Baba’s rendezvous
On a calm afternoon last week, two choppers flew through picturesque Bhagirathi valley and landed at a strip juxtaposed to the majestic river near the picture perfect village of Harshil in Uttarkashi district. One of the passengers on board was a Baba who in course of some years has made a powerful business empire and also commands immense political clout in the country. After descending from the choppers, the Baba and his friends nestled comfortably in some chairs placed right on edge of the river. After spending less than an hour at the quaint place which is more than 200 kms away from his abode in Haridwar, the Baba flew away as stealthily as he arrived. The fact that there was no Government official to receive the high profile Baba on banks of Bhagirathi and he was sans his commandos provided by Government on account of his Z category security cover implicates that the meeting was a hush hush affair. Given multiple talents Baba possesses, one wonders whether the short get together was political, spiritual or connected with business.
Power Couple
The recent reshuffle in responsibilities of top bureaucrats in the administration of the Himalayan State has altered existing equations in the corridors of power. Appointment of one of a senior-most IAS officer in the secretariat of Chief Minister has meant that the wings of a powerful Babu calling shots in the state’s bureaucracy for quite some time have been clipped. In the shuffling of cards by the TSR Government, husband of a woman officer who has fast ascended the power ladder in recent times has been given plum assignment of Home, which is in addition of his already impressive portfolio. The power circles are now abuzz with the talks of this power couple which has eclipsed supremacy of the all dominant officer who interestingly was once their mentor in the Babudom of Uttarakhand.
Name Game
Political brownie points are being scored by BJP and Congress over the naming of the Dehradun Airport, Jolly Grant. The Congress is crying foul over the TSR Government’s proposal to Union Government to name the airport after former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee as during Harish Rawat’s regime the State Government had proposed to name the airport after Adi Shankaracharya. The ploy of the Congress is to browbeat the saffron party by charging that it is ignoring Shankaracharya who played a pivotal role in rejuvenating Hinduism. Amid this political mudslinging, one opinion is that the airport should be named after some son of the soil. They point out that in most of the states, the prominent airports are named after local heroes and history of Uttarakhand is replete with such people who have earned worldwide respect.
