Newsmakers of the Week | Punjab health minister, Maharashtra Guv, sacked Bengal minister’s aide

Punjab Health Minister Chetan Singh Jouramajra is in the eye of a storm after he forced Dr Raj Bahadur, the vice-chancellor of Baba Farid University of Health Sciences (BFUHS) in Faridkot district, to lie down on a damaged mattress during an inspection. Jouramajra, a first-time MLA from Samana constituency of Patiala, is no stranger to controversy. The Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) decision to pick Jouramajra, a Class 12 pass, as health minister had come as a surprise as there were 10 party MLAs who were doctors. Following the incident at the Faridkot hospital, the decision to pick Jouramajra as health minister is once again being questioned. Raakhi Jagga brings to you this report.

Maharashtra Governor  Bhagat Singh Koshyari

From his statements on Chhatrapati Shivaji and Savitribai Phule to his moves during his protracted face-off with the previous Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government, Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari has courted controversies several times since his appointment to the Mumbai Raj Bhavan in 2019. Koshyari is back at the centre of a row and is drawing a severe backlash from various political quarters over his remarks that Maharashtra, especially Mumbai and Thane, will be left with no money and cease to be a “financial capital” if members of the Gujarati and Rajasthani communities are “removed” from the state. Read Alok Deshpande’s report on the Governor in the eye of the Mumbai remarks storm.

Former Telangana DGP T Krishna Prasad

There have been indications in recent months about former Telangana Director General of Police (DGP) T Krishna Prasad shifting towards the BJP and now the 1986-batch IPS officer looks all set to join the party. Prasad, who previously served as the chairperson of the Telangana Road Safety Authority and the Additional Director General of Railways and Road Safety, has been praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He also tweeted in support of President Droupadi Murmu.

He also recently lauded Telangana Governor Dr Tamilisai Soundararajan when she put on her doctor hat and saved the life of U Kripananad Tripathi — who is currently posted as Additional DGP (Road Safety) — on board a flight from Delhi to Hyderabad. Sources in BJP say the former DGP had met senior party leaders and expressed interest in working with policymakers. Prasad is among the Newsmakers of the Week.

Sacked Bengal minister Partha Chatterjee’s aide Arpita Mukherjee

In 2019, Arpita Mukherjee shared the stage with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Partha Chatterjee, the Trinamool minister who was sacked this week, during a Durga Puja celebration. Now with Chatterjee and Mukherjee under arrest in the teacher recruitment case, what has come to haunt the TMC and its top leadership is a video from that Puja celebration, when CM Banerjee had heaped praise on Arpita. Arpita, who was the face of the puja committee that year, now finds herself in a spotlight of another kind. A co-accused with Chatterjee in the recruitment scam, she finds her face and videos splashed across television screens, along with images of trunks, ostensibly filled with cash, ornaments and allegedly incriminating documents that have been seized from Chatterjee’s residence and Arpita’s apartments. Ravik Bhattacharya , Atri Mitra and Joyprakash Das report on the rise and fall of Arpita, a small-time actor who became part of TMC’s charmed circles.

Uttarakhand minister Rekha Arya

Uttarakhand Minister of Women and Child Welfare Rekha Arya’s recent order directing the officials of her department and anganwadi workers to click a photograph while performing ‘jalabhishek‘ at Shiva temples on July 26 has triggered a row, with the Opposition accusing the ruling BJP of using religion to promote a government programme. As the issue snowballed into a controversy, Arya said the jalabhishek-photograph order is not mandatory and that her letter never threatened action against those not following it. Arya, too, is no stranger to controversy. The only woman in the state Cabinet, she was recently involved in a similar controversy after a letter issued by her department, asking officials and employees to attend a private religious function she was organising in Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, went viral on social media. Read more about her here.