photo sent to media
The Maharashtra Chief Minister’s office has suddenly gone image-conscious! The CMO has issued what it terms the “Official Photograph” of the Chief Minister to all media houses with a statement saying it should be used along with any news item concerning the Chief Minister. The photograph shows a neatly turned out, suave-looking Prithviraj Chavan.
Not that Chavan is not a cut above, as Chief Ministers go. Before formally moving into his official residence, Varsha, at Malabar Hill in south Mumbai, he visited the place to take a look at his future home. He was horrified to find 40 LCD and Plasma TVs and airconditioners installed in places where they were not even needed. He immediately ordered their removal.
They were sent to the government departments and also the CM’s own publicity department which had a decades-old television set that displayed just one Marathi news channel! “For years, like in the pre-liberalization era, we relied on that one Marathi channel for news. We prayed for a new TV set and our prayer was answered,” remarked a senior publicity officer in the CMO.
Bitter medicine for Shashank
Jat stir led by ajit snowballs
In February, when a host of parties, including the Rashtriya Lok Dal, Peace Party, Indian Justice Party, Bharatiya Samaj Party, Janwadi Party, Ittehad-e-Millat Council and the Bharatiya Lokhit Party formed a front to contest the Uttar Pradesh polls in 2012, it upset Mayawati’s apple-cart. The front will fight for 403 Assembly seats under the leadership of Ajit Singh, son of Chaudhry Charan Singh, and a Jat leader from Western UP.
Mayawati is already hard at work, preparing for the elections. She is touring districts every week for the last two months. This front poses a threat to her, especially in western Uttar Pradesh. Within a week of its formation, the Jat agitation for reservation gathered momentum. Trains were cancelled and roads were blocked.
UP Cabinet Secretary Shashank Shekhar Singh kept saying it was not a law and order problem but a political one. So the police became a silent spectator. Shashank Shekhar himself belongs to the Jat community and is from western UP. It is well known that Yaspal Malik, a leader of the All-India Jat Aarakshan Sangharsh Samiti, is a follower of his and an Ajit baiter.
The agitation, extending to Haryana and Rajasthan, shows Ajit’s vote bank. It is a blessing in disguise for him as he now has a task to perform.
Beni’s flying again
ex-cabinet minister makes do
The newly appointed Minister of State for Steel, Beni Prasad Verma, is back from a long period in oblivion. He once served as a Cabinet Minister, with the telecommunication portfolio. So this appointment as Minister of State, albeit with independent charge, must be hard to take for the krumi leader of eastern UP and staunch opponent of Mulayam Singh Yadav. His house at Kushak Road, once deserted, is now bustling with visitors. It has been refurbished and new furniture and upholstery brought in. Visitors are served tea while he downs glass after glass of butter milk.
Benibabu has never forgotten his friends, especially a veteran Congress leader from Rajasthan, Sheesh Ram Ola, who helped him in his hour of need. He tells everybody about the octogenarian Ola’s generosity. He also pontificates on how much influence he wields in his area and how his being a Cabinet Minister would help the Congress but nobody’s listening in Delhi. That doesn’t prevent him from always having a helicopter at his disposal, for many steel PSUs own choppers.
Juggling in Rashtrapati Bhavan
president’s spouse copes
The residence of the President of India is one institution in India which keeps a distance from the limelight. Protocol does not permit the President to visit the homes of Ministers or other individuals. Even the President’s family is restrained from visiting other VVIPS in the country. President Pratibha Patil is conducting herself with the dignity desired but her businessman husband, Devisingh Ramsingh Shekhawat, finds it difficult to function in such a restrictive atmosphere. He is involved in several businesses and performs the balancing act well. Though it is possible to manage his businesses from Rashtrapati Bhavan, the trouble is that all activities are noticed by the staff. And visitors are not quite comfortable with the heavy security. And, to conduct business, he does have to move out sometimes.
Ministers are sometimes taken aback when, in the early morning or late evening, a limousine suddenly deposits Shekhawat at their houses. Of course, they extend all manner of courtesies to him.
