Anandiben Patel suggests Gujarat model of governance to Yogi government

LUCKNOW: In a departure from tradition, Governor Anandiben Patel called the entire Yogi government to Raj Bhawan to present its report card of last two-and-half years. And she recalled her political innings in Gujarat, first as revenue minister, then education minister and finally her crowning glory as chief minister and how she transformed the functioning of her departments. The governor also made a veiled suggestion to the Yogi government to follow the Gujarat model of governance by expediting projects and meeting deadlines to save time and cost overruns.
While the Yogi government is gearing up to celebrate two-and-half years in power on September 17, the governor creating a record of sorts in Raj Bhawan by calling the chief minister, his two deputies and the entire council of ministers to present their report card. The session lasted for over two hours.
Governor Anandiben was flanked by chief minister Yogi Adityanath and his two deputies Keshav Prasad Maurya and Dinesh Sharma, while remaining ministers were seated opposite her. A 19-minute documentary was presented by the state government, highlighting its achievements a coffee table book on Kumbh was also released.
One by one, ministers introduced themselves with a brief profile of their departments. The chief minister in his address highlighted achievements of their departments and what they intend to do. "For some time, we felt being in a classroom and the governor was tutoring us on how to improve performance, image and delivery," a cabinet minister told TOI on condition of anonymity.
Anandiben also appealed to BJP ministers to aggressively pursue PM Narendra Modi's call to rid the nation of tuberculosis by adopting TB-affected children and patients in districts. She also said land disputes of farmers should be swiftly addressed so that they can till their farms and get easy loans.
Chief minister Yogi Adityanath highlighted achievements of his government over two-and-half years and claimed that his government had successfully organised world's largest congregation at Kumbh. He said his government had introduced fundamental policy changes, which resulted in drawing investments of Rs 4.28 lakh crore in the state.
He also highlighted e-tendering for all major projects. Power supply was adequate and there were no protests during summer on outages. Also, strict action against criminals has improved law and order, the CM said.
Since the political complexion of the state and the Centre is same and the governor herself had been a BJP chief minister, there was no confrontation over the summons from Raj Bhawan. Political experts said, if the regimes at the Centre and state had variant ideologies, it would have sparked friction as was witnessed in the past.
The proactive governor has already unnerved the state government by inspecting police stations, holding review meetings and issuing directions to the Yogi government from time to time.