Admit card awaited
Election approaching fast, some local level satraps, usually found carrying the party flags and the suitcases of the leaders, are flexing their muscles with the Babus to have their near ones transferred to the places they want. They are trying to scare the Babus into submission by bragging that they are set to contest the elections with the preparations on. When a Babu asked one of them to name the constituency he would contest from pat came the answer that it was one from where a heavy weight leader had fought the election the last time. However, the presence of some journos during the time made them a bit alert. As one of the journos asked the voluble local flag bearer whether he had received the admit card from the high command to step into the contest to be held later, the ‘leader’ quipped that he had started preparations after he received the nod from them. “It is natural, isn’t it, that I would get the ticket this time as I have been bearing the party flag for years. I am in contact with the high command,” he said, trying hard to look important. As the amused journos chuckled he decided to beat a hasty retreat after somehow gulping the green tea offered to him.
Knotting Gairsain with CS
While BJP raised hue and cry over the State Government milking Gairsain as a political bait for the people of the hills the Harish Rawat Government could flaunt a thing to buttress its claim that it is pretty serious on the issue. CM signed the file related to the appointment of the next Chief Secretary of the State on November 18 when the session was on. Decks were accordingly cleared for S Ramaswami to ascend to the post. He rushed to Dehradun to assume charge from outgoing CS Shatrughan Singh. One might recall that the State Government decided to extend the term of the incumbent Chief Secretary Rakesh Sharma for three months, denying the post to then senior most IAS Shatrughan Singh, just before the Assembly session was to start at Gairsain in 2015. However, it is another story that the department of personnel & training (DoPT) asked Sharma to vacate the post. This time, the CM giving his seal on the file related to the most important officer of the State bureaucracy has lent some credence to his claim that he is not merely playing with the sentiment of the people by flaunting Gairsain as a carrot to hook the hill electorate, no matter what his adversaries would say.