Telangana polls: Election king' Padmarajan files his 237th nomination from Gajwel segment
Hyderabad (PTI): Undeterred by defeats 236 times in various polls he contested in the country, K Padmarajan from Tamil Nadu has filed his nomination as an independent in Gajwel constituency from which the Chief Minister is contesting in the November 30 assembly polls in Telangana.
Popularly known as “Election King”, Padmarajan said it is his 237th nomination in elections ranging from local bodies to presidential, spread across states like Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, UP and Delhi.
Padmarajan, who runs a tyre repair shop, said he started the marathon of filing nomination in Mettur constituency in Tamil Nadu in 1988 assembly elections and from then on, he has contested against former Prime Ministers Atal Bihari Vajpayee and PV Narasimha Rao also.
The sexagenarian who calls himself a homoeopathic doctor, said he created several records with his passion for contesting in polls and spent about Rs 1 crore towards his obsession.
He also contested against AICC former chief Rahul Gandhi in the 2019 general elections from Wayanad in Kerala.
“The highest votes I ever polled were over 6273 in Mettur constituency in the 2011 Tamil Nadu assembly polls in 2011,” adding he garnered zero votes in some panchayat elections.
According to his affidavit filed on November 4, neither he nor his family member ever filed Income Tax returns and declared Rs 1,10,000 worth movable assets, including a moped and annual income of Rs 1 lakh.
The affidavit says he studied up to class 8 and is pursuing MA (History) from Annamalai Open University.
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Nitish loses cool inside Bihar assembly over opposition's 'guns and bullets' jibe
Patna (PTI): Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar lost his composure inside the state assembly on Tuesday when opposition members created a ruckus alleging that his government was ruling the state with the help of "guns and bullets".
The 76-year-old leader, who stood up to admonish the unruly members, also had a slip of tongue, as he underscored the brute majority enjoyed by the NDA, saying "our strength is two thousand and two".
The BJP-led coalition, which includes Kumar's JD(U) and a few smaller parties, had swept the Bihar assembly polls last year, bagging 202 seats of the 243-strong House.
Trouble began soon after the House assembled at 11 am, with RJD MLA Kumar Sarvajeet registering a protest against the police's baton charge on village 'chowkidars' (watchmen) here a day ago when they were staging a demonstration to press the demand for a hike in stipends.
"The 'chowkidars' who were demanding a hike in their pay are very much employees of the Home department. Yet, they were treated in a deplorable fashion yesterday," alleged Sarvajeet.
Several other MLAs of the opposition party also raised a slogan: "bandook goli ki sarkar nahin chalegi (will not allow a rule by brute force, with the help of guns and bullets)".
This provoked Kumar, the longest serving CM of the state, who heads the JD(U) and has had a couple of short-lived alliances with the RJD in the past.
He shouted: "Do not talk rubbish. This government will run without any hiccups. Just look at us. We are two thousand and two. And just look at how many of you have been left now."
Kumar was apparently referring to the RJD's drubbing in the last assembly polls when it returned with a tally of 25, one of its worst ever performances.
When RJD leader Bhai Virendra reminded the JD(U) supremo of their two short-lived alliances in the last one decade, Kumar shot back: "Yes, and you people always indulged in mischief, a reason why I pulled out never to return".
The CM also reminded the opposition party, which was unseated from power by the NDA helmed by him in 2005, that "You did nothing worthwhile during the period you were in power... Law and order had been so abysmal that people feared getting out of their homes after 5 pm. So you better not talk nonsense."
Amid the heated exchange, some of the opposition MLAs trooped into the well, briefly plunging the House into turmoil.
The agitated members got pacified after Parliamentary Affairs Minister Vijay Kumar Chaudhary rose to interject and said, "We will call representatives of various associations of chowkidars for talks. Their demands will be looked into, and appropriate action will be taken."
