The BJP’s decision to instal first-time MLA Bhajan Lal Sharma as chief minister last December despite his lack of political or administrative experience has not quite paid off. By some accounts, the chief minister does not take any decision without consulting BJP leaders in Delhi, and his mentor Union minister Prahlad Joshi. Sharma has visited Delhi at least 36 times, and his stay in the national capital has extended to over two months in the first nine months of his term, claim BJP MLAs.

They also allege that chief secretary Sudhansh Pant is actually the de facto chief minister. After 10 months in office, the BJP government is clearly yet to find its feet. Its own legislators have been busy cracking jokes that bureaucrats are running the sarkar and ministers and MLAs find themselves sidelined. Worse, they claim that the bureaucrats are divided into two camps, and senior bureaucrats leading the two camps are actually running the show.

If the central leadership had planned to micro-manage the state from Delhi, the grand plan would appear to have failed. Too many power centres in the state reporting to too many leaders in Delhi have added to the confusion. The demoralisation has affected even the party workers and the party’s membership drive has been affected. Less than half the target of enrolling 55 lakh members by September has been achieved.

Paper leaks in recruitment tests and the government’s failure to honour its promise of giving 100 units of electricity free to power consumers has upset the people. The disappointment is more because the power department has put new registrations on hold.

Stung by criticism that he was but a puppet in the hands of the bureaucrats, the chief minister convened a meeting of divisional commissioners and district magistrates and, says the grapevine, asserted, “I am the boss”.

This invited more ridicule, and former chief minister Ashok Gehlot described the state administration as a ‘circus’. There was much evidence of poor governance, Gehlot declared, pointing out that the government had failed to prevent even bureaucrats (he named Taru Surana) from dying of dengue.

Accusing the BJP government of undoing what the previous Congress government had initiated, Gehlot bitingly told the media, "The current government is unable to provide even pension to the........

© National Herald