On an oily wicket

Managing the crowd at a public rally can be quite a task, especially if both the prime minister and a state chief minister are attending the rally. The special protection group in-charge of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's security sent the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) officials into a tizzy when it asked them to reduce the size of a stage set up for the guests at Tripura's Palantala, where Modi was to address a public rally after the inauguration of the ONGC Tripura Power Company's second unit of 363 Mw earlier this week. A day before the rally, ONGC officers could be seen trying to get the backdrop banner fixed according to the new specifications. But with the markets in Agartala - the state capital that is about 65 km from Palantala - shut because of their weekly day off, finding a vendor to redo the banner seemed as tough as, say, finding new oil.