Who pays the piper …

Fittingly, former Wanganui mayor Chas Poynter was piped on his final journey last weekend by his loyal lieutenant, friend and former deputy Randhir Dahya. Few Watchers in the Collegiate Chapel to celebrate the life – and mourn the death – of a true son of Wanganui can have been unaware of the irony surrounding Cr Dahya’s bizarre decision to ‘do a Chas’ and make a vote-splitting run for the mayoralty this year.

Wanganui mayor Michael Laws probably managed a sly smile at the thought that he may yet have the gullible Randhir to thank for finishing the job Chas started three years ago when unnamed dark forces were alleged to have persuaded him to make the mayoralty a three way race that went to bolter Laws. He may even have toyed with the idea of giving Randhir star billing on his own billboards in the sharing, caring Vision election spirit. (Yeah right! - Ed)

The punters who did their dough on Chas and found themselves living in a city struck with an epidemic of Vision flu have had plenty of time for regrets – none more so than Randhir Dahya and the other councillors who ran in independent colours in the 2004 WDC Cup. They’ve found themselves pulling up hobbled and lame through three miserable years of fixed race meetings, while the nags from the Vision stable were mercilessly whipped into shape by their cruel owner-trainer.

So what got into Randhir’s oats, you ask, to make him run against the odds for both mayor and councillor, and risk not even making it to the weigh in for either race?

The answer, from the horse’s mouth, is apparently a Faustian Bargain struck by Randhir with Wanganui’s very own Beezlebub.

As the Vision ring-ins have discovered over the past three long years, the old idiom is true: Who pays the piper calls the tune. And we are grateful to the anon who spilt the beans about Randhir’s bargain here on August 24:

Randhir had a long chat with Laws and they agreed that Randhir didn’t have a chance of winning but would be a serious vote-splitter. So Laws told Randhir that if he would run and fulfil this function, Laws would step down and hand the mayoralty over to Randhir after the election.

This came from the horse’s mouth and illustrates just how thick Randhir is in two ways. (a) He apparently believed Laws after seeing him in action for three years and (b) He told another person about the proposed ‘arrangement’. The indiscretion of (b) must have dawned on him because he has since denied the whole thing, but that is hardly surprising.

It has been said he wanted Maslin to write a story of his denial, which would have made the Chron even more mysterious reading than usual.

Thanks for that insight, anon. And wherever knowledgeable Wanganui punters gather to study form, the smart money all goes one way:

After a string of wins in previous races for council, Randhir has been saddled up by MickeyMayor for a one-way ride to the knacker’s yard as the punters punish him for trying to rig their city’s most important race.