Balram Jakhars pet peeve

Balram Jakhar,whose five-year-term as Governor of Madhya Pradesh came to an end on Tuesday..

Balram Jakhar,whose five-year-term as Governor of Madhya Pradesh came to an end on Tuesday,will be remembered for his frequent outbursts against the education mafia. Jakhar,with his legendary fondness for hosting sessions of Urdu and Hindi poetry on the sprawling precincts of Raj Bhavan,showed no such gentility when it came to educationists and the elements that control educational institutions. He called them names,even wished that they suffer from cancer,and blamed them for ruining his tenure. He,however,enjoyed a good rapport with the BJP government. Barring occasions like the Sabharwal murder case or the passage of controversial legislations like the anti-conversion law,the two sides rarely rubbed each other the wrong way- a marked contrast to his predecessor Bhai Mahavirs tenure who had a running battle with the then Congress government. Ofcourse,the fact that both Jakhar and Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan loved to flaunt their kisan putra image must have helped.

Courting trouble

Madhya Pradesh Minister for Cooperatives Gaurishankar Bisen loves to court controversies in his spare time. A Lok Sabha member when the BJP asked him to contest the 2008 Assembly elections,he earned the wrath of the Election Commission when he was caught on camera distributing wrist-watches to local journalists – a charge he later denied claiming that he only distributed prasad packets. Bisen later accused a cooperative bank chairman,a party man,of offering him a bribe of Rs two lakh. In his latest brush with controversy,he is spending his time trying to placate the Brahmin community. Bisen had humiliated the Brahmin head of a central cooperative bank outside the CMs office. While the BJP is looking into the matter after the Brahmin community created a furore,Bisen is going out of his way to say that he has nothing against the community.

The sound of silence

The Madhya Pradesh Congress has lost its voice. Well,almost. In one fell swoop,the state unit chief Suresh Pachauri recently removed nearly a dozen spokesmen without assigning any reason. MP is one of the few states where different factions in the Congress were represented by different spokesmen. According to the grapevine,Pachauri was angry after a damaging piece appeared in a magazine and the needle of suspicion pointed to chief spokesman Manak Agrawal. Agrawal,a veteran spokesman, was always ready to speak on camera,including times when the party discipline demanded silence. The sudden removal means the flood of press-notes from the PCC office has dried up. While Pachauri is in no hurry to appoint a new team or justify the removals,his silence is particularly galling for those used to seeing their names in print.

The young and the restless

Before the Assembly elections,the Youth Congress in Madhya Pradesh was restricted to holding the odd protest. However,after the Congress partys good show in the Lok Sabha elections,the Youth Wing has a spring in its step,especially given that Rahul Gandhi has thrown his weight behind promoting young talent. With elections to municipal bodies due in a few months,a lot of them will now have a shot at power. Incidentally,the Youth Congress chief was recently seen intimidating a District Collector,a prerogative normally reserved for the ruling partys youth brigade.

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