Uttarakhand Agriculture Minister Ganesh Joshi got emotional while speaking at an event attended by Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah on Friday. “I had never thought in my life. I was just a soldier in the Army. When I became an MLA, my name was also being discussed for a ministerial berth but I wasn’t selected. Then I came to meet Amit Shah-ji. He asked me whether I was alright. I said, ‘Sir I am fine but I don’t have a God father.’ I hope you (Shah) remember it,” Joshi told Shah. He said Shah had told him then that whenever there would be a Cabinet expansion in the state, he would be made a minister. “I don’t have words because today a small person like me is sitting with you (Shah),” Joshi said. Balancing Act The Congress leadership in Haryana is being cautious while balancing internal equations. While the party high command has made it clear that the Leader of Opposition in the state, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, will be the face of the party as he is its best bet in the elections, senior Congress leaders are ensuring that the others are kept in good humour. Recently, when senior party leader Kumari Selja objected to the appointment of a leader in the war room, CPP chairperson Sonia Gandhi ensured her concerns were addressed. Soon, the leader was replaced. Tasks Too Many BJP MP Jagdambika Pal had a packed schedule this week. He was in Delhi Thursday to attend the meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on Public Accounts. Later in the day, he travelled to Lucknow for a meeting with Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on the floods in his Lok Sabha seat Domariyaganj. His tour to his home state was short as he travelled to Delhi Friday morning to chair two consecutive meetings of the joint committee of Parliament on the Waqf Amendment Bill. Pal was in Lucknow earlier this week, too, to attend a session on the Waqf Bill.
