CM plays it smart

The ministers and IAS babus who have just returned to Gandhinagar from the Chintan Shibir are a tad exhausted. Though the majority of the ministers and bureaucrats said they enjoyed staying in the tented accommodation and spending four days and nights in the salt-covered soil of the sprawling Kutch desert,others were heard grumbling about how they were compelled to wake up at 5.30 am every day for a morning walk along with the CM. To add to their woes,they then had to participate in an hour-long yoga session. This was followed by gruelling brain-storming sessions on topics such as “good governance” and “future strategies for development”.

When hate unites

It’s said there are no permanent friends or foes in politics. Former Union Minister Shankersinh Vaghela,who had toppled the Suresh Mehta government in 1996 following an infamous rebellion in the Gujarat BJP,has now found an ally in Mehta. Both the former CMs have joined hands to take on Narendra Modi. Both Vaghela and Mehta do not miss any chance to attack the Modi regime. They recently attempted to extract political mileage from the Sunday rally held in Ahmedabad by government employees demanding the implementation of Sixth Pay Commission’s recommendations in toto. But Modi got them detained by the police before they could address the protest meet.

Babu off to Copenhagen

The administrative apparatus and necessary infrastructure are not in place in the newly created Climate Change Department at the Sachivalaya. But the Modi government has gone ahead and sent senior IAS officer Rajiv Gupta,holding additional charge as the Secretary of this department,to Copenhagen to attend the climate change conference. While Gupta is holding the regular charge of the State Animal Husbandry and Fisheries Department,he is said to be the brain behind Modi’s decision to create the Climate Change Department. His initiative got him a nod from the Centre to attend the conference,which is also expected to be attended by the PM.