Every moment is 'shubh mahoorat'

Most politicians and cricketers are known to be superstitious. Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu apparently doesn’t fall in this category. Former Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur, while taking a dig at Sukhu for the troubles he has been facing immediately after swearing-in, hinted that he probably did not take oath in “shubh mahoorat”. Responding to it, the Chief Minster said once the public has shown its faith in oneself, every moment is “shubh mahoorat”.

Delay in announcing the Cabinet by Chief Minister Sukhvinder Sukhu has given the Opposition, BJP, an opportunity to target the Congress. Never has such a situation arisen in the state where a Chief Minister has failed to announce his Cabinet even after two weeks. BJP leaders point out that selecting an officer on special duty and three in-charges of media, information technology and political adviser by the CM has outpaced the appointment of even ministers. The Opposition, it seems, is sparing no effort to attack the Congress government, whose delayed start was giving anxious moments both to the MLAs and the employees awaiting the revival of the old pension scheme.

A ticklish issue

The move to denotify 574 new offices of health, revenue, police, Public Works Department and Jal Shakti Vibhag, etc, by the Congress government seems to have become a ticklish issue for the government. While the Congress leaders assert that they lacked budget and infrastructure and were merely opened for electoral gains, the BJP has made it a political issue with agitations being held in protest. Even a memorandum has been given to the Governor, resenting the move. Caught in a bind, the Congress leaders were now saying they would examine each case and some offices might not be closed. One wonders a decision could have been taken after reviewing all cases rather than denotifying them en masse.