Tuesday, April 6, 2010

'The Tribune-Chatterati'15th.February.2010

Never have the Sarkari officers had it so good. In this UPA Sarkar they never retire. There are so many officers who should have sat at home 16 years back but are still enjoying lucrative postings. In 1992, M K Narayanan retired from the post of I B chief. Some have been adjusted in the P.M.O itself. He was NSA for five years and now he is the Governor of West Bengal. He has been replaced by another retired officer but 15 years younger. Shiv Shankar Menon, another of Manmohan’s blue eyed boys. 76-years old N N Vohra, the J&K Governor retired 16 years ago. T K A Nair, PMs Principal secretary retired 13 years back. But is going strong still. Five retired secretaries - Rahul Sarin, Satayanand Mishra, A N Tiwari, L K Joshi and Pratyush Sinha - belonging to Ministry of Personnel, have been posted at different places. All the three Election Commissioners - Naveen Chawla, S Y Quraishi and V S Sampat – retired long time back but are still ruling at the top whereas their posts are concerned.
=================================================
Rahul Gandhi has learnt it pays well to hit hard now. No more going soft on the opposition. Rahul created waves in Bihar by challenging Nitish Kumar in his Press conference. He emphatically raised issues like corruption and money spent on development of Bihar. Lalu used to criticize Nitish, but Rahul was not soft in Nitish’s home turf at all. He emphasized that the money allocated for schools, villages and NREGA is being absorbed by middlemen and the Central Government is not giving any money as there is no guarantee that it will reach the people. Rahul’s this trip was an indication that the Congress would fight aggressively in Bihar. And he has given the green signal to his people there by being the first to attack. The Congress walas body language has changed. They believe that their party is headed for better times, given the response of the people particularly the youths, to their young leader.
In the past 12 years when the party allowed itself to be dominated by Lalu, Congressmen remained content playing second fiddle. When the Congress was part of the coalition government headed by Rabri Devi, nobody from the party dared to question Lalu over any of his decisions. Rahul said that the alliance with Lalu was a mistake. Congressmen feel that they have to stand on its feet without Lalu’s crutches. It performed disastrously in the Lok Sabha polls but its decision to go it alone gave the party men the much needed boost. The Congress’ remarkable turn around in Uttar Pradesh in the last general elections under Rahul’s leadership also made them realize that similar results, if not better, could be possible in Bihar. It was under a well thought-out strategy that Rahul launched his ‘mission Bihar’ this month. Rahul’s visit was an unqualified success in the sense that he was not only able to draw the youths but also forced his opponents to sit up and take notice.

===================================================
New boss new style new people in control.The BJP headquarters are witnessing the effects of a regime change. Nitin Gadkari has changed the whole lot of the old guard. Most of his new team is from Nagpur his home constituency. To make their presence felt they are regularly shouting “Purani style bhool jaoo (forget your old style)”. Seems like a new slogan. However small, the power shift everyone seems to be falling in line. The old guys are a bit insecure and are playing the old game of wait and watch. It seems that this new President is a tough nut to crack. He has the right people backing him and the approach till now is diplomatic. But he is a smooth operator and never misses anything big or small. He is willing to be respectful to his elders but is firm on his stand. But the old timers are not going to sit quiet for long.

No comments:

Post a Comment