Chandigarh Confidential; Friends and foes

No more complaints,please

The Punjab finance department has its hands full these days,as leaders of various employees unions are making a beeline to its officials with complaints that their demands have not been met by the government. This,even after they claimed to have met the chief minister or the cabinet sub-committee and being assured that their demands for an increase in their pay scales and other benefits will be met. The only thing that the officials can tell them is that the respective administrative department is yet send the files to them. The department is earnestly hoping that the model code of conduct comes into force early to put an end to such queries. Quite a few are also looking forward to a holiday.

The dedicated department

Haryana public relations department appears to exist only for the chief minister and his MP son. On the demise of Assembly Speaker Kuldeep Sharma’s father Chiranji Lal Sharma,it appeared that only Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and his son Deepender were the ones,who were sad and paid their condolences. The condolence messages sent by the PR department comprised of Deepender’s message,followed by the chief minister’s. No other minister,MLA or MP’s condolence messages were sent by the department. As such,the department,after issuing press releases for the chief minister and a couple of other ministers,has been catering to only a single MP’s releases — Deepender Hooda.

Of fake degrees and education

A day after INLD chief Om Prakash Chautala took a dig at the Haryana government regarding the standard of education,Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda hit back by saying: “People who have fake degrees should not be talking about the state of education in Haryana. How will they know the value of education and the value of a degree?” Who was his barb directed to,he didn’t disclose. “Aap khud hi andaza laga lo,” Hooda added.

The MAFA syndrome

Most bureaucrats in Haryana suffer from the “MAFA” syndrome,said a rather perceptive IPS officer in the state. MAFA,he clarified,is ‘Masquerade Articulation for Action’,meaning that most babus who learn to speak good English and make jazzy powerpoint presentations get away by doing nothing. Hence,masquerading big words for action.

Will he,won’t he

A senior Akali leader in Punjab has discovered a novel method of assessing crowds at political rallies and predict the fortune of the party during elections. According to him,if the crowd at the rally volunteers to pick up the ‘dariyan’ after the rally is over,it translates into votes for the party. And if the crowd walks away and leaves party workers to do the dirty job,it’s a ‘no vote’ crowd. A gem of an analysis indeed.

Halwa campaign

Candidates are known to lose weight by canvassing for votes. Those campaigning for them,on the other hand,may stand to gain weight,especially if they choose to indulge themselves. Speaking at the celebratory post-Ratia news conference,Congress MLA Sampat Singh said he had put on a good 3 kg campaigning for the Congress candidate,thanks to the delicious halwa at Adampur. Sampat said on authority that the halwa made by the Bishnois is the best in the world and absolutely irresistible. Good that at least on this count,Sampat is a political heavyweight now.