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Journalism of Courage
The tussle between Chief Minister Narendra Modi and Union Textiles Minister Shankersinh Vaghela seems to have percolated to the bureaucracy. Vaghela is learnt to have ordered an investigation into alleged ‘‘irregular expenditure’’ incurred by Gujarat’s chief secretary P.K. Laheri when he was director-general of the National Institute of Fashion Technology a few years ago. Vaghela’s move comes on the heels of Modi’s reported attempt to get at the union minister’s private secretary, Rajiv Gupta, a Gujarat cadre IAS officer of the 1987 batch.
More than five months ago, the Centre had asked Gandhinagar if it was willing to relieve Gupta on his being appointed Vaghela’s secretary and the Modi government had agreed readily. Gupta soon relinquished his Gujarat charge as Higher Education Commissioner and landed in Udyog Bhavan in Delhi to join the Textiles Minister. The state government, however, withheld a vigilance clearance, citing that at least five cases were pending against Gupta. In two of them, he’s been chargesheeted. But though the clearance, mandatory for IAS officers on Central deputation, has not been given, Gupta has taken over as Vaghela’s private secretary and has direct access to files in Udyog Bhavan. He doesn’t draw a salary, though.
An angry Vaghela is learnt to have complained to the PMO and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi that the Modi Government was harassing his private secretary.
And if the move against Laheri wasn’t enough, Vaghela also hit back by stalling the allocation of Rs 45 lakh sanctioned by his ministry ‘‘without his knowledge’’ for the state government sponsored Navratri celebrations.
There’s a twist to this — it was Vaghela who had made Laheri principal secretary when he was chief minister in 1997.
For a lion’s share of Gir forest
It is not just the lions of Gir that are battling over territorial rights. In a recent seminar of forest officials from western region held in Ahmedabad, Madhya Pardesh officers did make a renewed pitch for relocating Gir lions in their state. But the lukewarm response from Gujarat is no surprise in this decade-long saga. With the number of lions on the rise, it means frequent skirmishes with human beings and also territorial pride. While Madhya Pradesh forest officials have been eyeing the lions for the Kuno-Palpur jungles, back home in Gujarat, forest officials would rather relocate them within the state.
No chicken soup for the soul
A ‘‘chicken and bottle’’ allegation hurled against him by his own partymen has apparently upset Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee chief B.K. Gadhvi. Some councillors of the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation, said to be close to Gadhvi’s rivals Narhari Amin and former mayor Himmatsinh Patel, complained they were left out of choice postings because Gadhvi favoured only those who came with ‘‘chicken and bottles’’. But the septuagenarian leader went ahead with appointing ‘‘persons on merit’’. As for the charges, he said: ‘‘They are baseless. I’ve stopped taking chicken and liquor…I am a diabetic and have undergone heart valve replacement surgery. And do you think I can be purchased so cheaply?’’
Modi is BJP’s Hindutva face
With firebrand leader Uma Bharati edged out, Narendra Modi’s political graph in the BJP’s ‘‘Hindutva’’ brigade is seen as rising in the days to come.
His loyalists say Modi is the only leader who can be acceptable in the Hindutva framework, particularly when the saffron party has been talking of returning to basics. That Modi is acceptable to all Parivar outfits was evident from the recently concluded 10-day national executive of the VHP in central Gujarat, where the Parishad leaders came down heavily on the BJP and L.K. Advani for deviating from the Hindu cause. Says a state VHP functionary: ‘‘Since Umaji has been suspended, we now look at Narendrabhai as the sole leader committed to the Hindutva cause and who can even challenge Advani, and even ask to replace him as party president if the situation so demands.’’ With Keshubhai Patel on the sidelines, it’s advantage Modi now.
