Third Eye: All for divine intervention

Supporters of three-time MLA Prasanta Phukan went on a temple-visiting spree on Monday after a buzz that Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal may expand his Council of Ministers. They were seeking divine intervention in Phukan’s favour. Currently, there are eight vacancies in the Sonowal ministry.

Some Movement in Urban Ministry
The urban development ministry is suddenly seeing an exodus of officials. Praveen Prakash, a 1994-IAS batch officer who was mission director of Swachh Bharat, is likely to move out as resident commissioner of Andhra Pradesh. Neeraj Mandloi, who was handling AMRUT, is likely to be repatriated to his parent cadre. Two senior officers, Sameer Sharma (handling smart cities) and Durga Shanker Mishra, would be promoted as secretaries and are likely to be assigned ministries.

HRD to ‘Correct’ Perception
The HRD ministry, which has so far been backing the Council of Boards of Secondary Education (COBSE), has suddenly taken umbrage at it for expanding its influence. COBSE, which is an organisation that represents schools boards, has assumed a quasi-official role issuing notices to fake boards and representing boards with other government bodies. The ministry is set to “correct” the perception with a clear communication disassociating itself from the body to clear its turf.

Right in the Left Bastion
Having decided to lead the party’s drive in strengthening its booth-level units, BJP president Amit Shah will start his drive from booth number 93 of Naxalbari in West Bengal. With Naxalbari being the signature place of violent Leftist ideology, Shah seeks to take right-wing saffron party’s democratic battle to the place considered as the birthplace of Naxalism.