Hot reception awaits Bachchan

allahabad: this city has opposed visits of many vvips including late prime ministers jawahar lal nehru and indira gandhi, who were shown black flags almost on every visit. despite heavy police bandobast and administrative arrangements, few people in the crowd would take out handkerchiefs from their pockets and wave at the dignitaries, hitting headlines in newspapers across the country.this time it is the turn of the millennium cine superstar amitabh bachchan for whom a civic reception is being organised on october 21 by the efforts of mayor k p srivastava. since srivastava was elected mayor as a samajwadi party candidate, opponents of mulayam singh and sp have threatened to agitate. arun pathak, a working committee member of the bjp, makes a point saying that amitabh bachchan, whom the electorate had chosen rejecting veteran politician h n bahuguna, had ditched electorate by resigning the seat amid bofors controversy and even deserted late prime minister rajiv gandhi. some others say that if civic reception was to be given to bachchan it should have been an all-party affair and not the show of samajwadi party alone. some corporators of nagar nigam have already aired their views against the civic reception being planned for the big b. meanwhile, national kayastha welfare front chief k n khare, taking advantage of the proposed civic reception, reminds bachchan of the front's letter to him of september 16, 1996 highlighting the plight of kayasthas under the impact of job reservations, lack of political representation, insufficient opportunities for trade and commerce. urging bachchan to lead kayasthas and press for at least 10 per cent quota for boys and girls of the community. khare says though bachchan did not believe in caste politics but under present circumstances he should do something tangible for the community. bachchan, he demands, should exert pressure on samajwadi party leader mulayam singh yadav to give 10 per cent tickets to kayasthas in the coming elections in the state. in earlier days, dr rajendra prasad, jai prakash narain, lal bahadur shastri and dr sampoornanad had made significant contributions for the development of the country. since their departure from the political field a vacuum had been created. bachchan should do fill that vacuum, he pleads.