175 (Thushara, 43.5 ov), 9-192 (Jayawardene, 45.4 ov)

Bowling O M R W (E)
P Kumar  10  0  62  2  (2w)
Z Khan  10  3  23  3  (1w)
M Patel  10  1  42  3
Harbhajan Singh  10  0  29  1
Yuvraj Singh  8  0  37  1  (1w)
R Sharma  1  0  9  0
Result:  India won by 33 runs.