Gandhinagar Gupshup
Old guards vs new in BJP
A cold war between old-timers and newly selected ministers was evident during the two-day Assembly session last week. The Opposition cornered the treasury benches on three-four occasions, on the issues of Covid deaths and drug seizure at Mundra.
The new ministers were left to fend for themselves, while the former ministers sat silently and watched the tamasha.
At one point, the Congress members sat in the well of the House.
CM Bhupendra Patel got up and had a word with the Congress MLAs before returning to his seat. Finally, former MoS Home Pradipsinh Jadeja intervened and the Congress members vacated the well.
Meanwhile, the ‘new warriors’ too gave a subtle and befitting reply. The report of Justice DA Shah Commission — which was appointed to look into the deaths of Covid patients due to fire outbreaks at Shrey Hospital in Ahmedabad and Uday Hospital in Rajkot — was tabled in the Assembly and its copies handed over to journalists.
In the past, such reports were presented only in the Assembly and not made public. The report highlights poor management of the healthcare system during ex-CM Vijay Rupani’s tenure. The message to the old-timers was clear: “If you don’t cooperate, then we will find our own way.”
Reflected glory
Former Gujarat CM and current Governor of Uttar Pradesh Anandiben Patel had a busy schedule when she was here on a personal visit recently. With her confidant Bhupendra Patel in the CM’s chair, at least a dozen IAS officials made a beeline to meet her and seek “blessings” for a good posting during the upcoming reshuffle of bureaucrats. The BJP insiders are now grappling with the emergence of the “third” power centre, the other two being the CMO and the Kamalam. We say, nothing supercedes the CMO which has the eyes and ears of the PMO in the form of a top bureaucrat. Samajhdaar ko ishaara kaafi hai.
A taste of wrath
The Jan Ashirwad Yatra turned out to be a little bit of a ‘Jan Aakrosh Pradarshan’ for state agriculture minister Mukesh Patel in his own constituency in Olpad of Surat district on Sunday. The local folk were upset that religious rituals had been banned at the Siddhnath temple premises by the temple board.
They had made several representations to the minister to get the ban relaxed, but he was not of much help. So when the minister took out the Ashirwad Yatra, the locals decided to give him a piece of their mind to show how disappointed they were with him. They came out in large numbers to protest against the minister’s yatra.
Soon, the situation turned out of control and the
police had to be called to control the crowd. Scratching his head to wriggle out of the embarrassing situation, Patel
did the expected. He said Congress elements created trouble because they are worried about the success of Jan Ashirwad Yatra. Okay then.
Cong workers left shaken before AAP handshake
Gujarat Assembly elections are more than a year away. But AAP is already trying hard to bolster its ranks to give BJP a worthwhile fight. AAP recently invited a few “Congress workers of standing” to join the party. A meeting was fixed where they could be introduced to a senior AAP leader. At the meeting, however, the AAP leader changed tack and told them to “hold on” for a while. Annoyed by this move, the Congress workers who had gone to join AAP suddenly took a U-turn and waved black flags. We ask, how did they manage to find black flags at such a short notice? Well, it’s anyone’s guess!
Manoj Das: Our man in Top-50 list
Though out of the CMO, senior bureaucrat Manoj Das is still a happy man. The reason being, his name has been included in the list of 50 top bureaucrats in the country for the third consecutive time.
Survey about officers in the country is done regularly and Das is the only officer from Gujarat to be featured in it this year. Known to be close to former CM Vijay Rupani, Das is in the good books of the BJP high command as well and is expected to get a plum posting soon.
Transfers: Let the wait begin
Delay in transfers can have a cascading effect. Transfers not only affect those who are getting transferred — the IAS and IPS officers — but also the PR machinery of corporate houses. The waiting game is on and business corporations are no different. Their rounds to Gandhinagar have reduced. A senior PR honcho of a major corporate house said, “Navi gilli navo dau (the game changes with change in players). We will wait for who gets what and then again pitch.” Ask anyone who matters, when the transfers would be announced, and pat comes the reply: “It’s anyone’s guess.” One of the cheekiest replies was, “Only if you can read the high command’s mind.”