Cheema, the trump card
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) has got an ace up its sleeve. Roopnagar MlA and party spokesperson Daljit Singh Cheema is the SAD’s trump card that always brings victory. When the Opposition is training guns at the ruling combine, Cheema has the knack of launching a counter attack by picking up the enemy’s ammunition. Be it a press statement or an assertion during the assembly session, the opposition finds its own weapon boomerang on it. Even as Congress’ state president is leading the attack on the SAD-BJP Government, along with many other leaders, it is Cheema who is single-handedly defending the ruling alliance.
Now fight for the name of Chandigarh
War of words between Chief Ministers of Punjab and Haryana staking claim on Chandigarh is nothing new. It started with renaming of “Mullanpur Garibdas” an adjoining village of Chandigarh as ‘New Chandigarh’. Those in the bureaucratic circles wondered if any investment had come if the place remained at Mullanpur Garibdas instead of New Chandigarh. Few years back, Chief Ministers of both States used to fight for Chandigarh city every now and then and claimed that they would get city beautiful. But with the passage of time, when both states realised that Chandigarh is a white elephant on which they would have to spend a lot to maintain its character, they started tokenism on their claims without actually meaning it. They shifted their offices in adjoining cities Panchkula and Mohali in their respective States. “The current fight for Chandigarh is a tokenism. No one wants it now,” said a senior bureaucrat on the war of word between Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and his Punjab counterpart Parkash Singh Badal.
MHA letter brings cheers
A letter from Ministry of Home Affairs last week seemed to have brightened up the smiles of many in the UT Administration. With MHA directions to UT to repatriate a senior official to Punjab, the employees in CITCO are full of joys of spring. The CITCO employees were seen grinning from ear to ear and shared that the organization hopes to revive well after the senior official is repatriated to Punjab. Running CITCO for last over four years, the senior official drew flak from all corners for delaying all the projects of the organization.
Things on your door mat
What all you get on your door. Earlier it was money and now acid, potent enough to land one into controversy. But residents of the city beautiful have had much more bizarre things at their doorstep. They range from claws of crow, owl, and chicken to lime and chili. If you had a bad fight with someone you might be greeted with cow dung in the morning. It is beer bottles for the girls’ house whose jilted lover is pained about her marriage to that gentleman NRI. So be careful because there are seasons, time and almanac position which might endow you with more than expected trivialities at your door which might land you in trouble or make your mood go awry for sure.
Self-acclaimed national spokesperson
Though he is a state spokesperson of the Himachal Pradesh BJP but that does not deter the journalist turned politician to voice his views on national issues whether it is the criticism of Planning Commission or support to NaMo. Such has become the situation, that party workers are terming him as national spokesperson and saying that aspirations of an individual cannot be curtailed. The leader is also said to have been ignoring the advice of senior leaders to focus on local issues and capitalise on them but every evening a press note is released with comment on national issue of the day.
‘I am king, won’t lose the battle so easily’
Behind the curtain undeclared bureaucratic chessboard war is nothing new in any Government but when it comes to top babus, the tongue starts quivering. An undeclared bureaucratic war is waging between two babus of the Himachal Pradesh Government with both factions vying for scalp of each other. Situation has come to such a passé that one of the babus on target of rival faction told his sympathisers, “I am a king in my domain and would not loose, battle so easily.” However, fact remains that undeclared war is taking a toll on efficiency of both babus.
(Contributed by Monika Malik, Bhupinder Sharma, Nishu Mahajan, Nitindra Bandyopadhyay and Manohar lal)