Karat Chosen Leader of Opposition
Prakash Karat, the Genereal Secretary of the CPI(M) was today unanimously chosen as the leader of opposition today. The former Leader of Opposition, L.K.Advani, proposed Karat's name for the post.
"I think Mr. Karat would be better at this job than me, because of his natural flair for opposing anything and everything positive and constructive. Anyway, he and his party have been opposing the party more than the opposition itself. In light of this, I cede my post in honour of Mr. Karat."
Apparently, another reason for this decision is the other post that Advani holds, that of the President of the BJP. Since every member of the party is shooting his mouth off in a different direction, and there is a lot of infighting, Advani has his hands full as the President setting things right.
This offer has been communicated to Karat, but there is still no response from him. Sources say that Karat's initial reaction was to oppose the offer, and then threaten the UPA government. However his aides told him that there was no valid reason to threaten the UPA government in this case, since the offer came from the NDA.
Karat and the CPI(M) Politburo are currently in a metting in an unnamed five start hotel to discuss the proposal.
Re-release of Saibaba movie stalled by Censor Board
The re-release of films like Sholay and Mughal-e-azam were very successful. Taking cue from this, the makers of the 70s surprise hit 'Shirdi ke Saibaba' decided to re-release the movie, confident of success, since the number of devotees has only swelled in the last 3 decades. However, they ran up against an unexpected firewall - the Censor Board.
The censor Board has refused to renew the certificate of the film, since many of its scenes show Saibaba (Sudhir Dalvi) smoking. According to new government regulations, films which show people smoking can not be released as they encourage smoking amongst minors.
The Board has demanded that the film-makers cut out all the scenes which depict smoking if the movie has to be re-released.
"Showing a widely respected and reverred figure like Saibaba smoking would only multiply the influence that movies have in encouraging the deadly habit. In light of that and the recent government orders, we can not permit the release of the movie unless they delete the contentious scenes.