Digvijay's revenge -- Jogi can keep the plane, not the pilots

Digvijay's revenge -- Jogi can keep the plane, not the pilots
SANJIV SINHA

NEW DELHI, JANUARY 11: First they fought over who would take the helicopter and who the plane. With that spat barely over, a fresh row has erupted between Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijay Singh and his counterpart in Chhattisgarh, Ajit Jogi, over the pilots.

Having got the plane from Madhya Pradesh under the division of assets between the two states, Jogi is now faced with the piquant situation of losing the two pilots and other operational staff to MP.

The pilots and others, who had crossed over from Bhopal to Raipur along with the eight-seater Beechcraft plane in December last year, have put the Chhattisgarh government on notice, seeking to be relieved and repatriated to their original state, a move which apparently has the approval of Digvijay.

Since the pilots and other operational staff meant to service the aircraft were recruited by the MP government when the plane was bought some years ago, they are technically still on the latter's payroll. The pilots have rejected the Chhattisgarh government's offer to serve in the new state and the MP government too has written to its neighbouring state supporting their case for repatriation.

Behind the keenness of the MP government to have their pilots back is apparently its plan to procure a new plane for itself soon. Left with the chopper, Digvijay is having to rely on regular flights to take him around.

Frantic efforts are being made by Jogi's staff to make some stop-gap arrangement to ensure that he doesn't get grounded due to the eagerness of the pilots to ``return home''.

On Jogi's arrival in Delhi from Raipur yesterday, one of the priority tasks of his staff was to establish contact with private firms specialising in providing pilots and other related services on a contract basis. In fact, a Mumbai-based private firm which mans the state planes of Maharashtra, Gujarat and J&K on a contract basis even made a presentation before the CM to provide pilots and set up a servicing station at Raipur.

Interestingly, the distribution of pilots didn't figure at the meeting held in December to decide the fate of the aircraft and helicopter of undivided MP. Sources in Chhattisgarh government asserted that it was assumed that the pilots would come with the plane.

Jogi is also giving Digvijay sleepless nights after unilaterally creating the Chhattisgarh State Electricity Board (CSEB) and refusing to share the state's surplus power with MP.

The division of assets on this front has given Chhattisgarh over 300 MW surplus power, making it perhaps the only state in the country whose citizens are enjoying a 24-hour power supply. Neighbouring MP with a considerably aggravated shortfall has been facing long hours of darkness.

Jogi has offered to supply the surplus power to Digvijay but only at a price, something which the latter is unwilling to accept. At yesterday's meeting between the two CMs, the final arbitration on this issue was left to the Centre.