R Krishna Das
When the Governor gets tough, the tough gets going for the state government!
The denial of Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra governments to ensure smooth fly for the Governors had wreaked political turbulence. When the Governors get tough and fail to fall in line, the state government indulges in such “plane” politics—the easiest modus operandi to express its vex. Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra are no exception.
The simmering differences between the Constitutional head and the governments in Chhattisgarh, and Maharashtra have spilled out in open in the last couple of days. Both the states are governed by the parties opponent to the one ruling the Centre, whose representative is in Raj Bhawan.
In Chhattisgarh, the on-going battle plumbed a new depth when Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel and his cabinet colleagues failed to turn up at the customary high tea organised by Governor Anusuiya Uikey on Republic Day. The alleged controversial bills objected to by the Governor could be the possible reason for the standoff.
A university in the state of which the Governor happens to be the Chancellor is not getting grants for months; depriving salary to the work force that constitutes even class four employees.
A retired bureaucrat and former secretary to Chhattisgarh Governor explained: “There is no protocol that facilitates the Governor to procure and use the state aircraft and it all depends on the mutual relations with the Chief Minister.” The move of the state government indicates that it is in confrontation mode with the Centre’s representative.
Anusuiya Uikey and Bhagat Singh Koshyari have risen to the occasion, literally, taking a commercial flight for the destination.
The “plane politics” normally powers the state government to score over and the precedent has been going on for decades with no state in exception. But the incidents in Bihar add colour to it.
During the tenure of Dr Akhlagur Rahman Kidwai as Governor of Bihar, the state government had been denying aircraft as the Chief Minister’s wife had to fly to Muzaffarpur to appear in exams. On one occasion, Kidwai had to cancel the visit as the local administration cited law and order issues in the city. On another occasion, the Muzaffarpur administration informed the Raj Bhawan that the airstrip was flooded and urged to cancel the visit. In the same airstrip, the Chief Minister’s wife later landed.
Kidwai took a strong note and went to Muzaffarpur by road. His strong reservation forced the government to shunt the District Magistrate (DM). Ironically, the aircraft was used to fly the new DM. Kidwai summoned the shunted DM and asked about his batch. When he replied, Kidwai quizzed: “Who was the UPSC Chairman then?” When the DM said it was he (Kidwai), the former UPSC Chairman quipped: “Did I make a mistake in the selection?”
It is not the aircraft alone. During Bihar’s famous Chhath Puja, the then Governor Govind Narayan Singh wished to take a ferry on the Tourism Board’s boat. At the eleventh hour, Singh had to cancel the trip as Chief Minister Bhagwat Jha Azad and his family members suddenly planned to enjoy a boat ride.
