Friday, 09 April 2021 | Gajendra Singh Negi | Dehradun
Fire Fighter
Probably buoyed by the presence of a friendly camera, the minister entrusted with the responsibility of managing the forest wealth of the Himalayan state decided to lead by example and he plunged himself straight to douse a forest fire he witnessed raging near his fleet of vehicles using some twigs. The spirits of the maverick minister zoomed up ever since the high command of the saffron party decided to replace chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat with Tirath Singh Rawat. The minister known for his brusque ways and independent style of functioning was never comfortable with TSR I as he had clipped the wings of the Minister by throwing him out from the powerful position of chairman of a cash rich board meant for welfare of labourers. The unceremonious removal of his protégé from the post of secretary of this board too was taken by the powerful minister as his insult. With things making a complete turnaround at the apex of power in the state, the Minister has emerged powerful and is now calling the shots again. It is no wonder that after successfully accomplishing the task of political fire-fighting in the last one month, the interest of the minister has rightfully shifted to controlling the flames which are eating into the forests from the last one and half months.
Salt Stratagem
After he was detected positive for Covid-19 and had to be hospitalised with the virus affecting his lungs many considered that former CM Harish Rawat would remain at the sidelines of the crucial Salt by election. Despite all odds the Congress stalwart had effectively blocked the claim of son of local heavyweight Ranjit Rawat who incidentally was his Man Friday but now a strong critic and was successful in making Ganga Pancholi as Congress candidate. Lying in his hospital bed in AIIMS Delhi, the mercurial leader had other plans as he came out with a strategy which has put his detractors both within and outside the party scurrying for cover. Rawat released a touching video in which he appealed to the people of Salt to vote for his candidate Ganga and even said that if the Congress candidate fails to register victory then it would be like death for him. It is apparent that Rawat has played an emotional card to neutralise the strategy of BJP which had fielded brother of late Surendra Singh Jeena from Salt so as to whip up sympathy among the electorate.
Network searching
The Babudom of the Himalayan state is slowly getting out of the shock of the sudden change of CM and things appear to be settling now but anxiety on the faces of many Babus is clearly palpable. In their endeavour to get into the good books of TSR II who is a relatively unknown material and hence there is an element of enigma around him. In desperate attempts to get the esteemed favour the Babus are trying to connect to those who are close to TSR II so that their desire to latch plum positions is fulfilled. The grapevine making rounds in the power circles is that the new coterie around the centre of power in the state consists of people from Delhi, Dehradun, Pauri and Meerut. It would be interesting to observe how the coterie handles these desperate Babus.
