Mystery of missing bags
Bags used to wrap Budget literature have shot into controversy with the media being conveniently made the scapegoat. The Vidhan Sabha after the budget session was over asked the departments to prepare 150 sets of such literature and have them duly wrapped in decent bags. They were meant to be distributed among the legislators, including the ministers, media persons and departmental officials. The Assembly having 71 MlAs, including a nominated one, the sets left out after their distribution among the legislators are 79. Fifty such sets have been given to the media persons.
Thus, 29, still left out, remain unaccounted for. It seems, the bags wrapping such literature are more alluring than the things the bags contain. One Government official said the bags might have been kept by the influential either for personal use or for having them sold off in the open markets. However, lending the controversy an unsavory tinge, some officials said the media are grabbing a lion’s share of such bags. But the fact is that only 50 such bags have been given to the media persons.
So the mystery of 29 missing bags remains unsolved. Moreover, during the session, most of the departments had distributed leather suitcases and travel bags to each of the legislators. Add to them the bags containing the Budget literature, the load for the MlAs is substantial. The question is-would the Government or the departments take initiatives to solve the mystery or gloss things over to help the missing bags see their ways into the places meant for themIJ
Damp squib
With the much-hyped sit-in by Uttarakhand State Congress at Jantar Mantar in Delhi having fizzled out, eyebrows are being raised over the queer roles of the PCC president Kishore Upadhyaya and the Chief Minister Harish Rawat. The sit-in was meant to vent anger against the apathetic Cennre vis-à-vis the developmental interests of the Himalayan State.
To add further sheen to it, the tinsel world hero of the yesteryears and now Rajya Sabha member from the State Raj Babbar was roped in. While the shouting brigade was engaged in screaming invectives against the ‘parochial’ Centre, Upadhyaya left the venue midway to be present in Haridwar where the party candidate Mamta Rakesh was to file nomination papers for Bhagwanpur Assembly by-poll. The role of Rawat is even queerer.
Despite being in Delhi, he chose to remain ensconced in Uttarakhand Niwas. The sit-in ended up, proving a damp squib. The party foot soldiers sound perplexed. Baffled with the turn of things, one of them quipped, “The fore-knowledge of things proving a fiasco kept the stalwarts away. We were unleashed instead to yell histrionics against the Centre. A Tamasha ensued to BJP’s glee.”