Adjustments galore: IK Gujral's son,
Badal's sidekick et al all found adjustable
S P Singh
Chandigarh: In the days of yore when people used to allege that a particular person has been selected only because he was to be "adjusted" somewhere, it meant that the person had no merit for the said post and the appointment was due to extraneous considerations.
Nowadays, politics has become a more candid game. Appointments are not only understood to be adjustments but even explicitly declared as such. So, here are the latest adjustments from the stables of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal.
Naresh Kumar Gujral, son of former Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral, a long time 'personal' friend of CM Prakash Singh Badal whose views on the SYL-blocking bill, supported by Badal, were radically different, has been nominated for the Rajya Sabha seat which fell vacant due to the death of Congress leader Sukhbans Kaur Bhinder.
And because Naresh, a crony of Sukhbir Singh Badal, now goes to the Upper House, therefore Parkash Singh Badal's sidekick Daljit Singh Cheema is made Advisor to the Chief Minister. Whether this is the person on whose advice Badal takes all those decisions is still not known, but the man sure has some staying power: he has never fallen out of any frame shot by any photographer which has Parkash Singh Badal in it. Cheema is also fond of reading and writing; definitely writing because he is always seen with a small notepad and a pencil, catching any gems which fall off Badal's lips. He also gets a Cabinet rank.
Nirmal Singh Kahlon could not be adjusted in the ministerial council, so he ascended to the throne of Speaker. Ditto for Satpal Gusain of BJP who was Deputy Speaker in the last Badal regime and raced a lot over the years to remain at the same place.
Ranjit Singh Brahmpura displayed remarkable capacity to stay within the limits of party discipline when youngsters with Badal suffixed to their name were running roughshod all over wielding more authority than the veterans. Now Brahmpura is chairman of party's Disciplinary Action Committee. Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa is chairman of party's Parliamentary Board. Don't ask who was the last one. Badal had not bothered to appoint any and the post was lying defunct till it came handy for adjusting a heavy weight.
More adjustments were also in store: Jagdish Sahni, Bibi Mohinder Kaur Josh and Sarwan Singh, all three MLAs who couldn't be sqeezed into the ministry, have been adjusted in the slot which was huge enough to accomodate many more in the last regime. They are all Parliamentary Secretaries now (The post has nothing to do with Parliament and the christening is only a misnomer). Real role of a PS is ill defined, sometime back they were asked not even sit in the Council of Ministers meeting, and in Himachal Pradesh they were all thrown out by the High Court. It is a post where you get a red beacon on top of your car a Damocles' sword hanging over your head.
Some more adjustments are in queue. Tota Singh lost, his son is being adjusted as member-secretary of Punjab Pollution Control Board. Bibi Jagir Kaur and Balwinder Singh Bhundar are waiting their turn and so is Surjit Singh Rakhra. It is remarkable how the politicians who either do not face the people in an electoral arena or do but lose become adjustable after a regime shift.
March 16, 2007