The Lok Sabha has its share of amusement each time an AIADMK member gets up to speak, expecting the customary invocation of “Puratchi Thalaivi Amma”, with Jayalalithaa’s picture peeking out of their pockets. But last week there was stunned silence, followed by murmurs of surprise, as K Parasuraman, MP from Thanjavur, did not mention “Amma” even once. When some other MPs pointed out what was missing in his speech, Parasuraman smiled sheepishly, and the entire House broke out into laughter!

Future perfect?

Kishore Biyani CEO, Future Group, may be convinced that e-commerce companies will shut shop, but his group company Future Supply Solutions has created a business vertical to cater to this segment with clients such as Snapdeal and Pepperfry. “We treat e-commerce companies like any of our regular clients but most of them are bound to close down,” says Biyani. At the same time, Future Supply Solutions continues to scout for more e-commerce players with Flipkart being next on the list. After all, last mile delivery is still the strong point of the big retailers such as Future Group.

If…

What if Vijay Mallya continued to pay his employees and small vendors, deposited PF, TDS and service tax promptly. Would he have had so many problems over the ₹9,000 crore loan his airline owes? Some believe he would have had a much smoother ride if his employees had rooted for him.

Two for tea?

Pompilai Orumai, the fledgling tea workers’ union in Kerala’s Munnar that shocked the trade union establishment by conducting a successful strike for higher bonus, is stepping into the Assembly election arena.

The all-women union secured the hike without any political backing from the Kanan Devan Plantation Hills Company. The union has announced that it will contest two seats in Idukki district where tea workers have a substantial presence.

Orumai has a single-point electoral agenda: better living conditions for tea-plantation workers in the district. Are tea workers in West Bengal and Assam, which also go to the polls along with Kerala, taking note?

What’s in a name?

Tamil Nadu politicians have had a partiality towards titles and prefixes. When the Congress was the dominant party in the State, it was common for the local leadership to use honorifics or titles such as ‘Dewan’, ‘Bahadur’ and professional titles such as Barristers, etc.

When the Dravidian parties came to the forefront they made it a point to dispense with elitist titles, preferring ordinary prefixes to their names such Tea Kadai’ (Tea stall), ‘Pazha Kadai’ (Fruit Shop) and Tailor.

Of course, the big guns reserved all the grand titles to themselves — for instance, ‘Perunthalaivar’ (great leader) for Kamaraj; ‘Kalaignar’ (artist) for Karunanidhi; ‘Puratchi Thalaivar’ (revolutionary leader) for MGR. Lately, prefixes have been getting a touch personal — with ‘Amma’ for Jayalalithaa, ‘Anni’ or elder brother’s wife for DMDK leader Vijayakanth’s wife, Premalatha. Note we have the BJP state head Tamilisai Soundarajan is referred to as ‘Akka’ (elder sister).

Falling between two stools

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor stumped parliamentarians when he said in Lok Sabha that budget “falls between two stools” as it tries to satisfy both Modi’s interest and Moody’s interest! He said that the budget sought to send reassuring signals to both rating agencies abroad and even more reassuring signals to the voters at home.

Nowhere is this contradiction more apparent than in alarming unreality of some government numbers, especially 3.5 per cent fiscal deficit, Tharoor said.

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