New Delhi: A recent picture of Sanjay Prasad, Additional Chief Secretary to the Uttar Pradesh chief minister, meeting BJP national president Nitin Nabin has created a buzz in the state’s political and bureaucratic circles. It’s not often that a senior civil servant gets a one-on-one meeting with the national president of the party in power at the Centre.
The picture was uploaded on Nabin’s social media accounts but was deleted the next day.
Prasad is said to have clarified to his colleagues that it was a courtesy meeting. However, with the 1995-batch IAS officer hailing from Bihar, same as Nabin, the meeting is being viewed as anything but a courtesy call.
What’s more is it came ahead of a likely bureaucratic reshuffle in Uttar Pradesh after the distribution of portfolios to new ministers who took oath on 10 May. Prasad oversees heavyweight departments, including the CMO, home, information, and vigilance.
BJP CMs brace for performance review
The chief ministers of BJP-ruled states are commissioning surveys to gather feedback on their own performance. Party insiders say at least two chief ministers have already had internal surveys done. The findings are being used internally to make necessary changes and prioritise issues highlighted by voters.
A senior BJP leader points out that many BJP chief ministers are expecting a review by the central leadership and this might be an effort to bring in required changes before that.
Incidentally, the BJP appointed two chief ministers in quick succession in Uttarakhand in the run-up to the polls in 2022. And weeks before the 2022 Gujarat elections, the party removed chief minister Vijay Rupani and replaced him with Bhupendra Patel. Incidentally, Rupani had replaced Anandiben Patel about a year-and-a-half before the 2017 polls.
Sofa, set, match
Amidst the hectic political activity in the run-up to TVK founder Joseph Vijay’s swearing-in, the arrival of new sofa sets at AIADMK leader C.V. Shanmugam’s and VCK leader Thol Thirumavalavan’s houses set tongues wagging.
But, they weren’t the only ones looking to curry favour with the new chief minister of Tamil Nadu.
S. Kamaraj, the lone AMMK MLA, too ordered a sofa set, hoping to be brought on board the TVK wagon—until his leader, T.T.V. Dhinakaran, intervened.
As Vijay visited leaders from other parties to cobble up an alliance, Tamil cinema and TVK fans drew parallels to a scene in the blockbuster film Pushpa 2 where the protagonist’s rivals arrange new sofa sets to welcome their new leader, suggesting acceptance of a dramatic shift in power dynamics ahead of the much-anticipated arrival of a new chief minister.
Uplink established
Within 48 hours of Suvendu Adhikari taking oath as the chief minister, a delegation from West Bengal landed in Kevadia, Gujarat, for the Ministry of Tourism’s national conclave.
Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, by multiple accounts, spotted them before the session opened and made a point of walking over first. The welcome was warm.
For context: West Bengal under the previous Mamata Banerjee-led government mostly kept away from central government programmes.
The delegation’s presence this time carried an unspoken message.
Whether the new dispensation uses this opening to finally harness West Bengal’s tourism potential—the Sunderbans, Darjeeling, the heritage circuit—is the real question.
(Edited by Tony Rai)