Amit Shah
Tough Taskmaster
FOR THE Kerala unit of BJP, party chief Amit Shah’s visit to the state seems to have turned into a nightmare. Shah, who has been unhappy with the party’s functioning in the state and its electoral performances, has given them a dressing down in almost all the meetings. Apparently, he did not even let state party chief Kummanam Rajasekharan complete his powerpoint presentation at a meeting in Kochi. Shah is learnt to have told them he was not at all satisfied with the numbers, which apparently showed an increase in vote percentages. He repeatedly referred to a leadership failure in the state. The Kerala leaders have been asked to roll up their sleeves and work hard to make the BJP an alternative political force in the state.
No Room
SPACE CRUNCH at the Rail Bhawan has hit some newly posted senior officers in Rail Bhawan. One among them is Ateesh Kumar, the new man in charge of increasing non-fare revenue of the transporter. His predecessor went on a long leave recently, thereby creating a vacancy. But that room was quickly allotted to a senior officer in charge of catering. So Kumar, although posted to this priority job, is still waiting for a room to park himself in.
The Side-effects
THE LATEST round of chill in India-Pakistan relations and the episode involving Kulbhushan Jadhav has put attempts to resolve disputes related to Indus Waters Treaty on the backburner. The two countries and the World Bank, the acknowledged mediator in the treaty, were supposed to meet in March or April this year to discuss some issues raised by Pakistan over construction activities in the Indus basin on the Indian side. The meetings could not be scheduled as the two countries had more urgent things in their bilateral relations to pay attention to. The Indian side is not worried though, because it can continue to work on its projects as planned in the meanwhile.
Waiting For Work
IT’S BEEN almost a month since B R Sharma, a Jammu and Kashmir cadre IAS officer, was appointed Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs. He is still waiting for work to be allocated to him. Sharma was appointed in the MHA against the vacancy created by the rather abrupt transfer of M Gopal Reddy at the end of March. During all this while, Sharma has mainly been filling in for Secretary (border management), who was on a long leave.
