Watching from a distance

Bali on hot seat

Though most of his detractors and bitter party critics raise fingers at him being Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal’s friend,but former minister G S Bali is often seen outsmarting his fellow Congressmen. Known for his high vocal powers,occasionally,he takes the government head on,sometimes,even leaders from his own party. However,when it came to preparing a chargesheet against the BJP government,some leaders took a backseat and promptly proposed Bali’s name to head a five-member panel for the job. Caught unawares,Bali said that it is good an opportunity to prove that he can do a better job than all his rivals sheepishly hobnobbing with Dhumal.

Sushant ashant

The visit of senior BJP leader L K Advani to the state to watch a IPL match and meet Tibetan Spiritual leader Dalai Lama,was a good opportunity for party leaders,ministers and MLAs to highlight the “achievements” of the government — which goes to the Assembly polls next year. But the only thorn in the flesh was Kangra MP Dr Rajan Sushant. He neither turned up to meet Advani nor attended the dinner hosted by Anurag Thakur for BJP national leaders. Few leaders pressed hard to lobby for action against Sushant for indiscipline and criticising the government. To the contrary,a few favoured sending a friendly gesture to Sushant to bring him around other dumping him,till he himself leaves the party or resigns from his MP seat.

Another audio CD?

After Union Minister Virbhadra Singh’s troubles because of an audio CD released in 2007,another similar controversy involving a BJP minister may hit the political circles close to the 2012 Assembly elections. The issue relates to certain clearances to an major infrastructure project,for which a minister has put forth a very high demand to its promoters to grant necessary approvals. A Congress leader has access to a recorded telephonic conversation,where the promoter shows his helpless to meet such a high and “unreasonable” demand. Virbahdra Singh and his wife are already facing a trial based in a FIR registered on the basis of the controversial CD.