Gujarat formula
Many ministers in the state have lost their sleep because of the Gujarat formula, through which several changes were made in the Gujarat cabinet. The ruling party has formed a new cabinet after taking resignations from the ministers. Many of them have been asked to quit. The MP cabinet ministers are talking about the Gujarat episode. There are talks in the corridors of power that there may be changes in the MP cabinet on the pattern of Gujarat. Although the party leadership may not ask all the ministers to resign, there are speculations that they may show the door to some of them and induct a few new faces into the cabinet. These discussions are troubling those ministers who have courted controversies. Such ministers fear lest they should lose their ministerial berths. Keeping this possibility in mind, a few ministers have begun to please the party’s central leadership and important leaders of the organisation in the state. There are reports that a few ministers have resorted to religious rituals to save their chairs.
High-profile dust-up
There seems to be no end in sight to the political tug-of-war in an important city in the state. The wrangling between two senior leaders of the ruling party has spilt out into the open. A central minister came to the city and held a meeting with the administration, but the supporters of one of the leaders boycotted the discussion, and now, both leaders are engaged in a scrimmage over some administrative officers. The supporters of a leader want some officers to go out of the district. But when the supporters of the rival camp came to know of it, they supported the officers and tried to stop their transfer. On Diwali, the supporters of two factions formed separate groups to meet the residents of the city. The people in the corridors of power talk about the bitter relationship between these two senior leaders of the ruling dispensation. On the other hand, a leader of the organisation has been trying to end the squabbling between the two. Because both are senior leaders, few are ready to interfere in the dust-up.
Prestige at stake
The prestige of the BJP leaders from MP, electioneering for the party in Bihar, is at stake. The person in charge of the MP’s unit of the party has been put on duty in a zone in Bihar, and a leader of the organisation is assisting him. Similarly, another senior leader of the organisation, who was holding an important position in MP, has been put in charge of another zone. Another leader is working with him in the zone. Now, the leaders from MP are competing with one another to show whose zone can give the best of outcome in the election. A minister and a former minister, who have worked with a leader in MP for a long time, are working hard in Bihar. Now that Diwali is over, these politicians have sent messages to other leaders who are close to them to camp in Bihar. There are a few party workers who are making excuses about going to Bihar, despite getting messages from their leaders. Such workers feel that although they work hard to ensure the party’s victory in any election, they do not get any position, so it is of little use to put in so much effort in an election.
Sigh of relief!
A minister has heaved a sigh of relief after the clamour over a tragedy tailed off. He is the minister of state of the department that the tragedy is related to. The minister has the responsibility for allocating the work that the department is at fault for, which caused the tragedy. The minister felt if there were an uproar over the issue, the opposition would have torn into him, but that did not happen, for nobody held him responsible for the tragedy. The minister issued some statements, but nobody paid any attention to them. Only the higher-ups in the government are being held responsible for the tragedy. Although the name of the minister of state often cropped up in the media, as the big wigs were on the scene, nobody paid any attention to him. Now, the minister feels he is safe. The minister of state has courted controversy since the day he joined the cabinet, so he feared the tragedy might get linked with him.
Talks over raids
There are discussions over two raids in the state. Two politicians are worried about the raids carried out on the residential and official premises of two officers. The team, conducting the raids on the residence of one of the officers, laid their hands on huge properties. A relative of one of the officers is said to be close to a legislator of the ruling party; besides, he is on good terms with a minister. People in the corridors of power are connecting the raids to a business house and smuggling. There are reports that the raids were conducted because of disputes among some businessmen and that they have spawned a run-in among the ruling party leaders. In the coming days, the issue may reach the RSS. In the same way, another officer, on whose premises raids were conducted, is said to be close to a minister. It is said that the officer has greased the palms of several BJP leaders. Now, people say the raids may create fissures in the ruling party.
Love for Jhansi
A firebrand woman politician of the ruling party, who was once a union minister, has undulated the political waters, saying she will contest the next Lok Sabha election from the Jhansi seat. But when the party wanted her to fight the Lok Sabha election from the same constituency in 2019, she declined it. Before the Lok Sabha election last year, she was in a mood to plunge into the battle of ballots and expressed her desire for it. But the party refused to give her a ticket. Whether her efforts to get a ticket for the next parliamentary election from her favourite constituency will succeed or not is a question whose answer breathes in the womb of the future. The firebrand leader never misses an opportunity to show her love for Jhansi, although her political voyage began in Madhya Pradesh. Yet, the reason behind her love for Jhansi remains unknown.
