Congress Minister Ashok Chavan has taken the battle on Maratha reservation to Delhi. Unfazed by the BJP’s accusation that the MVA government had failed the Marathas, the low profile Chavan has parked himself in the national capital to mobilise support for the quota through Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha members cutting across party lines. He has also reached out to in-house Congress legal experts P Chidambaram, Kapil Sibal et al.
A meeting with Shah
THE AMAZING comfort level between the NCP and the BJP came to the fore once again when Lok Sabha member Supriya Sule took the initiative to reach out to Home Minister Amit Shah to requisition helicopters and more NDRF teams to tackle the flood in Maharashtra. Blindsided by the move, the state unit of the BJP for once did not predict the end of the ruling alliance. “It was only related to floods. No politics. In times of natural calamities, protocols are set aside. Every members’ voice counts,” Sule said.
Field man
KONKAN DIVISIONAL Commissioner V B Patil believes more in field visits than operating from his office at Konkan Bhavan in Belapur. A few days back when it rained heavily at Palghar, he visited the district. Last week, he was on a visit to Sindhudurg district was able to cover the short distance to Ratnagiri easily to tackle the rain-triggered crisis for the Konkan railway.
Wrong numbers
AS MAHARASHTRA reeled under torrential rainfall, the Relief and Rehabilitation department went quiet for three days. There was no responsible person to brief the media on the big picture of the unfolding disaster. When Minister Vijay Wadettiwar broke the silence, he gave out wrong figures for casualties, providing a cumulative number from June 1 instead of numbers for the current crisis. The incident showed up the understaffing of the disaster management control room, which has no regular staff except for three junior officers. It is learnt that Tourism Minister Aaditya Thackeray wants Mumbai corporation disaster management chief Mahesh Narvekar to design the state control room along the lines of the BMC’s control room. Now, the state is planning to set up a dedicated disaster management force in vulnerable districts.
Two birds
A SPECIAL Assembly session is likely to be called for discussing and passing the three farm bills that were tabled in the House earlier this month. The same session may also see the Assembly Speaker’s election finally, putting to an end a festering political controversy, said a Congress source.
Full-time head, finally
AFTER YEARS of managing without a full-time director, the Maharashtra Forensic Science Laboratory finally got one this week. Krishna Kulkarni, who was standing in as interim director all this time, was appointed as the director. His record of completing several projects during his tenure as interim director stood him in good stead.
Delayed
POLICE SOURCES said businessman Raj Kundra’s arrest for his alleged role in an alleged porn racket that first surfaced in February would have come earlier had it not been for the Ambani security scare and the events following the discovery that now dismissed assistant police inspector Sachin Waze was behind it. The investigations in the porn case had been put on hold along with all other big-ticket cases while the police found its feet again. The arrest came after police resumed investigations in the case recently.
CONTRIBUTED BY SHUBHANGI KHAPRE, YOGESH NAIK, VSHWAS WAGHMODE AND MOHAMED THAVER
Source: https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/mumbai/ashok-chavan-maratha-reservation-mumbai-confidential-7422062/
