Ever since he assumed power in 2022, the BJP has accused Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu of running a “mitron ki sarkar (government of friends)”, for preferring his associates for posts that enjoy Cabinet rank in the state. On Friday, Sukhu’s Principal Media Adviser Naresh Chauhan, one of those in the BJP’s crosshairs, asked what was wrong with the CM helping “friends” who had stood by him in times of crises. “The BJP is repeatedly talking about ‘mitron ki sarkar’. Should enemies be given a place in the government?” he said, during an interaction with mediapersons in Hamirpur. Why is Sukhu facing this criticism and how is this playing out in the political field? What is the BJP’s claim? The BJP’s “mitron ki sarkar” jibe is seen as aimed at several people, including four who are not elected representatives but hold Cabinet rank in the Sukhu government, thus entitling them to facilities and monetary benefits akin to ministers. “The state is under a debt of approximately Rs 80,000 crore. In this situation, is it good that a CM increases the financial burden on the exchequer by distributing Cabinet ranks among his friends? For instance, the mining policy in the state was amended so that Sukhu’s allies benefited. After the 2023 flash floods, the government took action against many stone crushers but those owned by Congress leaders were left untouched. We have also filed a plea against the appointments of six chief parliamentary secretaries (CPS),” former CM and Leader of the Opposition Jairam Thakur said, adding that the High Court was bound to uphold their appeal. Thakur also claimed that the phrase “mitron ki sarkar” was coined by Congress leaders and workers themselves, as they had been sidelined to give preference to the CM’s “friends”. Who are the men in question? The list includes Chauhan, Principal Adviser to the CM for IT and Innovation Gokul Butail, Political Adviser to the CM Sunil Kumar Bittu, and Vice-Chairman of the Himachal Pradesh State Forest Department Development Kehar Singh Khasi. Party insiders said while Chauhan is an old ally of Sukhu, Butail has been associated with the Congress and is seen as close to Rahul Gandhi, while Khasi is said to be close to AICC general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. Four others are MLAs seen as close to Sukhu chosen for coveted posts equivalent to Cabinet rank, including Nagrota MLA R S Bali, who is Chairman of the Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (HPTDC), Rampur MLA Nand Lal, Chairman of the 7th State Finance Commission, Fatehpur MLA Bhawani Singh Pathania, Vice-President of the State Planning Commission, and Shahpur MLA Kewal Singh Pathania, the Government Chief Whip. Besides, Sukhu has two other aides who don’t have Cabinet rank but enjoy certain perks – Ram Subhag Singh, Principal Adviser to the CM, and Anil Kapil, Adviser (Infrastructure). What facilities come with a Cabinet rank? Besides accommodation, Cabinet rank entitles a person to a full-fledged office with staff in the State Secretariat, security guards, government vehicle, telephone and travel allowances, and a salary of around Rs 2 lakh a month. They are also entitled to free air travel and can go anywhere in the state without noting the destination in the logbook. Besides, they can address public grievances and issue orders to secretaries of state government departments. Who are the six chief parliamentary secretaries whom the BJP is targeting? They include Surinder Singh Thakur, the CPS for Multi Purpose Projects and Power, Tourism, Forest, Transport; Mohan Lal Brakta, appointed for Law, Parliamentary Affairs, Horticulture; Ram Kumar, Town & Country Planning, Industries, Revenue; Ashish Butail, Urban Development, Elementary Education, Higher Education; Kishori Lal, Animal Husbandry, Rural Development, Panchayati Raj, and Sanjay Awasthy, Information & Public Relations, Health and Family Welfare, Public Works. Though the CPSs are not accorded Cabinet rank, they are entitled to a government residence and vehicle and have been given the power to address people’s grievances and issue orders to senior officials of the state government. The BJP, during its tenure, had not appointed any CPS. Why is the CPS post controversial? In 2016, the Punjab and Haryana High Court had quashed the appointment of 18 CPS by the BJP-Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) government in neighbouring Punjab while ruling that they are acting as “junior ministers”, thus contravening the rule limiting the strength of the Council of Ministers to 15% of the legislature’s strength. “Such posts are not part of regular services of the state under the Executive, forming part of the bodies involved in the governance of the state. The appointments are in fact a roundabout way of bypassing the Constitutional mandate… and, therefore, have to be invalidated,” the High Court Bench had said in its judgment. Earlier, in 2005, the Himachal Pradesh High Court had quashed appointments of 12 CPS in the state during the tenure of former Congress CM Virbhadra Singh. After the HC judgement, the then Congress government enacted a law titled “Himachal Pradesh Parliamentary Secretaries (Appointment, salaries, allowances, power, privileges and Amenities) Act, 2006”. Why have attacks on Sukhu over “mitron ki sarkar” increased? The Sukhu government seems to have come up on top after the crisis triggered by cross-voting in the Rajya Sabha polls in February, causing the loss of Congress nominee Abhishek Manu Singhvi. The six Congress legislators who violated the party whip and cross-voted were subsequently disqualified. However, in the by-elections held for the six Assembly seats that fell vacant as a result, on June 1, the Congress won four of the seats and the BJP two. Recently, Sukhu threatened that nine BJP MLAs could lose membership of the Assembly as they “violated” rules of the House and “created ruckus” on February 28 during the Budget session, where they allegedly snatched and tore up papers. The BJP, realising that it may have been outsmarted, hopes to put Sukhu on the mat with its allegations.
