From almost a month in Himachal Pradesh to 40 days in Maharashtra last year. Cabinet expansions in various states in recent years have taken a lot of time after the new government is sworn in. This time, the focus is on Rajasthan where the results were announced on December 3 along with four other states. While all those states have near full-strength governments, Rajasthan has yet to expand its council of ministers. This has provided the Congress — which itself has not decided on its path forward and what leadership changes (if any) will be required — with the opportunity to target Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma. While on Monday it was the turn of Sharma’s predecessor Ashok Gehlot to say that the delay had caused disappointment among the public, on Tuesday it was state Congress president Govind Singh Dotasra’s turn to have a go at the government. “What is this? It has become a joke. Even after 25 days, they haven’t been able to form a council of ministers. Even the CMO is without officials. All the bureaucrats are sitting idle and liaising to get good posts. Someone is running to Delhi, others are approaching politicians or the CM, and even those who were public representatives earlier but lost this time,” said the Congress leader while speaking about the death of a Dalit man in Churu district. Till the Cabinet expansion is announced, the Congress will look to keep up the pressure on the Sharma government and expect more stinging remarks from the state Congress leadership on Wednesday if the delay continues and governance is affected. Last Friday, the state finance department directed all other departments not to invite fresh tenders and put new work on hold if it has not already started for a project. The upshot: With Sharma and both Deputy CMs Diya Kumari and Prem Chand Bairwa representing constituencies in Jaipur district, the BJP will be looking to ensure that other parts of the state are adequately represented in the Cabinet. After appointing a Brahmin, a Rajput, and a Dalit to the top three posts, the party will also have to ensure it maintains the balance as far as the caste representation goes. This means representation for the Jat and Meena communities. Defence Minister in Rajouri Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will be in Jammu and Rajouri on Wednesday. The minister's visit comes following the death of four Indian Army soldiers in an encounter in Rajouri district last week. Three more soldiers were injured in the same encounter. The visit comes even as the security forces conduct their operation in the Poonch-Rajouri sector in the Pir Panjal Valley to track down those behind the December 21 attack in which the soldiers were killed. On PM’s schedule Prime Minister Narendra Modi will interact with beneficiaries of the Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra at 12.30 pm via video conferencing. Thousands of beneficiaries of Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra from across India will join the event along with Union Ministers, MPs, MLAs, and local-level representatives. In context: The yatra, launched last month by the PM in Jharkhand, is the BJP’s massive push to spread awareness about the Modi government’s welfare initiatives and schemes. As the BJP goes out to win a third straight term in power nationally, “Modi guarantees” will be central to its campaign, serving as a way to counter the Opposition’s promises on the welfare front. To have an insight into why Modi guarantees will be important in the BJP campaign, read this Decode Politics article. Now for a little trivia: December 27 holds an important place in Indian history because on this day in 1911 our National Anthem was first sung. It happened on the second day of the Congress’s annual session, held in Calcutta that year. Rabindranath Tagore’s niece Sarala Devi Chaudhurani, who was a well-known political activist and educationist in her own right, sang it along with a group of school students. The parent song, “Bharoto Bhagyo Bidhata”, is a Brahmo hymn of five stanzas that Tagore compose on December 11, 1911, with the first adopted as the National Anthem. The Constituent Assembly adopted Jana Gana Mana as the National Anthem on January 24, 1950, the last day of its last session.
