Who else in Delhi Durbar
With Raja Sahib Virbhadra Singh coming under thick of allegations last week in corruption cases, his loyalists never stopped calling the journalists both at Shimla and Delhi to know the whereabouts of some disgruntled Congress Ministers. “Are they in Delhi, whom are they meeting,” asked one loyalist Minister of Raja sahib. Such was the case, that the Chief Minister had to say in Press conference that some Congressmen are conspiring against me.
BJP Delegation reaches Raj Bhawan first
When Himachal Pradesh BJP submitted a chargesheet against Congress Government to the Governor, a delegation led by former Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal reached the Governor House well on time but when leaders started looking for documents to submit, it was found that those entrusted to bring the documents were absent. Calls were made and leaders came hurriedly just on time and much hyped event would have created major embarrassment for the Opposition. Soon when Congress leaders were in BJP bastion at Hamirpur patting their back for getting a huge crowd for Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh’s rally, minds and heart of almost all the Cabinet Ministers were at Shimla and frantic calls were made to journalists to inquire about the content of chargesheet submitted by BJP leaders to the Governor. A Minister calling a journalist said, “Forget the Chief Minister, just tell me what the charges against me are.”
BJP’s gain and pain
Major gains for the Chandigarh BJP after about a decade in Mayoral elections, seemingly, stirred up a hornets’ nest. At the time, when winning two seats in Mayoral elections had put the BJP leaders on cloud nine, a party leader had been down in the dumps ever since losing the Mayor’s seat. left red-faced after losing the Mayor’s seat to her Congress’ rival HC Kalyan, BJP’s Rajinder Kaur Rattu, in a fit of pique, picked apart the party leadership for not making any effort to ensure her victory even as the party lobbied for other two BJP candidates in the polls. Just as the news spread, the party senior leaders get into damage control mode and a day after, even tried to play down the party’s internal dissensions. It seems, a victory does not come without a loss.
Busy in Delhi
When Rome was burning, Nero was playing fiddle; and when Congress in Punjab was crumbling, State party affairs in-charge Shakeel Ahmed was too busy with politics in Delhi. In fact, Ahmed feigned ignorance when almost the entire top leaders in Punjab were fighting with each other on the list of Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee office bearers. letters were being shot off to Congress high command and resignations were flowing in, but Ahmed was apparently unfazed with the developments and rather claimed it was not even in his knowledge. Mr Ahmed, with foes within, the Congress does not need enemies from outside to dampen the spirits. And your ignorance is apparently not going to help the party, particularly with the parliamentary polls just round the corner.
(Contributed by Manohar lal, Nishu Mahajan and Monika)