Himachal confidential

‘Pappu’ pass ho gaya

Lakhwinder Singh Rana nee ‘pappu’ has eventually tasted success. A two-time loser at Nalagarh in 2003 and 2007,Rana,popularly known as ‘Pappu’ in the area,has been elected to the Himachal Pradesh Legislature after winning the Nalagarh bypoll held on November 30. Contesting on a Congress ticket for the third time,he defeated the BJP’s Gurnam Kaur – widow of three-time winner and former BJP minister,Hari Narain Saini. The victory has prompted Congress leaders,who were campaigning at Nalagarh,to celebrate by borrowing the famous punch line used by actor Amitabh Bachchan in a television ad: “ Pappu pass ho Gaya,ji”. Even Pappu admits that had he lost this time,his political future would have been sealed forever.

Sharma ‘hurt’

The UPA government may have put on hold its move on FDI in multi-brand retail succumbing to Mamata Banerjee’s pressure. Union Minister for Commerce Anand Sharma is quite hurt not by Mamata’s political posturing but with Himachal Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal. It seems that the Himachal chief minister had contested Sharma’s claim on TV channels that the state BJP unit has supported FDI in the retail sector. Sharma loyalist and PCC general secretary Kuldeep Rathore says: “ Anand Sharma has no history of speaking out of the blue like many politicians. If he (Sharma) has said so about Himachal Pradesh,it has basis,and even proof to authenticate it. What Dhumal sahib has said to contradict him (Sharma who hails from Shimla) has hurt him quite a lot. Only time will tell who really lied”.

In a fix

The state bureaucracy is in a fix. Many of Himachal’s babus are feeling threatened,not only from rival cadres,but also from ‘friends’ within the service. After having seen IPS and IFS enter their domain,they now have to witness engineers asking for their pie in policy and decision making positions including the posts of Secretaries. Naturally the demand for secretariat posts by technocrats is set to worry the IAS officers. With a few of them having ‘officially’ been branded as non-performers and non-favorites,it’s time for them to wake up if they want to survive such ‘adverse’ conditions.