Keeping both the bureaucratic and po- litical bosses happy is a tightroping feat but Praveen Kumar Tripathi, Principal Secretary to the Delhi Chief Minister, is doing it none too badly. Tripathi, a 1977 batch IAS officer of Union Ter- ritory cadre, was brought to this post by S. Raghunathan just before the latter retired as Chief Secre-tary, Delhi. And Raghu- nathan also helped to in- duct his suc- cessor, Ramesh Narayanswamy.
Now, while Chief Minister Sheila Dixit con- siders Tripathi ex- tremely trustworthy, so does Narayan- swamy. And staffers in the Chief Minister’s secretariat are at their wits’ end, trying to figure out whose man Tripathi is. Meanwhile, he is a winner all the way, feared alike by the followers of both Dixit and Narayanswamy. But how long he will keep up this balancing act is a matter of conjecture.
Mayawati’s Three Musketeers
Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) su- premo Mayawati has been UP chief minister three times. And, during the three tenures, three IAS officers became her close aides. The trusted trinity—Netram, Shrikrishna and Kunwar Fateh Ba- hadur Singh—is once again ready to wait on her if she stages a comeback this time. When Mayawati lost power, they were exiled to Uttar Pradesh offi- cialdom’s Siberia.
Netram, an amiable, low-profile officer, looked after matters relating to industrial development. Though promoted to Principal Secretary, he is now languishing as Member (Judicial) in the Board of Revenue. Shrikrishna suffered the worst setback—bereft of any posting for some time. He man- aged a six-month study leave abroad. Thereafter, he spent eight months in the personnel department without any work or designation. He is now Secre- tary (Sports), a post sans any political prestige. Fateh Bahadur was down- graded from the powerful position of secretary to CM to the ceremonial Secretary (Dharmathkarya).
Priya lends a helping hand
When Minister for Information & Broadcasting Priya Ranjan Das Mun- shi issued a departmental fiat on Sep- tember 15, 2006, ordering formation of a committee for purchase of 300 films to be telecast on Doordarshan, his aide, Secretary Manoj Kumar Agarwal, got the order implemented with due haste. The committee included the Prasar Bharati CEO, the Doordarshan DG, and the ADG (Finance).The last- named happens to be Rajat Bhargava, a batchmate of Agarwal. Both are from the 1990 batch and are originally from UP though Agarwal is from the West Bengal cadre and Bhargava from the Andhra Pradesh one.
Though regional films were ex- cluded, there were many bidders for, with Rs 10 lakh being paid for each film, the total amount at stake was Rs 30 crore. Bypassing several bidders quoting lower rates, the order went to two Mumbai-based distributors
