Walking Hits Talk
Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu seems to have stolen a march over neighbouring Punjab in handling the drug menace. Quite literally, for he recently organised a walkathon against the Chitta across the state to create awareness against drug abuse, especially amongst the youth.
The first one was in Shimla, followed by another one in Dharamshala that had the CM walking his talk. Himachal is also the first state to classify panchayats into Red, Yellow and Green categories based on the number of Chitta users in the area.
Government jobs now have to have mandatory drug tests and counselling centres have been set up at the village level. This follows a crackdown whereby 36,657 kg of Chitta was seized and Rs48 crore of illegal assets seized.
Properties of offenders are being seized, rewards given to those who help the police and rehabilitation is encouraged. What should also be commended is that the Opposition led by BJP leader Jairam Thakur also lent support to the campaign by wearing jackets with the slogan, “Chitta Free Himachal, a New Himachal” to the Assembly.
Perhaps neighbouring Punjab can take a lesson or two from here.
Rajya Sabha Rumble
The Congress has as many as six assured and a further three winnable Rajya Sabha seats coming up early next year. Which is why you see a sudden increase in posturing and lobbying amongst the party faithful.
While Team Rahul seems best poised to get some of these seats, especially given RaGa’s trust deficit with the old guard, there is speculation that some outsiders could also be accommodated. Most of these seats are from Karnataka, Telangana, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, and Rajasthan.
From Himachal the contestants include Anand Sharma and Pratibha Singh, while Ashok Gehlot could be accommodated from Rajasthan to pave the way for a change of guard. In addition, there are key members of Team Rahul including Sachin Rao, Jitender Singh Bhanwar, Meenakshi Natrajan and Praveen Chakravarty, who are looking for a Rajya Sabha berth.
From the party HQ, both Pawan Khera and Supriya Shrinate are up for a reward for fighting the good fight. In the end, it all depends on whom Rahul Gandhi wants to oblige and the kind of messaging he wants to send to the rest of the party.
Keeping Options Open?
Meanwhile, the Congress is also closely watching one of Rahul Gandhi’s key aides, Praveen Chakravarty’s recent meeting with TVK leader and actor, Vijay. The chairman of the Professionals Congress remains a favourite of Rahul Gandhi but it is the DMK that he has fallen out of favour with.
Apparently, the DMK had issued a diktat against Chakravarty and warned Rahul against giving him a Rajya Sabha upgrade last year. The Tamil Nadu unit of the Congress is worried that the DMK may not take too kindly to Chakravarty reaching out to a rival, especially at a time when seat sharing talks have begun for Assembly elections due in the state next year. But was it alliance politics that Chakravarty went to discuss?
