If the headcount of followers around a leader is any criteria, Digvijay Singh lags way behind the likes of say, Laloo Prasad Yadav, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Kamalnath or even Uma Bharti. Never at ease with jostling Congressmen, favour-seekers or slogan-shouting youth brigades, the Madhya Pradesh chief minister has consciously tried to keep his public persona as low key as possible. This inspite of an unbroken eight-year reign.

Digvijay's biggest asset by far is his constant mobility. As chief minister he has always been at the thick of action: touring the state, befriending village-level functionaries, getting to know issues first hand. His eagerness to govern apart, he is also willing to experiment. Following his own instincts about Gandhian decentralisation of power, he created a complex superstructure of panchayat and district governments, extending it to joint forest management, gram nyayalya and even jal panchayats. He has also taken several intiatives in the field of literacy and primary education, health services and digitising the district administration. Yet, for all his administrative and man-management skills, Digvijay has failed to give the state sound infrastructure.

Madhya Pradesh, it can be safely said, has regressed in terms of power, road conditions and water supply over all these years. Despite being home to places like Khajuraho and Kanha, tourism remains poor. No heavy or large-scale industry wants to enter the state because of the pathetic roads and electricity supply. Naturally, resentment against the Congress rule is
high in rural areas. But fortunately for Digvijay, there has been no major offensive launched against him. That the Opposition BJP is weak and rudderless is an added blessing.

—Neeraj Mishra.

Maharashtra
Vilasrao Deshmukh


PLUSES: Intends well, has been able to keep Congress cousins together.
MINUSES: Has too many political compulsions. A financially dented state isn't helping matters.

If it had been a Congress-only government, Vilasrao Deshmukh would probably have been sidelined by loyalists long ago. Having risen from the panchayat level, he is not quite the quintessential Congress noddie. Thanks to the arithmetic of politics-where only the NCP plus Congress equation yielded a majority-Deshmukh made it to where he is. Since taking oath in October 1999, Deshmukh's biggest achievement has been his ability to bring the Congress
cousins together while keeping the Opposition at bay.

It hasn't been easy for Deshmukh given the ginger majority of the coalition and the empty coffers of the state-it has a standing debt of Rs 35,000 crore. Added to this is the general slowdown in industry and the historical legacy of lossmaking schemes like cotton procurement to preserve the Congress say in Vidarbha. If the state is ticking along at a rate of 5 per cent plus, it is only because of the presence of mega corporates in Mumbai
and the well-knit co-operative sector which now clocks a revenue of Rs
70,000 crore plus.

Once the country's premier performer, Maharashtra now ranks seventh in the growth chart, behind Orissa. Of course, the rut has triggered some reforms with the state shifting nearly 65 per cent of the Government's decision-making to the districts (the zilla parishads). Ministers' travel and telephone bills have been slashed and new recruitment has been barred
except in education and health.

Deshmukh's advisers point out that he is acutely aware of the perception that the state is stagnating. He has been trying to woo investors to develop the Mumbai-Pune corridor as the National IT Highway and find a strategic partner to get the Dronagiri SEZ started. Apparently, there are more ideas in the pipeline but as a senior minister puts it, "the chief minister has to
find time for them". It is clear that much of his energy is being channelled into balancing the political equations both within and outisde his party. In a sense, it's a classic Lewis Carroll scenario where it's taking Deshmukh all the running to stay at the same place. To get anywhere, he would have to run twice as fast.

Bihar
Rabri Devi


Pluses: Her simple, homely ways have helped her connect with the masses.
Minuses: Lacks administrative skills. Is seen as Laloo's rubber stamp. The state hasn't made any progress under her.

When Laloo Prasad Yadav foisted his semi-literate wife Rabri Devi as chief minister six years ago, she was considered no more than a housewife with the additional responsibility of running the state for her husband. That perception still hasn't changed, but the only difference is that advertently or inadvertently, the lady has been able to connect with the masses with that very housewife approach. "I love to cook and look after my family," a more confident Rabri Devi can be heard telling villagers in Bhojpuri at public meetings. "It is only when you can effectively run a house that you can manage a state." Since the day she struggled to take oath of office in Hindi at the Raj Bhavan, the simple 43-year-old chief minister and mother of nine children has never been apologetic about her fondness for domestic chores. Whenever the Opposition has launched a campaign for her ouster on these grounds, Rabri Devi has hit back saying she too wished there was someone who could take over from her so that she could return to her household affairs. "But there is no one who can take my place," she adds, much to the appreciation of the crowds. Making the best of the situation, Laloo too is often heard referring to his wife as "Misa ki Mai (mother of their eldest daughter Misa)". For the former chief minister, this seems to be just another gimmick up his sleeve.

All this, however, does not take away from the fact that Rabri has been a disaster as chief minister. With political or administrative vision, she has not taken any step to rid Bihar, the country's second largest and poorest state, of its woes. She has failed miserably in putting across a a case for the state at the central level. In fact, she religiously avoids visiting
Delhi. It is hardly surprising then that Bihar has made no progress under her. But it suits Rabri-and her husband-just fine.

—Farzand Ahmed

Andhra Pradesh
Chandrababu Naidu


PLUSES: Known for his penchant for information technology, he is seen as a change-maker, an e-governor. He is an effective administrator too.
MINUSES: Hasn't ensured that infrastructure keeps pace with developments in IT. Has failed to pull the state out of the red.

Talk about N. Chandrababu Naidu and the first thing that comes to mind is his role as a change-maker, an e-governor. He has repackaged development programmes in innovative ways, made officials accountable and has made user charges for utilities like power, water, registration of land deals and registering vehicles possible through a single window called e-seva. Yet, the Andhra Pradesh economy isn't looking up even six years after Naidu took
over.

Much of the revenue mopped up by way of commercial taxes and user charges goes to run the state administration itself. The 51-year-old chief minister has been unable to cut the flab in administration and efforts at privatisation are slow. Both Orissa and Rajasthan are ahead of the state in power reforms. While Naidu has dismantled the Andhra Pradesh State Electricity Board and formed three power transmission companies, the new entities do not enjoy any financial autonomy. Further, Naidu's reformist zeal is still to be proven in attracting new,
employment-generating industries though he is still the mascot of the Confederation of Indian Industry. No new private producer is evincing interest in Andhra Pradesh. Potential investors argue that the state does not have a positive-thinking bureaucracy and complain of hurdles in
infrastructure. They point out that the power tariff is higher than in the other states and land allotment done at a slow pace. They have problems in hiring skilled professionals too. Dr. Reddys, for example, did most of its recent recruitment for senior slots from outside the state.

Another major deterrent is the unabated Naxal terror. The only advantage for investors is the relatively low rentals and land prices. The irony is that Naidu, the elder son of a groundnut farmer from the arid Chittoor district, is unable to encourage even local investors to start industries based on agriculture. Unless he is able to attract investors, his grandiose plans
like Vision 2020 will remain on paper. In fact, it promises to enhance installed power generation capacity to 36,000 MW by that year. Now, it is only 8,283 MW, less than a fourth of the ambitious target. And although information technology is Naidu's strength, the 20 per cent concession in power tariff promised to the sector is still to be implemented fully. At
least 200 IT companies are inactive and of them 50 have shut down since January 2001.
Naidu has to find ways to pull the state out of the financial crisis.

Currently, the bail out comes from external funding agencies, including the World Bank and the DFID, UK. But that alone won't do. Naidu has to cut back decisively on wasteful expenses in the administration, create more job opportunities, invite and facilitate industry and other investors and convince investors in the state to start agro-based industries. True, he runs a very effective party machine, For the benefit of the state, the same principles should be extended elsewhere as well.

Haryana
Om Prakash Chautala


Pluses: Has taken some hard decisions like hiking power tariff for the farm
sector. Also his grip on the Jats is strong.
Minuses: Is seen as anti-urban; his campaign against corruption has floundered,

When Indian National Lok Dal chief Om Prakash Chautala wrested power in July 1999 by toppling Bansi Lal in an all too-familiar defection game, the next seven months were a dream for the people of Haryana. In the run-up to the assembly polls in February 2000, Chautala assiduously wooed different sections with his doles. "This is just a trailer," he used to say. "Give me five years to see the film."

But two years down the line, since Chautala came to power on his own majority, the promised is anything but exciting. The feel-good factor that his Government had inspired in its first tenure has long vanished. Instead, it has given way to disenchantment, particularly among the urbanites who have been burdened with much of the taxes.

The anti-urban feeling seems to be growing with his government retrenching around 3,000 employees of boards and corporations, all in the name of downsizing and austerity. That he had little qualms in buying 16 new luxury cars, each costing Rs 7 lakh, for his ministers is another story.

Despite charges of lacklustre governance, one area where Chautala's report card makes impressive reading pertains to his ability to take hard decisions such as hiking the power tariff for the farm sector. Also, his grip on the Jats has still not weakened. He has not hiked sugarcane prices for the past one year but has been following a carrot-and-stick approach for recovering the huge power arrears against farmers.

On the political front, the Chautala Government's dogged campaign against corruption and misuse has earned him more brickbats than bouquets. In the past two years, more than two dozen former MLAs/ministers were either booked or are facing vigilance probes on the allegations of amassing disproportionate assets. But the problem is that all of them belong to the opposition parties which are crying foul and accusing Chautala of unleashing "political vendetta". The Jat chieftan remains unfazed though.

Political observes say that Chautala has been trying to be a mixture of his bete noires: emulating Bhajan Lal's maneuvering politic and Bansi Lal's tough administration. Chautala can take credit for being the only chief minister with the smallest cabinet-only 10 members since it assumed power. But that has less to do with austerity and more with his penchant for keeping all the powers to himself-he has 40 portfolios with him-or his two sons Ajay and Billu.

Another reason for Chautala's falling popularity graph in urban Haryana is the disdain with which he has been treating the BJP, his electoral partner in the assembly elections. Reduced to six MLAs, the BJP, far from getting a share in the power cake, has been at the receiving end. Chautala's strategy has been simple: keep on the right side of Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee, but keep the state BJP at arm's length. His ambition to enlarge his Jat
constituency has also brought a clash of interests with the BJP.

—Ramesh Vinayak.

Rajasthan
Ashok Gehlot

PLUSES: Is easily accessible, straightforward and avoids controversy.
MINUSES: Lack of decisiveness in the past has led to the perception that he is weak administrator.

If there is one thing that Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot is known for, it's his ability to be a good listener. In the past three years that he has been in office, he has met around 1.5 lakh people at his official residence and literally lent them a shoulder to cry upon. Patiently hearing out their grievances, he has also tried to follow up their problems with some action, picking up much goodwill and praise along the way. The 50-year-old law student, who is also equipped with a degree in economics, knows precisely how to skirt controversies. Recently, the Opposition BJP tried its best to kick up a row between him and Governor Anshuman Singh by staging an unannounced dharna at Raj Bhavan. But sensing trouble, Gehlot accepted the lapses committed by his officials. As one source in Raj Bhavan pointed out, "He is a man with no ego and so does not let any matter precipitate.''

But it is this very quality that, some say, makes Gehlot a weak administrator as well. Determined to change this perception, Gehlot has taken many firm decisions in the recent past like withdrawing official cars form bureaucrats, rejecting employee demands, activating the anti- corruption bureau and constituting a state vigilance commissioner. He also came down heavily on bureaucrats who had not filed mandatory annual property statements for years. Finding that mere warnings went largely unheeded, he mounted pressure right up to the grassroots level in a rigorous three-month drive.

Such steps apart, Gehlot has made a mark with his campaign against encroachments. His move to endorse power reforms in a big way has also been taken note by the prime minister. He has now promised a masterplan for the development of every village along urban lines. Unlike in other states, the people are taking his word seriously.

—Rohit Parihar.

Uttar Pradesh
Rajnath Singh

PLUSES: Accessible, polite and displays a willingness to correct himself if
found wrong. An aggressive fighter if need be.
MINUSES: Depends heavily on a large circle of sycophants. Has failed to
check defections from the party.

The Uttar Pradesh chief minister knows how to win friends. He surprised even arch rival Mulayam Singh Yadav recently when he landed at his house unannounced to wish him on his birthday. As the Samajwadi Party leader wondered what to make of his visit, Rajnath Singh helped himself to some sweets and referred to Mulayam as his elder brother. It was with the same ease with which he drove down to Love Zone -Ambedkar Park on another
occassion to play badminton with young girls and boys.

For a man who took over the reins of the state when his party was on a rapid climbdown, such gestures have gone a long way in boosting the BJP's image. Making it a point to open direct dialogues with different segments, he toured the state extensively and announced a series of sops for teachers, farmers and traders and others.

There has been much damage control to do within the party as well. But he has been able to do precious little to check defections. As state BJP president when Kalyan Singh was the chief minister in 1997, he had anchored several defections from the Congress, Janata Dal and BSP and ensured Kalyan Singh's survival. But this time, he is as much at the receiving end. With the larger part of the past year spent on image-building, his policies for the state are yet to be put to test. Confident of his return in the aseembly polls, the chief minister believes he has enough time ahead of him.

—Subhash Mishra