Himachal Diary: Minister evasive on portfolio issue

Asked if he was happy with the portfolios he has been given, a minister in the Sukhvinder Singh government said Nida Fazli’s famous line ‘Kabhi kisi ko mukammal jahan nahin milta’ as his response. “People always want more, but one should learn to focus on what he has got and perform in that area,” he said. Underlining the soaring ambitions and insecurity among most politicians, the minister alluded to the famous speech of BJP senior leader Nitin Gadkari, wherein he had said that first MLAs want to be ministers, then they want to be the chief minister and the person who becomes chief minister is always worried that someone might be conspiring to replace him!

Overzealous official earns rebuff

Officials wanting to stay put on plum posts or wanting such postings are desperately trying to appease politicians of the ruling Congress. An overzealous attempt by a Superintendent of Police of a bordering district to meet the Chief Minister at Peterhoff in Shimla, however, earned him a rebuff for failure to check spurious drug trade. Instead of focusing on their work, some officers, especially from the Police Department, at Shimla have made it a daily ritual to visit the secretariat every morning and evening merely to keep tabs on the happenings in the Chief Minister’s office. It is time their senior officials directed them to focus on their work than transfers as they deal with a key department responsible for maintaining law and order in the state.

In hibernation

After the Cabinet was announced by new Congress government, many leaders from Kangra have gone in hibernation. The leaders, who were expecting induction in the Cabinet but have been left out, are sulking and have withdrawn from public life. Some have even proceeded on vacation.

Contributed by Subhash Rajta, Ambika Sharma and Lalit Mohan