Mahatma, Rahul Gandhi on the same wall

Rahul Gandhi is increasingly finding space alongside Mahatma Gandhi on the same wall in Congress leaders’ chambers. Many ministers from the party have placed orders for his gold-framed photographs for prominent display in their cabins in Mantralaya. Agriculture minister Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil was the first to sense the rise of the Gandhi son and offer him space on his wall. Others are now following his example.

A senior cabinet minister said, “I have already placed an order for half a dozen pictures of Rahul. I will put them up not just in my chamber but also at my residence.” An interior decorator at Mantralaya said, “The photo galleries in ministers’ offices are getting crowded. Initially, there used to be photographs of only Mahatma Gandhi and the president of India. Later on, some added Dr BR Ambedkar and prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru. They were followed by Mahatma Jyotiba Phule, Gadge Maharaj, Chhatrapati Shivaji and Sonia Gandhi.”

State envoy needed
Members of parliament from Maharashtra have said that chief minister Prithviraj Chavan should appoint a political leader at the Centre to aggressively pursue projects related to the state. BJP MP Prakash Javadekar cited the example of the Karnataka government, which had appointed a former finance minister in Delhi for the job.

A Union minister said, “It takes more than three months for a file to move from the department secretary to the Union cabinet secretary.” This has led politicians to believe that things are unlikely to move fast unless there is a dedicated point man to apprise various departments of the state’s concerns.

Sena’s Air India campaign
Last month, the Shiv Sena was left agitated as Kiran Pawaskar, who once headed the Air India employees’ union, defected to join the Nationalist Congress Party. It is now doing its best to fight for the rights of the Marathi community in the national carrier without its one-time point man. Senior Sena leader Bharatkumar Raut recently led a delegation to civil aviation minister Valayar Ravi to argue against the centralisation of the carrier’s recruitment drive, which was being held region-wise until now.

He said, “Centralisation of recruitment in Delhi is bound to put eligible candidates in the rest of the country, including Mumbai, at a disadvantage.”

The Union minister endorsed the Sena’s charter of demands, adding that he himself once headed a workers’ union whose concerns were no different.