As always, babus play safe!

Even as the wedding reception of Congress MLA and son of former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh saw leaders from across the political spectrum attend the reception, here in the state capital, a majority of the babus chose to stay away from the occasion. CM Jai Ram Thakur, accompanied by his wife Dr Sadhna Thakur, several High Court Judges, ministers and BJP and Congress MLAs attended the wedding.“Trust the bureaucracy to do so as they always play safe lest they be labelled as pro-Congress and lose out on plum postings,” remarked a politician. Surprisingly, even those bureaucrats who enjoyed plum postings during the stint of Virbhadra Singh as Chief Minister were conspicuous by their absence. Barring a handful bureaucrats like P Mitra, State Election Commissioner Narinder Chauhan, Principal Secretary to CM Srikant Baldi and Additional Chief Secretary Mansiha Nanda, a majority of them decided to give the marriage a miss. “Well, we must rise above political considerations and grace such social occasions. This is what decency demands,” remarked a politician. Decency is rarity these days.

Salman connection

While the sitting BJP MP from Mandi parliamentary constituency Ramswaroop Sharma has launched his poll campaign, Bollywood connection of Sukh Ram family can upset his apple cart. Sukh Ram’s grandson Ayyush is married to filmstar Salman Khan’s sister Arpita and intervention of Salman Khan can play a decisive role in ensuring ticket for Ashray, brother of Ayyush who has emerged as a strong contender and is extensively touring the constituency. Anil Sharma, father of Ayyush and Ashray, had joined the BJP ahead of the Assembly elections in 2017. He is presently power minister in the BJP government. Sukh Ram, who won from Mandi thrice in 1984, 1991 and 1996, has indicated that his grandson should be given the BJP ticket as his personal influence would be significant in the elections. Sources in the BJP said that Salman is already in touch with BJP top brass and may even campaign for Ashray. On the other hand, Ramswaroop is considered close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur and state party chief Satpal Singh Satti are in his favour. However, Sukh Ram is known for springing surprises and these could not be ruled out even this time.

Adarsh village residents upset

The residents of Adarsh villages adopted by MPs from the state under the union government scheme are a harassed lot. Now that the dates of the parliamentary elections have been announced, representatives from various media organizations are visiting them to know what special had happened in their villages under the Adarsh village scheme. A village pradhan, when contacted by The Tribune for similar reasons, got upset. “It would be much better if our village was not selected under the scheme. I am tired of telling people that nothing has happened in our village under the Adarsh village scheme. I request the authorities to just denotify it as Adarsh village”, he said.

Two ‘Rams’ slug it out in Mandi 

Two “Rams” in the temple town of Mandi are slugging it out in the open putting their weight behind the candidate of their choice. These two “Rams” are none other than Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur and veteran politician Sukh Ram. While the former wants ticket for BJP’s Ramswaroop Sharma, Sukh Ram is obsessed with “pautra moh” as he wants Mandi ticket for his grandson Ashray Sharma. Sukh Ram is hobnobbing with Congress leaders out of “pautra moh”. Jai Ram Thakur has made it a prestige issue and would like to ensure that his writ runs in running the affairs of Mandi rather than anybody else’s. All things considered, it would be interesting as to which “Ram” finally has the last laugh on Mandi ticket.

Youths key focus?

Though all political parties are focusing on youth, at least that is what they profess in their policies, when it comes to ticket distribution the youth are overlooked and the concept of winning capability takes centrestage, irrespective of the age. While the state has barely one youth MP, it is the large number of senior leaders figuring in the list of probables which leaves one wondering how much significance its youth leaders are accorded.As sole objective all political parties is electoral victory at any cost, it remains to be seen how many youth are given ticket by both the BJP and the Congress when even octogenarians and septuagenarians have staked claims for the ticket.

Contributed by Pratibha Chauhan, Bhanu P Lohumi, Lalit Mohan, Kuldeep Chauhan and Ambika Sharma