OFF THE RECORD review on some of todays headlines…

OFF THE RECORD review on some today’s headlines…

1. Chief Secretary being replaced? 

If rumours in the Mantralaya corridors are to be believed, close associates of the CM Fadnavis are not able to come to the terms in regard to the action that has been already initiated from the CMO. It is heard that the Chief Secretary Sumit Mullick is on his way out. Reasons-Unknown…but people are murmuring about inefficiency–which I doubt…as many would swear by his integrity & pace of work, who have worked with Mullick closely. But if this rumour is true, another news that is doing the rounds as to who would be replacing him. It is said Praveen Pardeshi has had his way yet again. Mr. D.K. Jain (ACS Finance) will be our new Chief Secretary and jump the queue ahead of his colleagues Medha Gadgil, UPS Madan, Sudhir Shrivastava & Sunil Porwal. An officer who has stayed away from Maharashtra for good 12 to 14 years (on deputation) will find it extremely difficult to adjust with this new assignment, claim experts. This move has upset the IAS lobby and is compared with the same move that once of ex-CM Prithviraj Chavan had taken. If you people recollect, during the Cong-NCP regime, Prithviraj Chavan had similarly promised Amitabh Rajan (on deputation) for the CS post & got him to Maharashtra. But the whole IAS lobby had come together & in a way revolted for this decision of Chavan, which was later scrapped & Rajan was made ACS Home. The grounds of those revolting were simple. Amitabh Rajan was out of the state for a good amount of time (on deputation), & secondly no one was in the favour of letting anyone jump the queue. There are ethics which need to be followed… Will this same lobby do so this time? Lets wait & watch…Also my close sources claim that Sumit Mullick had already told the CM that after this retirement in April next year, he wouldn’t be interested in heading any of the committee’s of the Government. Now i understand why the news of appointment of Chief Information Commissioner are suddenly doing the rounds…

2. Pravin Darade/Pallavi Darade bungalow row.

“Allotment of hydraulic bungalow to Pravin Darade is Illegal” claimed one of Mumbai Mirror’s  story today. Aree kitna supari news hai...Motive seems to be very clear. Someone at the BMC seems to still hold the grudge on Pallavi Darade whilst her tenure at the BMC…It’s OK my friends. There are so many other illegalities in so many places but this is सुडाचे राजकारण…my reader & the one who is behind Darade’s so frantically, friend one advice to you– we Vidharbhaites (Pravin Darade is from Nashik & Pallavi Darade from Nagpur) are very generous…just one meeting face-to-face with the Darade’s , clearing the air with them, am sure things will be settled…They might happily hand it over to you, but sheer politicisation of the issue, then mind you, even they have spent good amount of time at the CMO & the BMC….They exactly know who did what for the DP to get cleared…By the way last week heard Raj Thackre in one of his rallies did mention about one of many parties that happen at Mayor Bungalow…Raj Thackre is of the view that his cousin is leaving no stone unturned to usurp the Mayor bunglow. The same story teller of Mirror today is one of very close friends of the scion of the Thackrey’s…What happens at the parties and which actress treats this Mayor Bungalow as her second home, sometimes write that also Mr. Singapore return…It will be interesting to see what stand does the Chief Minister take on this issue. 

3. Some one liner gossips….(These are gossips & not to taken as news item)

  • Manukumar Shrivastava is in top contention of the BMC chief post. Gossip mills also suggest Dr. Nitin Kareer’s name….Whenever it happens,  it will…Personally I don’t want Ajoy Mehta to go anywhere than BMC…What beautifully he has handled both the CM & Uddhav Thackrey..Never in these 3 years, I have heard any Sena neta saying ill about the BMC chief…Hats off to Mehta saab. In spite of having a deputation call from Delhi, Mehta stayed here till the monsoons got over completely, faced all the heat and came out as a winner even when all the scams of nullah cleansing, road contractors, potholes and so on were being exposed…He could have easily gone to Delhi prior monsoons when he received the call, but Mehta saab took it on himself & has streamlined the BMC & monsoons passed without any untoward incident reported …Kudos to you sir, today every Mumbaikar is indebted to you…
  • IPS Paramveer Singh is doing the rounds of Mantralaya to grab the prestigious Mumbai CP post. But, behind the curtain hero Mr. Datta Padsalgikar is too good & as per what I have heard, he might get an extension too…
  • Is it true that there is a major reshuffle happening at the BMC too…Pravin Darade is being considered to be coming to the BMC as an Additional Municipal Commissioner…Which one is heading out seems to be the question…
  • Sometime back read that the Mumbai BJP chief Ashish Shelar would be inducted in the cabinet & Atul Bhatkalkar, Parag Alwani & even Prasad Lad were top contender’s for the post of city BJP chief…But the reporter forgot to mention the name of MLA Amit Satam whom I think is the top choice for the post from the BJP insiders looking at this achievements in recently concluded BMC elections. 

Vikrant Joshi 

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