During her run-up to power, Mamata Banerjee got along well with the leading media houses of Kolkata — but not anymore. Her government's controversial order to keep leading Bengali as well as English newspapers out of the 2500-odd government-sponsored public libraries in West Bengal has not found favour with the media. She said during a TV interview: “If need be, we will direct people as to what paper they should read.” Banerjee accused a section of media houses of “conspiring against her government”.

Unique protest

On Friday, the Speaker of the Maharashtra Assembly was forced to suspend 14 Shiv Sena and BJP MLAs for performing a maha aarti inside the Legislative Assembly with a large silver statue of Lord Ganesh. The MLA's weren't praying, though. They were protesting against the alleged inaction of Maharashtra police in apprehending the dacoits who had recently stolen a golden idol of Lord Ganesh from a temple in Raigad district. One suspended MLA said the protest was to highlight the fact that even Gods aren't safe in Maharashtra, “only ministers and terrorists like Ajmal Kasab are.”

Remote rule

In Andhra Pradesh, it is once again rule by High Command. Ghulam Nabi Azad, who is in charge of AP affairs, keeps rushing down to Hyderabad. Or else, the CM, Kiran Kumar Reddy, and the APCC Chief, Botcha Satyanarayana, keep rushing down to Delhi. During the nine-year rule of Chandrababu Naidu, and six years of Rajasekhara Reddy, the State had become self-reliant. Now, that is no more the case.

Paramesh who?

The Karnataka unit of BJP is hogging all the limelight. But what's happened to the Congress? There are hardly any leaders who can claim to have a large following across the State. Who, for instance, is G Parameshwara? He heads the party in the state. But tired of anonymity, he has now decided to go on a padyatra with some central ministers. BSY doesn't need any such central crutch.

Modi doesn't have time

Astrologer Bejan Daruwalla's book “2012: End of the World” was “launched” by Chief Minister Narendra Modi in Ahmedabad recently in the presence of the Parsi clergy, business leaders and some more people. The 164-page book was published last year. But it took a while before Mr Modi could launch it in Ahmedabad, with the people concerned willing to wait it out. Invitations for the programme said Mr Modi and Mr Daruwalla would interact with the media after the launch. But Mr Modi left without meeting the media. Has he begun to disregard the Indian media, after appearing on the cover of Time magazine?

Retail revolution

After Swami Ramdev's move to sell various Patanjali products through retail network, the Sahara group has started selling products through 100,000 neighbourhood franchisee stores. Both are claiming their products are pure and cheaper. Sahara is known for its support for the Samajwadi Party. The message: ‘We don't need FDI for retail. We can do it', says a senior office-bearer of one of the Swadeshi groups.

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