Political Gup-Shup: Jaitley - The 3rd power centre in the BJP

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is usually a step ahead of his political rivals. However, this time, he seems to have been beaten by Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar. Mr Modi wanted to preside over a grand programme in Bihar to mark the centenary of Mahatma Gandhi’s Champaran satyagraha. Agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh was given the responsibility of planning and executing the PM’s programme. But before the minister could get going, Mr Kumar declared that the Bihar government will launch year-long celebrations for the Champaran satyagraha centenary. Upset that he had been upstaged by Mr Kumar, the Prime Minister is learnt to have given the agriculture minister a dressing down for not being alert enough. It was then suggested that Mr Modi could join Mr Kumar at the end of his programme but that appears unlikely.

National security adviser Ajit Doval hosted a special lunch for the new Uttarakhand chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat when he visited New Delhi recently. The guest list included army chief Bipin Rawat, RAW chief Anil Dhasmana and coast guard head Rajendra Singh all who hail from the hill state of Uttarakhand. Not just that but they come from the same district — Pauri Garhwal. The BJP’s new chief ministers — Uttar Pradesh’s AdityaNath Yogi and Uttarakhand’s Rawat also have the distinction of belonging to Pauri Garhwal. But what is not known is that the BJP’s new media department chief Anil Baluni  who replaced Shrikant Sharma after he moved to Uttar Pradesh as a minister in the Yogi government – is also from the same district. Mr Doval’s lunch served as a reunion of sorts for all the leading personalities from his home state where special Pahari food was served. There was much mutual backslapping at this gathering as the special invitees lavished praise on each other, insisting that the others had enhanced the prestige of the state and more specifically of Pauri Garhwal.

Although officers from Gujarat virtually took over the Prime Minister’s Office after Mr Modi came to power three years ago, it is clear that Uttarakhand is not far behind as far as key appointments in the government and the ruling BJP are concerned. It is nearly eight months since Ajay Tamta was elevated as minister of state for textiles but he is still waiting to move into a ministerial bungalow. The minister is to move into the bungalow which was allotted to Himachal Pradesh chief minister Virbhadra Singh when he was Central minister in the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government. But the veteran Congress leader has not given up its possession even though he moved to the state over four years ago. Several notices have been issued to

Mr Singh, the water and electricity supplies to the premises have been discon-nected, but the Himachal Pradesh chief minister has remained unmoved. He continues to occupy an MP’s flat in Kaveri Apartments. Mr Tamta is not the only minister waiting for an official bung-alow. His colleague Ramdas Athawale has been staying at the Maharashtra Sadan for nearly three years now, as he is yet to be allotted suitable accommodation. Since Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP president Amit Shah are reputed to be unapproachable to party members, the genial finance minister Arun Jaitley has emerged as a soft target. When Mr Shah decreed that no sitting councillor will be fielded again in the coming municipal elections, Mr Jaitley was besieged by party old-timers who faced the prospect of sitting out.

While some sought a fresh look at this policy on the plea that their wives would disown them, others pressed for a ticket for a family member. Now as the date for the election of the next President and vice-president draws closer, governors and other hopefuls are also making a beeline to the finance minister’s residence to plead their case. Since a harried Mr Jaitley has decided not to entertain requests for appointments from governors, Manipur governor Najma Heptulla called on a nominated Rajya Sabha member known to be close to the finance minister. She even promised to allot more time to nominated members in debates if she was made vice-president who doubles as Rajya Sabha chairman.