Offstage deals

The officials of a minister’s department are discussing how he is making money through backhand deals in the transfer season. The minister had a transfer list of officials prepared. He then chose the names of some officers from the list and asked his agent to call them up. The minister’s agent told the officials to give a certain amount of money within a fixed date for removing their names from the transfer list. The minister struck off the names of those who had given the amount from the transfer list. He included the names of those officials in the list, who did not deposit the money. Afterwards, when some of them met the minister’s agent for striking off their names from the list, he told them to give an enormous sum. They were told that as they failed to deposit the money at the beginning, a penalty was imposed on the actual amount. The minister has courted controversies several times. Yet, those controversies failed to teach him a lesson that he should keep away from offstage deals. The employees working for the department headed by the minister say he hardly does anything without taking hush money.

Sambhal ke….!

A senior member of the state cabinet is in trouble these days. The name of this politician is connected to a recent controversy. He participated in a meeting in Delhi where all senior leaders of the BJP were present. After the meeting, a senior leader of the BJP told the minister, “Sambhal ke….” He understood what the senior leader had wished to say. The next day, he met the senior politician and put up his points before him. The minister said he had not made the statements for which he was blamed. There are reports that the statements attributed to him were the mischief of a TV channel. The minister complained to the party’s central leadership about the TV channel. The politician fears he should lose his chair because of the controversy.

Women leaders

A woman leader of the BJP is angry after an event. She was invited to it. A senior officer called her up to invite her to the function, but she told the officer she would not participate in it because of illness. Yet, she is angry after the programme, for her name was not mentioned in the event, although she played an important role in bringing the BJP to power in the state. The Chief Minister mentioned the name of another woman leader of the state in his speech. But he did not utter her name. The woman leader, whose name the Chief Minister mentioned in his speech, is also incensed after the event. The reason for anger is that she was not called to another event related to the function. Their anger, however, matters little to the government as well as to the party. Their influence in politics has waned with the passage of time.

Who’s important?

The Congress leaders are discussing who got more importance during Rahul Gandhi’s trip to the state capital. He met all the leaders of the party during his visit and held talks with them. Rahul Gandhi also interacted with the party office-bearers. All Congress leaders were present at the meeting. There are reports that Rahul had spoken to a senior leader of the party for a while. The interaction between them indicates that the senior leader is still relevant in the party. Rahul had a bittersweet relationship with this leader in previous years. The party high command sometimes attaches importance to this leader. They occasionally give him a wide berth. The trip has benefitted a leader who is holding the party’s command in the state. Rahul has indicated that the party’s command will be in his hands for now. The impact of the message sent out by Rahul may be apparent in the coming years.

Clash of the Titans

The cine buffs watching Clash of the Titans, a 2010 Hollywood movie directed by Louis Leterrier, know what happens when the Titans clash. The Hollywood story is based on Greek mythology, but the MP’s story is about the clash between two political rivals. They are a former home minister and an MLA from the Chambal region. The clash turned vicious when the former home minister hurled some personal comments at the legislator. The comments enraged the lawmaker so much that he has been spewing venom against the former home minister. Both of them are threatening each other to settle scores when they come face-to-face. They are public figures. Yet, the language they are using against each other may even shame a roadside goon. The MLA is always ready to take a bull by the horns. Once the legislator was going somewhere by his car. On the way, he saw a band of thugs attack a man. The lawmaker stopped his vehicle and stepped out of his vehicle with a gun. No sooner had the goons seen the legislator than they ran for cover. The tension between the minister and the legislator makes the area they come from a tinderbox ready to ignite.

Chargers or lame horses?

A top-ranked Congress leader wished he had a horse with the speed of his party leaders’ tongue. He knows it is not going to happen. Ergo, he has divided his party leades into three categories: racehorses, wedding horses that the bridegroom rides, and the lame horses. The leader’s statement has kicked up a storm across the state, but that is not an issue. The Congress leaders, instead of taking the ruling party to task for tearing into their leader for his ‘lame horse’ statement, are trying to appreciate its significance. They have also begun to identify the lame horses in the organisation. They have realised most of them are lame. Such people remain in a dormant state for years, and whenever there is an election, they plunge into action. They get tickets from the party. The lucky ones win the election. The unlucky ones again go into sleeping mode for five years. The leader called such partymen as lame horses. Otherwise, a horse is poetry in motion.