hotelier chief breaks conventions
Prabha Thakur, formerly a two-term Lok Sabha member and currently a Rajya Sabha member, who is also president of the All-India Mahila Congress, is having a field day. About three months ago, at the behest of a Central leader from Kashmir, she appointed Indu Pawar president of the state unit without informing, let alone obtaining the approval of, the General Secretary in charge of the Mahila Congress, Mohsina Kidwai. Further, the party constitution provides for not more than 23 officebearers at the Central level. However, Thakur increased the number to 45.
Thakur has a hotel business in different states and reportedly owes her political career to industrialist BK Modi. Besides Modi, her present mentors in the party are two powerful General Secretaries and two Union Ministers.
Minister for Women and Child Development Renuka Chowdhury recently nominated an obscure but wealthy woman to the lucrative post of Chairperson of the UP Social Welfare Board on Thakur’s recommendation. According to party tradition, such appointments are made on the recommendations of the Mahila Congress president. However, insiders started whispering that the recommendations were not entirely above board and state Congress president Reeta Bahuguna complained to party president Sonia Gandhi. The Minister has been instructed to ignore Thakur’s recommendations for similar nominations in other states.
Tch, tch, Aiyar!
assistant fails to bag ticket
Minister for Panchayati Raj and Development of North Eastern Regions Mani Shankar Aiyar backed the candidature of his private assistant, Nivedita Nair, in the Delhi Assembly polls. She was seeking a ticket from Patparganj and Aiyar, also a well-known champion of women’s empowerment, moved heaven and earth to help her. He wrote to state party president Jai Prakash, Chief Minister Sheila Dixit, General Secretary Ashok Gehlot, and was ever willing to accompany Nair to meet leaders with a say in ticket distribution.
A Central Minister is empowered to employ two private assistants from outside the government who are entitled to government accommodation, vehicle and salary. Strangely, Nair neither comes to the Ministry nor uses an official vehicle or accommodation. Sources say she would keep enquiring frantically about who was calling the shots in ticket distribution, and, once given the name, would drive Aiyar in her personal car to meet the leader. Her failure to bag the ticket has rebounded on Aiyar – the flock of ambitious women leaders is voicing disenchantment with him.
Manmohan in LS?
search for safe seat
That he has never been elected to the Lok Sabha is the only criticism Prime Minister Manmohan Singh faces. To prove that he is a man of the masses, he is reportedly exploring the possibility of contesting the next Parliamentary election from Punjab. The Central intelligence agencies have apparently suggested Amritsar as the safest bet.
Cricketer-turned-TV anchor Navjot Singh Sidhu of the BJP represents Amritsar in the Lok Sabha. He was approached to shift to another constituency with the promise that the Congress would field a weak candidate against him in return. The BJP is the political ally of the Akali Dal (Badal) in Punjab and the party too was brought into the loop. Sidhu turned down the proposal, and the Akalis followed suit.
Now, the Jalandhar seat is the only option left – for two reasons. It is represented by the Congress and had once elected another non-political Prime Minister – Inder Kumar Gujral.
Minister as devil
babus avoiding post
Swami Prasad Maurya, the UP BSP president and Cooperatives Minister, is in search of an officer who can take up the job of Registrar of Cooperative Societies (RCS) but without success. At present, Principal Secretary (Cooperatives) Amal Kumar Verma is holding additional charge.
The Minister has already tested four officers, each of whom failed to live up to his expectations. BL Meena, the last incumbent, was removed after he refused to okay a proposal for the creation of 200 posts in the Pradesh Cooperative Cold Storage Federation (PACSFED). Meena argued that this would only add to the wage bill of PACSFED, set up in the good old days of socialism for opening cold storages in rural areas for the benefit of potato farmers. Over a decade ago, the government had decided to get rid of the redundant stores and many were actually sold. PACSFED had since become a construction agency for cooperative bodies and other government agencies. Since it has a captive clientele, it gets work which barely helps it to pay salaries.
But Maurya is keen on the new posts and this is the first unpleasant task the new officer will have to handle. However, after Meena’s exit, no officer is willing to join.
