Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): A Union Minister is angry with two IAS officers posted to a division in Madhya Pradesh, and the minister has conveyed his suggestions to the higher-ups in the government to remove them. Another Union Minister has played the key role in posting one of these two officers to the division. Now, a leader, who is also a supporter of this minister, wants the officer to be removed from the division. Ergo, he is pulling out all the stops to shift him. Besides, the minister is also livid at the other officer who is considered to be the Chief Minister’s pick, but now, the minister wants to post an officer of his choice to that place. The Union Minister and the state government jousted over these two officers for several days, and the situation had come to such a pass that the issue reached the door of a senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader. The leader plumped for a middle path and recommended to the Chief Minister to transfer one of the two officers.
Craving for CS’s post
The appointment of the Chief Secretary entailed a lot of curiosity among bureaucrats in the past few weeks. The whispers – who would be the Chief Secretary – traversed through the corridors of power for several weeks. Finally, the fog over the issue lifted after the present Chief Secretary, who was to retire on November 30, had been given an extension of service for six months. In the process, the names of two officers were discussed as contenders for the coveted post. A senior officer was also sparing no effort to hit the bull’s-eye. This Sahib gave his all – from Bhopal to Delhi – to get the crown. A man close to the officer gave some lucrative offers to a few prominent people, so that Sahib might get the post he was yearning for. This Sahib continued to make efforts to become the Chief Secretary till the day the Chief Minister revealed his plan to give extension to the present incumbent. The officer still craves for the post and is ready to make efforts for it again after six months.
Officer getting “compensation”
The government is compensating a senior officer who could not become the Chief Secretary. A department will soon be given to him. This officer has been trying for many days to get out of the department in which he is posted, but his efforts came to naught. As the veil over the appointment of the Chief Secretary has been raised, the government is ready to give the officer a department which, in terms of infrastructure, is considered significant. After three years, he is set to get a department associated with infrastructure. This officer is considered a strong contender for the post of Chief Secretary after the extension of the present incumbent is over after six months.
Neutral collector wanted
Search is on for an officer who can handle an important district as collector, because the political balance in the district looks disturbed. Thus, the government is planning to post an officer who can coordinate with all the groups there. As assembly elections will be held next year, it is necessary to maintain political balance in the district. A few leaders of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are all set to lock horns with each other during the elections. Ergo, the posting of an officer who favours a particular group will not benefit the BJP. A senior leader of the party wants an officer of his choice to be posted to the district. Similarly, another leader wants a collector of his preference. Now, keeping that in view, the government wants an officer who can do a balancing act between the two warring groups, but the hunt for such an officer continues.
Set to plunge into politics
A senior IAS officer is getting ready to contest an election in the coming days. This Sahib, looking for a suitable constituency from where he can fight polls, has engaged his supporters for it. Besides Madhya Pradesh, he is keeping an eye on the politics of another state. He might fight the next assembly elections on the Congress ticket. Sahib is not going to retire till the assembly elections, so he is mulling over whether he should quit the job and fight the elections or he should wait for an opportune time, but it is certain that he has made up his mind to enter politics. The mentor of this Sahib was successful in politics but he did that after retirement. It is he who is encouraging Sahib to take a plunge into politics. It will, however, be seen whether he joins politics after retirement or he quits the job to for it.
Minister’s dilemma
A minister of the state is very upset these days. The sons of this minister took a lot of money in advance from different traders to get their work done. But the work he had promised to do remained unfinished. The traders who gave money are making rounds of the minister’s residence, besides a few of them even met him. The minister expected that he would make a huge amount of dough in the department, but his hopes remained unfulfilled, because a principal secretary barely listened to the minister. This was the reason that he could not lay his hands on a huge amount of brass that he desired. Similarly, the principal secretary posted recently is also clever. Therefore, it is not known whether the minister will have his way in the department, besides the minister is in a dilemma over how to repay the money his sons had taken from the traders. The minister thinks he may not get tickets in the next assembly elections, so he wants to make some quick bucks.
