Himachal confidential

The new breed
As the country watched Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi take a train ride and visit an ATM in Mumbai,Himachal,too,saw a young political leader do a similar act a la common man,albeit away from the media glare,last week. The young MP from Hamirpur and Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal’s son played gully cricket with children when he was on a visit to Shimla to choose a site for a cricket academy. Anurag also heads the HP Cricket Association. On the day of the state BJP election last week,Thakur also chose to visit a nondescript eatery across the road near the state BJP office and had a breakfast of tea and bread pakoras.

Rift-ridden
The rift that emerged in the state BJP after the re-election of Khimi Ram as state president has resulted in two camps — one with its headquarter at Hamirpur (Prem Kumar Dhumal) and the other at Palampur (Shanta Kumar). Interestingly,those from the Hamirpur camp have termed Palampur as the “headquarter of sobs”. Many from the Dhumal camp are laughing at the situation,saying at least Palampur has given place to many unhappy souls in the party to vent out their frustration at being unable to remain close to Hamirpur,the power centre.

Never say quit
Former Congress leader Vijay Singh Mankotia,these days known better for the CD released by him that caught Virbhadra Singh in a vigilance case,has now started a flip-flop over his return to politics. After his defeat in the Assembly election on a Bahujan Samaj Party ticket a couple of years ago,the leader left politics on the pretext that politics was full of corruption and he did not want to be a party to it. He had decided to stay out and launch a campaign to expose the corrupt. Now that more controversial CDs have arrived on the political scene,levelling corruption charges against the ruling BJP,Mankotia has changed his stand. Though he still thinks politics is infested with corruption,he wants to remain in the system to change the system. “As corruption in politics has increased,I want to be in the system to correct it,” he told the media last week.