When everyone, including ministers in the government, thought local body elections would be completed by March, the state government sprang a surprise by deferring polls. With a view to holding the elections, the CM recently held marathon meetings in his anteroom with the chief secretary and senior IAS officers. Till the evening, there were no signs of postponement of polls.
All seemed normal - until suddenly, he and his ministers huddled in a bureaucrat-free meeting. No officers, not even support staff - just the top brass. Finally, the CM came out and told the IAS officers that they were not going ahead with the polls. What transpired in the meeting?
Power struggles everywhere
All is not well in the offices of several ministers. Power struggles are brewing everywhere and the ministers’ staff is no exception. In one minister’s office, the PS and OSD are at loggerheads - one making sure the other’s instructions never see the light of day. Upon getting to know about this, the minister convened a meeting and asked the two to work together. But did it help? Not one bit. Elsewhere, personal staff members are forming camps, deepening rifts and turning departments into battlegrounds. The cold war is real, and it’s slowing down governance.
Bureaucrats or ballots, who’s boss?
A minister recently took a perfectly legitimate request of a person to a senior IAS officer, expecting smooth approval. But guess what? The babu did not oblige. Undeterred, the person in question then sought help from a former star minister. And just like that, the very same senior IAS officer swiftly cleared the request without a fuss. Is this democracy or bureaucracy? It seems babudom has become too tough a nut to crack for the Congress government.