Chief Minister Raman Singh is a politician and a gentleman — a rare combination these days. In the 10 months that he has been on the saddle, the party is very satisfied with Raman’s image, though the ‘‘gentleman CM’’ has been slow in implementing poll promises and his score on the development front is not something to write home about.His Congress predecessor, Ajit Jogi, was known to be a shrewd politician and had been suspended from the party after his name cropped up in the cash-for-MLA controversy. In contrast, Raman has had a spotless career. A former Minister of State (commerce) in the A.B. Vajpayee government, Raman was the party’s natural choice as the Chief Minister after key contender to the post, Dilip Singh Judeo, got pushed out of the race when bribery charges were levelled against him. The other possible aspirant to the post, BJP legislature party leader Nand Kumar Sai, had been made a sacrificial lamb by pitting him against Ajit Jogi from Marwahi. Sai lost the election and also his chance to occupy the CM’s chair. The only remaining contender, Ramesh Bais, who was the then minister of environment and forests, was asked to opt out in favour of Raman. However, a powerful BJP lobby now wants to bring in Bais, as it’s not happy with Raman’s ‘‘lazy-CM’’ image. After a meeting of party MLAs last month, where he was the subject of severe criticism in the presence of party in-charge for Chhattisgarh Rajnath Singh, Raman was told to ‘‘tone up’’ his government’s style of functioning.The party MLAs alleged that the CM’s response to most public issues has been slow and his ministers’ deliberately ignored senior partymen’s on departmental issues. The CM, they alleged, had no control over the bureaucracy and most development work has come to a standstill. Now, the people have also started comparing Jogi’s three-year rule to the BJP government’s ‘‘lack-lustre’’ 10 months. A section of state BJP leaders have started projecting Bais as the state party president and if Raman doesn’t act quickly, Bais — a powerful Kurmi leader — is just waiting in the wings to take over. Bais’ recent statements against the government are a pointer to this change.Inspector Sisodia calls the shots at secretariatGuess who’s the most powerful man in the CM’s secretariat? On record, Principal Secretary Vivek Dhand should be calling the shots — advising, briefing and aiding the CM on key issues. But it’s Vikram Sisodia — an inspector in the Central Excise and Customs Department, presently on deputation as OSD to the CM — who is doing the honours. Several ministers, top bureaucrats and senior police officers find it easier to interact with him. And others seeking appointment with Raman Singh also knock at Sisodia’s door, who has been allotted a Senior Secretary’s room next to that of Dhand.Another Customs and Central Excise Officer Aman Singh is also on deputation at the secretariat. Last month, both Sisodia and Aman Singh were hand-picked by the CM to accompany him on a 11-day trip to the UK, Switzerland and Germany to woo ‘‘investments’’, though the officers had no specific assignment marked for them. Sisodia had worked with Raman when the latter was the MoS (commerce). And a section of the bureaucrats explain Raman’s fondness for the official, saying that he is a relative of the CM’s wife, Veena Singh. There is already a resentment brewing against too many baniyas (Aggarwals) holding key positions in the BJP government, the recent murmurs are against the Rajputs surrounding the Chief Minister.Map with visionChairman of the State Election Commission Sushil Trivedi is a man with a vision. These days, his renovated office — barely 50 metres from the Mantralaya where Trivedi used to serve as a senior bureaucrat before retirement — is attracting eyeballs. A six-feet map of Chhattisgarh map, a product of remote-sensing technology, adorns its wall. The map is the first of its kind in the state, which clearly marks out boundaries, important roads, districts, tehsils and panchayats. All 20,000 Chhattisgarh villages also find a place along with their census data. ‘‘Look at the advantages. Sitting in my room, I can go to any janpath, gram panchayat or village and work out my plans for the upcoming panchayat elections,’’ Trivedi says.The copies of the map are in huge demand from government offices. Half-dozen copies are already out to decorate the Chief Minister’s chamber, the Chief Secretary’s room and the DGP’s office. Many have also been smuggled out to different departments like Health and Public Works.Trivedi said he had asked the Regional Remote Sensing Service, ISRO, in Nagpur to prepare the map after taking charge as the State Election Commission in 2002. ‘‘It took a year to give final shape to the project,’’ he added. But he refused to comment on the cost of the entire exercise.The state government’s agencies like the Chhattisgarh InfoTech Society were also involved in the project. These days, Trivedi is getting the data on his computers upgraded.Opposition SMS on custody deathsThe BJP government is facing flak for three custodial deaths last month. In the latest case, a Dalit was ‘‘beaten to death’’ in a police station in Chief Minister Raman Singh’s home district of Kawardha. The CM immediately sent the IGP, D.M. Awasthi, to the spot, who got a post-mortem conducted and announced at a press conference that action has been taken against the erring officials. An attractive compensation package was also announced for the victim’s family — Rs 5 lakh in cash, five acres of land and a house. Soon after the conference, a SMS spread: ‘‘Maut ke saath PM (post-mortem) free, Rs 5 lakh cash aur 5 acre zameen bonus mein, kisi bhi thane mein sirf ek raat guzarni hogi. Daliton aur Adivasion ke liye sewa ka khas intizam. Jai Shri Ram.’’ BJP leaders say this was a prank played by the Opposition.
