New Delhi: Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has a special affinity for women civil servants.
Speaking at an event of women government officers, Marathi Sahitya Sammelan, earlier this week, he said that if a responsibility is given to a woman officer, it is definitely completed.
He said he prefers having women officers work with him and has appointed them to most departments under his purview. For instance, Manisha Mhaiskar is additional chief secretary in charge of home affairs, V. Radha is additional chief secretary in the general administration department and Abha Shukla leads the energy department as additional chief secretary.
Furthermore, Fadnavis this year appointed Ashwini Bhide as the first woman municipal commissioner of Mumbai. She was earlier appointed to the CMO as well. “Women are natural multi-taskers. They have to struggle a lot to come up,” Fadnavis said at the event.
Modi, Rahul post for Ajay Rai—but not Priyanka
Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Ajay Rai was admitted to the emergency ward Friday evening after falling ill. Within hours of his admission, PM Narendra Modi was the first prominent leader to post on X, wishing him a speedy recovery.
Notably, Modi and Rai are political rivals in Varanasi, where Rai has been contesting against the PM since 2014. Within hours of Modi’s message, senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi also conveyed his wishes to Rai.
However, Rahul’s sister Priyanka did not post any message on social media, which has surprised Rai’s supporters considering that she had played a key role in his appointment as UP Congress chief.
Sources close to Priyanka suggest that soon after assuming charge, Rai began sidelining leaders considered close to her in Uttar Pradesh. These leaders conveyed negative feedback to her, leading to a growing distance.
Over the past year, Rai has met Rahul several times, but there has been no instance or even photograph of him meeting Priyanka personally.
Vijay prepares for election verdict with a resort booking
The assembly poll results are just hours away, and actor-turned politician Joseph Vijay is learned to have booked a whole resort with more than 100 rooms in the beach town of Mahabalipuram, off Chennai.
Anticipating a hung assembly, or a situation where neither Dravidian party is able to cobble up a simple majority by itself, or with its alliance parties, the Tamizhaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) chief expects his candidates to be approached/poached by the senior parties.
Vijay is known to have issued a whip to all his candidates, including his general secretaries, to head to Mahabalipuram by evening to avoid being visited by DMK or AIADMK leaders.
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