From eating at wayside Dhaba to late working hours, Himachal Pradesh CM Sukhu goes on ‘Vyavastha Parivartan’ literally
Shimla: Late working hours in his office, taking road journeys more frequently than helicopter tours to eating food at the wayside dhaba, along with staff and security officials are enough to send a louder message to the Public.
“I am here not to enjoy the power but Vyavastha Parivartan” CM Sukhwinder Sukhu is trying to prove by his actions, during the past month.
Sukhu often sits in his office till midnight to dispose of important official business, clearing sensitive files and taking key decisions, as even now, the bureaucrats also make it a point to stay back in the offices till he leaves the secretariat.
The pictures of him sitting like a commoner at roadside Dhaba—aptly known as ‘Bahadur Dhaba’ popular for serving “makki-ki-roti” and “Maa ki Dal” has gone viral when he stopped over at Ghaghas on his way back from Hamirpur, three days back for his dinner.
On return to Shimla, he drove straight to his office and spent a late hour sitting to clear files and finish the day’s agenda.
On Sunday, the CM was seen walking steps with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi at Srinagar joining the last leg of his “Bharat Jodo Yatra”.
According to sources, during this, Rahul and Priyanka also discussed with him about the functioning of the government in Himachal and the decisions taken at the first cabinet meeting to implement the Old Pension Scheme.
As CM of a state recently won by the Congress, Sukhu’s presence at Monday’s rally to be addressed by Rahul Gandhi in Srinagar, is going to be significant to send a message about the congress adding up a state to its earlier tally of having ruling only two states—Chattisgarh and Rajasthan.
Before flying to Srinagar, Sukhu reached out to BJP President JP Nadda at his village –Vijaypur (Bilaspur) attending the wedding reception of Nadda’s son.
Before this, Sukhu had three major official meetings in Shimla and also met several delegations in Shimla and later in Bilaspur apart from his mixing-up with locals.
Coming from a humble background, the CM is gaining a wider connection with the people, even his opponents in the BJP are impressed with his style of outreach.
“This simple persona connects Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu with the masses,” says Poonam, who has seen Sukhu as a fellow student leader at Himachal Pradesh university.
The simple and charismatic personality of the CM who promises to change the system is touching the hearts of the people of Himachal. While on tour, people were waiting for hours to see and greet him.
The CM never disappoints anyone, stops his convoy at various places and accepts the greetings of the people and listens to their problems carefully.
On Saturday, people gathered in large numbers at Sunhani helipad to welcome Sukhu, who arrived on a one-day tour of the Bilaspur district. He was welcomed amid loud slogans and when the CM’s convoy moved ahead, people queued up to welcome him at various other places.
“A ray of hope in the sensitive leadership of the CM is clearly visible to the people of the state,” said Sunita Dhiman, former President of Gram Panchayat Kothi.
On return from Srinagar, the CM has a busy schedule of meeting with MLAs to finalise priorities on development and next year’s plan before he presents the state’s budget for the year 2023-24. A two-day session with the MLAs in Shimla will begin on February 1.
The state government has also invited suggestions from the public and all stakeholders on next year’s budget.
Sukhu has also invited the representatives of the Adani group and truck operators’ unions to end the 42-day-long stalemate on cement freight charges. Adani group which owns two mega cement plants had shut down their units after truck unions demanded revision of the freight rates.
