Hope
The defeat of the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam (Women’s Reservation Bill) in the Lok Sabha, which raised a din across the country, has also kicked up dust in the MP. To keep the issue alive, the BJP is staging sit-ins across the country. Madhya Pradesh is no exception, where the party is taking out padyatras (foot marches) and holding press conferences, criticising the opposition. But the issue has rekindled the hopes of a woman legislator who is trying to get a berth in the state cabinet. She has made efforts on her own, but because the number of legislators and aspirants is higher than that of the ministerial berths, it may be difficult for her to become a cabinet member. It is, however, clear that after the rumpus that the bill raised across the country, the ruling party in the state will include a woman legislator in the cabinet whenever its expansion takes place. On the other hand, the women ministers feel nobody can throw them out of the cabinet so long as the issue is alive.
Fight for payola
Two women ministers are tangling over sweeteners in a district, a haven for making underhand dealings. The politicians, as well as the bureaucrats, carry on such transactions in the district, the native place of one of the women ministers. So her purpose is to lay her hands on a larger share of the backhanders. Her husband, too, gets on with minting money through illegal deals. On the other hand, another minister, in charge of the district, clearly said there would be no work without payola. His family members are also active in collecting payola. Both ministers are harassing the collector, the superintendent of police, and other officers, demanding backhanders. The woman minister gets after the officer who does not listen to her. The reports about the fight between the two ministers over getting money through shady deals have reached the state capital. People in the corridors of power say the dispute between the two ministers may cause trouble for the ruling party.
Unable to forget past
The Congress Party cannot forget the past, and this is the reason why the party is still targeting a former chief minister more than his present counterpart. Although the procurement of wheat is the state subject, the MPCC president has threatened to stage a sit-in outside the residence of a union minister, who was the chief minister of the state. The leader tried to stop a function of the union minister. Afterwards, a former chief minister from the party wrote a letter targeting him. The former chief minister is always critical of the union minister. The other members of the grand old party, too, occasionally attack the union minister. People in the corridors of power want to know whether he is a threat to the Congress, whose continuous tirade against the union minister is a mystery.
More leaders from MP
A wedding ceremony was recently solemnised in the family of a BJP leader, who, though from UP, is holding the charge of the party’s MP unit. He invited more politicians from Madhya Pradesh than Uttar Pradesh. The invitees from MP were senior and junior members of the party. Because the senior members got the invitation, the others also participated in the function to register their presence. As a result, more leaders from the state were seen in the VIP gallery than those from UP. The number of people present there from the state surprised many. As well as attending the wedding ceremony, the guests also visited temples and other historical places in UP. The politician, who organised the function, rolled out a welcome mat for the guests. But since the ceremony took place on a day when many young people tie the knot, a large number of politicians had to skip the local events, which is bothering them.
Major problem
A press conference by the Congress over the Women’s Reservation Bill has become a problem for the party. It planned the conference, keeping in mind the demonstrations launched by the ruling party after the defeat of the bill in the Lok Sabha. A female politician was to address the press meet. The party's search for an articulate woman politician to address the conference failed. Though the party asked one or two women politicians to do the job, they avoided it on one pretext or another. Afterwards, it asked a woman leader who handles media to address the conference. Initially, she, too, declined it. The party has sidelined the female politician for five years. So, she did not show any interest in the event. Anyway, she gave her consent after a lot of persuasion. Next day, a female leader from Delhi flew to Bhopal to present the party’s views on the issue before the media, but the MPCC needed a woman leader to handle the job.
A bare garden!
The MPCC president, together with an AICC member, chaired a meeting at the PCC office. The AICC member is holding the charge of the party's state unit. The meeting was for those who spend time in the party office, but only 15 politicians took part in it. The number of participants was so low that it annoyed the AICC member. As he wanted to know the participants’ grievances, they began to blame one another. One of them said he was not happy with the politician who defected to the party from the BSP. He also said he did not like the former BSP member's way of speaking and his ideology. Another Congressman said the media did not highlight the party’s events. At the meeting, the partymen poured out anger against one another without bothering about the presence of the senior members. As the meeting progressed, bickering among the partymen intensified. The internal squabbling stupefied the MPCC chief and AICC member. They assured the members of forming an SOP to run the PCC office.
