BJP packs mean punchline for Congress

Jaipur: After the success of cartoons lampooning the ruling Congress's role in the coal scam, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has now launched an all-out cartoon war. Today, demonstrating against the UPA's decision to allow Foreign Direct Investment or FDI in retail, a BJP worker on his scooter, carrying posters inspired from various internet and blogging sites was quite the centre of attraction.

BJP worker Mahendra Shastri from Jaipur's walled city area, set out to be part of the BJP's dharna at the city's Badi Chaupar. On his scooter were BJP flags and some interesting posters.

One of them, clearly a take on Pirates Of The Caribbean, showed Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh in lead roles. The caption read 'Dakuon Ki Rani Choron Ka Sardar.' It was obviously a poster made for the Hindi release of Pirates of the Caribbean 2 - the uncomplimentary reference to the Prime Minister and the Congress President didn't appear to have daunted the party worker in the least.

Speaking to NDTV, Mahendra Shastri said his aim was to protest and show people how the aam adami was at the receiving end of the UPA's unfair policies especially when it came to price rise.

Mr Shastri's second poster showed Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi lugging an LPG cylinder between them. Mrs Gandhi in an ordinary saree and Dr Singh in a striped black shirt were made to look like an ordinary middle class couple, burdened with the hike in LPG prices.

The state secretary of the BJP, Sunil Kothari, says he received such a tremendous response to the cartoons on coal that even after the protest was over they actually left the hoardings for a day at the site of the protest at Ambedkar Circle in Jaipur for people to stop and stare. Now they plan to take these cartoons and posters to districts units every time they stage a protest. Clearly, the BJP has discovered that communicating through cartoons is a more effective way of taking on the UPA than mundane political rhetoric. 

Rajasthan groom stranded as bride flees with lakhs

Jaipur: A bridegroom and about 50 of his guest were stranded in Rajasthan's Barmer town for a week as the would-be bride disappeared right before the ceremony, after duping him of Rs.3.75 lakh, police said on Monday.

A first information report (FIR) was registered against the bride and two men who had fixed the wedding after taking the money, they added. One of the men was arrested on Monday.

The incident took place in Sadar area of Barmer, some 550 km from Jaipur.

"Arjunram, a resident of Hiradesar village in Jodhpur, had come to Barmer on August 28 to tie the knot with a girl whose identity is not being disclosed. He was accompanied by a marriage procession consisting of at least 50 people, including his parents and family members," a police officer said.

However, when they reached the wedding venue, they found that the bride and her family members were missing and her house was locked, the officer said.

He added that Arjunram and others kept waiting for the girl and her family members throughout the night, but then realised that they had been cheated by a professional gang of fraudsters.

"For fixing the marriage, two men, Veer Singh and Jetha Ram, had taken Rs.3.75 lakh from Arjunram's family members. An engagement ceremony had taken place Aug 25," said the officer.

Arjunram and several other villagers are still in Barmer.

"During preliminary investigation, it has come up that the girl, Veer Singh and Jetha Ram were members of a gang involved in duping unemployed youths on pretext of marriage. We arrested Jetharam today (Monday) and are searching for others," the officer said.

Four dead after heavy rains in Jaipur

Jaipur: Four people have died in a torrential downpour in Jaipur. Two children were killed in a wall collapse due to the heavy rains in the city and two adults were also swept away.

Heavy rains since Tuesday night have led to water logging in many parts of the city, especially the low-lying areas.

After orders from the Collector, schools have been closed for Wednesday. All anganwadi centres are also closed.

Rescue teams are going through the city to check if anybody is marooned in the rains.