ANDHRANET.BLOGSPOT.COM

Call it coincidence or more than that, but all political leaders who were made targets of footwear missiles in the run up to the Lok Sabha polls have tasted victory in the elections.

While Home Minister P Chidambaram, BJP leader Lal Krishna Advani and industrialist Naveen Jindal contested and won the elections, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, a member of Rajya Sabha, has emerged winner in terms of Congress-led UPA returning to power.

Besides, Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa, who became a target of a flying shoe at an election meeting in Hassan late last month, has ensured a victory for his son B Y Raghavendra in the polls.

Singh, Chidambaram, Advani, Jindal and Yeddyurappa were among the political leaders who were targetted during the campaign, although none of them were hit actually.The Prime Minister too was targetted when a student hurled a sneaker towards him when he was addressing his first poll rally in Gujarat.

Last month, a slipper was lobbed at Advani by a former BJP worker during a public meeting, while a retired school headmaster threw a footwear at Congress candidate in Kurukshetra, Navin Jindal, during a poll rally.

It all started with journalist Jarnail Singh, who hurled a shoe at Chidambaram on April 8, protesting against the clean chit given by the CBI to Congress leader Jagdish Tytler in connection with the 1984 anti-Sikh riots