Modi likely to meet Rawat, discuss development

SMA KAZMI

Tribune News Service

Dehradun, April 23 

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat is likely to get directions from Prime Minister Narendra Modi as both the leaders are scheduled to meet in New Delhi on Sunday. The Prime Minister has convened a meeting of the Chief Ministers of the BJP-ruled states to discuss the implementation of the Centrally sponsored schemes with the aim of refurbishing the image of the BJP-led Central Government in the run-up to the crucial 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

According to BJP sources, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to meet Chief Minister Rawat individually and the proposed meeting has generated a lot of interest among the Uttarakhand ministers and party leaders. 

Interestingly, since the day Trivendra Singh Rawat has taken over as the Chief Minister of the hill state, he is being compared to his Uttar Pradesh counterpart Yogi Adityanath, both hailing from Pauri Garhwal district of the state. While Yogi Adityanath has hogged the limelight by his proactive stance on governance, the performance of Trivendra Singh Rawat-led government has been lacklustre.

Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat has failed to refurbish the image of his government and seems to have dithered on several issues in one month of his rule. Although he claimed to have adopted a policy of zero tolerance towards corruption and recommended a CBI probe into the national highway land compensation scam, there has not been changed much on the ground since the days of the previous Congress government, led by Harish Rawat, which the BJP charged with large-scale corruption.

The Chief Minister has even failed to effect any major bureaucratic change or take action against any alleged corrupt official. The general governance has remained sluggish with the two common problems of power and water supply getting worse in the summer months. Unlike Yogi, who has taken steps to improve power availability throughout the state, the situation in Uttarakhand has not improved a bit.