Gajendra Singh Negi | Dehradun
Governor Gautam
The decision of the Narendra Modi government to appoint former in- charge of Uttarakhand BJP, Dushyant Gautam as the governor of troubled state of Sikkim has stirred a hornet’s nest in the election bound Uttarakhand by bringing the sensational and sensitive Ankita Bhandari murder case into political and social limelight again. Gautam was named by the estranged wife of a former BJP MLA Suresh Rathore as the VIP involved in the case. Following the public uproar over the sensational revelation, the State government handed over the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe the VIP angle in it. Pertinently, days before her murder, Bhandari had informed her friend that she is being coerced by her employers to give ‘special service’ to a VIP. The BJP government could be technically correct in appointing Gautam on an important constitutional position such as governor of a State but questions are being raised on moral propriety of the decision at the time when the CBI probe is still underway in the Ankita murder case. Furthermore, the decision appears politically incorrect as it has given Congress and other opposition parties an issue to browbeat the BJP government.
Donkeys & horses
The media in-charge of State BJP, Manvir Chauhan appears to have landed himself in trouble with his recent ‘donkeys and horses’ comment. Commenting on the Congress leaders who have joined BJP in recent years, Chauhan stated that these leaders could have been ‘donkeys and horses’ when they were in Congress but since BJP is an ideology based party, such leaders become principled after joining it. After this statement, Chauhan came under the target of Congress leaders who asked him to name these leaders. Powerful cabinet minister Saurabh Bahuguna asked Chauhan to refrain from making such controversial comments and requested party leadership to take note of the issue. Bahuguna’s anger is understandable since it was his father, former chief minister Vijay Bahuguna who led a famous coup in March 2016 against the then Harish Rawat government when he along with nine MLAs had defected to BJP. At present Satpal Maharaj, Subodh Uniyal, Rekha Arya and Pradeep Batra are the ministers with Congress DNA in the Pushkar Singh Dhami cabinet. Cynics point out that Chauhan’s frustration stems from the fact that both Kedar Singh Rawat and Deepak Bijalwan who are vying for a BJP ticket with him from Yamunotri in upcoming Vidhan Sabha elections, were formerly in the Congress party.
Under duress
The sensational claim made by Haldwani MLA, Sumit Hridayesh that a gang has secret access to his phone and that the tapped information can be used against him in the upcoming Vidhan Sabha election should be thoroughly investigated by the State agencies. In an emotionally charged press conference in Haldwani, the Congress MLA said that he had submitted a complaint on the issue to the Superintendent of Police in April last year but no action has yet been taken. Threatening to immolate himself during the upcoming session of Vidhan Sabha in Gairsain, Hridayesh claimed that powerful people are involved in the conspiracy to end his political career. The State government is advised to take immediate cognizance of the issue in which a lawmaker is claiming to be blackmailed.
