Himachal Confedential

Night halts

Home stays have been popular with tourists but Congress seems to have taken a leaf out of it and proposes to make use of these stays when it begins its three-day padyatra from Solan. The padyatra will have two night halts—first at Kandaghat and other near Taradevi—before the rally at Shimla during the beginning of the Vidhan Sabha session on August 24. The state unit chief,Kaul Singh,said no special arrangement have been made for stay and those on padyatra will be put up at local partymen’s houses. This gave the ruling BJP a chance to take a dig at the Congress. “That’s really heartening to know. In fact,it goes very well with the spirit of BJP government’s popular Home Stay Scheme—a rural tourism initiative,” said a minister. After all,politics makes strange bedfellows.

Proactive but ineffective

With Anna Hazare’s anti-corruption gaining support,Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal tried to be proactive and called a meeting of top bureaucrats and IPS officers to sensitise them about his anti-corruption resolve. But with many key ministers of the ruling BJP and top officials already in the dock on corruption charges and the high court also raising questions about the government’s “zero tolerance” to corruption claims,Dhumal’s proactive steps seems to have very few takers. But then veteran BJP leader Shanta Kumar has already given his verdict on it: BJP like Congress or other parties is not free from corruption and dynastic rule. Talk about being fair.

Home services

When IAS officer Manisha Shridhar quit service seven to eight years before her retirement,she left behind a lot of disgruntled colleagues,who thought she was an excellent bureaucrat who cut short her career. As she relinquished charge,the farewells and speeches were conspicuous by its absence. But then one of her colleagues had the last word: “Manisha,your husband (Tarun Shridhar,also a 1984 batch IAS officer and currently posted at the Centre) will be happy to have an IAS as full-time home maker nee home minister.” Well,home services may turn out to be better than administrative services for Manisha.

Forgotten man

It finally took Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal to bring the attention on to 67-year-old anti-corruption protester Lakshmi Chand,who has been on a hunger strike at Shimla’s Ridge,close to Mahatma Gandhi’s statue,for the past four days. On Day One of his hunger strike,towards evening as the temperature dipped,Chand requested a policeman to fetch him some lukewarm water. That was the last one saw of that policeman. Only on Saturday,when Dhumal was at the Ridge for a function,he saw Chand and walked up to him to enquire about his health that flash bulbs went off and the media got interested. Sometimes politicians can bring limelight on others too.