Buzz grows that Sushma, Uma, Sumitra likely to be appointed governors

Nine governors are set to retire in the next three months after they complete their five-year terms. These include the current occupants of the Raj Bhavan in Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal. In addition, there are vacancies in Chhattisgarh and Mizoram while Andhra Pradesh and Telangana have the same governor. Some incumbents may be re-appointed. However, there is speculation that some senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders — such as Sushma Swaraj, Uma Bharti and Sumitra Mahajan — could get gubernatorial assignments. None of the three contested the Lok Sabha election. Swaraj's name was speculated as Andhra governor after Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan congratulated her on Twitter on the "appointment". He deleted the tweet later. Andhra Pradesh and Telangana Governor E S L Narasimhan is currently the only Raj Bhavan occupant from the UPA era.

Bad news, good news

There are unlikely beneficiaries of the driest summer Chennai is facing in many years. With little rain expected in June and July, some schools have announced extended holidays, while many private ones have deployed water tankers. Students of government schools are not so lucky and are grappling with dry taps and water coolers. Many IT firms have asked their employees to work from home as organising water has become a challenge. While the state government has sought Rs 5,398 crore from the Centre, any form of relief will likely take time.

Questioning Kamal Nath

An official statement of the Madhya Pradesh government saying the state had cleared six investment proposals worth Rs 4,000 crore in a week has opened a Pandora's Box. RTI activist Ajay Dubey, who was appointed Congress RTI cell chief before the Assembly elections but who resigned later, has put up a post on his Facebook page, asking the chief minister to furnish the details of the investment committed to the state since his visit to Davos in January this year. Nath took part in the World Economic Forum summit, where he met a number of industrialists and, upon his return, had spoken of mammoth investment in the pipeline. In his post, Dubey wondered if those investments would materialise; he also released a letter signed by Vivek Porwal, managing director, MP Industrial Development Cooperation, addressed to various departments, seeking an “update on the progress of discussions undertaken by them with key industrialists” in Davos.