Meet Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, a minister who keeps both oars in the water

"Did you test the water in your taps before you decided to get an RO?" Shekhawat asks. He says testing water quality is his primary mission

Aditi Phadnis
Last Updated at September 25, 2021 02:37 IST

Gajendra Singh Shekhawa, Jal Shakti Minister (Illustration: Binay Sinha)

It’s been raining all night. I’ve had to tippy-toe through rivulets ankle-high to reach Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Shekhawat on a day jal is out in its full shakti. “Land! Blessed land!” I cry out to myself as I navigate to the pavement, sodden and muddy, making my unsteady way to the gate of his residence on Akbar Road in Lutyens’ Delhi. My chappals squelch and squeak. He emits a startled squawk when he sees me, asks his aides to turn down the air conditioner and confides that he took the Metro to return home from the airport the previous evening. “At least in the Metro, you know exactly how much time the journey is going to take. Stupid to use the car in weather like this,” he says. He apparently uses the Metro a lot.

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