Shatrughan Sinha slams PM Modi for hiring ‘choreographed’ crowd in his rallies
Patna, Apr 2: Actor-turned-politician Shatrughan Sinha fired a fresh salvo at Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday, charging him with "wasting" money on hiring a "choreographed crowd" that chanted his name "before, during and after" speeches which lacked "content and depth".
In a series of stinging tweets, Sinha, who is all set to quit the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and seek re-election from Patna Sahib on a Congress ticket, also accused Modi of "arrogance" and "EVM misuse" and advised him to "go for a real press conference" and take questions from journalists "who cannot be bought and can question you in the larger interest of the nation".
"Honourable outgoing Sirji. Why are you wasting so much money on different channels and on the paid and choreographed crowd who chant your name at any given time - during, before and after your speeches on the signal of the conductors. Your speeches lack content and depth these days and have gone to the extent of becoming highly repetitive and irritating," Sinha tweeted.
"Sirji, I still remain your well-wisher despite your EVM misuse and in spite of all your arrogance. My humble suggestion for you at this eleventh hour would be to become straight and go straight. Don't hire or go for paid channels. Instead go for a real and genuine Press Conference with people who cannot be bought, who can question you in the larger interest of the nation," he said in another tweet.
"Go for the press who are not sycophants and cannot be silenced by money and muscle power -- instead of going for a conducted tour, well-rehearsed, well-practised, choreographed slogan chanting and with people of press of the choice of the one man show and two man army," Sinha said in yet another tweet.
"Your addresses right from London were conducted and choreographed, where you abused doctors and had your own conducted questions put by your own paid anchor, well known till recently," he said in his final tweet of the day, referring to a question-answer session at Westminster compered by Bollywood lyricist Prasoon Joshi -- said to be a BJP supporter -- wherein Modi's comment about Indian doctors visiting abroad on tours sponsored by pharma companies had evoked strong condemnation from the medical fraternity back home.
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KKR land Green for record-breaking Rs 25.20 crore; Shaw, Sarfaraz go unsold
Abu Dhabi (PTI): Kolkata Knight Riders splurged a record-breaking Rs 25.20 to land top Australian all-rounder Cameron Green even as Indian stars Prithvi Shaw and Sarfaraz Khan went unsold in the Indian Premier League players' auction here on Tuesday.
Green surpassed compatriot Mitchell Starc (Rs 24.75 crore) to become the most expensive overseas player at an IPL auction. This was after Kolkata Knight Riders and Chennai Super Kings were involved in an intense bidding war for him before the latter emerged winner.
KKR also went after Venkatesh Iyer before pulling out of the race against Royal Challengers Bengaluru, who fetched the services of the India all-rounder for Rs 7 crore.
As far as Green is concerned, his salary for the season would still be Rs 18 crore (USD 1.9 million) as the rest of the amount will go towards the BCCI's player development programme as per the rules of the auction for foreign players.
Green, who previously turned up for Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bengaluru, has so far played 29 matches in the IPL to aggregate 707 runs and take 16 wickets.
Shaw, however, went unsold despite his fine run of form in the domestic circuit lately, and so was the case with Sarfaraz, who smashed a 22-ball 73 in a Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy match for Mumbai on Tuesday.
Big-hitting South African batter David Miller was bought by Delhi Capitals for his base price of Rs 2 crore, but New Zealand swashbuckler Devon Conway, whose base price was also Rs 2 crore, went unsold in the auction.
Seasoned South African opener Quinton de Kock returned to his old base Mumbai Indians for a base price of Rs 1 crore.
A total of 359 players -- 246 Indians and 113 overseas players -- are part of the mini auction pool with the 10 franchises bidding to fill up a maximum of 77 slots, including 31 reserved for foreign players.
