AAP’s fire refuses to light

The release of a compact disc (CD) containing Himachal Pradesh health minister Kaul Singh Thakur’s purported conversation with a woman and some others raised a political storm in the state as the minister obliquely blamed chief minister Virbhadra Singh for the “leak”. While the opposition BJP lambasted the government for leaking the private conversation and demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) made every effort to politicise the issue. The rookie party decided in utter haste to burn the health minister’s effigy. However, the protest turned out to be amusing for commuters on the busy Mall Road. Three AAP work- ers gathered near the main square of district collectorate and wasted an entire matchbox while trying to set the poorly-made effigy on fire. When they failed, the AAP workers dumped the effigy near the bin and ran off.