THE NAME GAME

BALWANT SINGH MANKOTIA, Opposition National Panthers’ Party MLA, was scheduled to visit his constituency in Jammu and Kashmir’s Udhampur district last week to inaugurate a civic project he had completed from his constituency development fund. But when he arrived at the venue, he found the state’s planning minister, Ajay Sadhotra, had already presided over that ceremony an hour before. The original inauguration stone that bore Mr Mankotia’s name had been replaced overnight with Mr Sadhotra’s. “I was to inaugurate the project at 1 pm but was surprised to learn that Mr Sadhotra had done it at noon. More shockingly, he had removed my name plate and replaced it with his own name,” an upset Mr Mankotia complained to Speaker of the Assembly, Mubarak Gul. “Speaker Sahib, there was my name plate but it was removed on the directions of the minister under the cover of darkness, hours before its scheduled inauguration by me,” Mr Mankotia pleaded.

This name game has definitely led Mr Mankotia and others puzzled.