Chapter 336: Towards a Higher Level
Muna is no longer the poor and ignorant boy. His title now includes the word "Minister".
He had his own apartment in Lucknow, which Ron had given him.
As a senior official of the state government, how could he not have his own house in Lucknow?
He even employed a servant and assistant, also from his own Halvi caste.
This is the basic operation of Indian politicians, and most of their confidants come from the same caste or family.
Muna also has his own office in Lucknow. When he first sat behind Fujia Mei's desk, he didn't even dare to touch the clean table top that could reflect his reflection.
There is actually not much for him to do in his daily work. As the Minister of Development of Backward Areas, he only receives grassroots officials from rural areas.
They came to Muna for only one thing: money!
The village roads need repairing, the irrigation canals for the farmland need widening, and there's no money to buy seeds.
All kinds of things, whether related to him or not, came to him.
Muna was confused at first and didn't know how to deal with it.
Later, it was Ron's second uncle Aditya who reminded Muna that he was not responsible for many things at all.
As the Minister of Development of Backward Areas, he is responsible for formulating special development plans and allocating special grants for economically underdeveloped areas.
It sounds like they have a lot of power and are qualified to decide where the money goes.
But where does the money come from? Of course, it comes from the state government.
But Mayawati herself felt that she did not have enough money to spend, so how could she get any financial allocation for him?
Without funding, it is impossible to formulate special development plans.
So he, the Minister of Development of Backward Areas, became a mere figurehead, with no money and no one to rely on.
After more than a month in office, Muna has accomplished nothing.
Fortunately, thanks to Ron's connections, a hospital will soon be built in Mirzapur.
This can also be considered as Muna's political achievement, after all, he is the main constituency here.
Since there is nothing else to do, Muna has recently settled in Mirzapur and is fully committed to promoting the construction process of the hospital.
Ron happened to be going to New Delhi now, so he could take him with him to meet federal officials.
If funding could be secured from New Delhi, that would be great; Munna could then try to arrange development projects for Purvancha himself.
He was very excited and insisted on driving for Ron himself.
Two days later, Muna drove the Cadillac SUV and took a group of people to Delhi.
Finding the way was easy; he just had to follow the bus.
The roads were filled with buses and jeeps heading to Delhi from the filth, each bus crammed with passengers, some hanging from the doors and some even lying on the roofs.
They are all leaving the filthy land and heading for Delhi.
The scene is like people all over the world are migrating.
Munna grinned every time he passed a bus. He wanted to roll down his window and yell, "I'm driving to Delhi! In a luxurious, air-conditioned car!"
He thought those people must have understood what he meant from his eyes.
But whenever he got too carried away, Anil would pat him on the shoulder.
Although Munna became a minister, he still did not dare to show any anger in front of Anil.
He could easily sense what Anil was about to say, and he couldn't explain why, but it was a feeling, like the tacit understanding between a pack of dogs.
He stopped the car, Anil moved to the right, Munna to the left, and they switched seats.
"Muna, you should get a car and hire a driver." Ron said from the back seat.
"Sir, that Maruti Suzuki is very good." He nodded happily.
He doesn't care what car he drives, as long as it's a private car. He is still in the excitement of being a novice driver.
"Your status is different now. You can't lose face in India."
"Yes, sir," Muna agreed quietly.
He was in a difficult situation. With his income, he couldn't afford to buy a car.
If it weren't for the Maruti Suzuki that Ron gave him, he might have been the shabbyest minister in Lucknow.
"Do you like the Ambassador?"
"What, sir?"
"I will ask Mayawati to provide you with an Ambassador car, and you can find the driver yourself."
"Sir." Muna was so excited that he didn't know what to say.
"Munna, you must remember that you are now a minister in Uttar Pradesh. You have the power to make others obey you. You must make them respect you, fear you, and never look down on you again."
"Yes, sir."
"See Mayawati? She is just a pariah. When you can do that, you can help me more."
"I understand, sir." Muna secretly kept these words in mind.
Yes, he hasn't adjusted to the change of identity yet. He is already a politician, so he has to act like a politician.
It was already afternoon when they arrived in New Delhi. Muna had no time to admire the bustling metropolis. He painfully opened the hood of his Cadillac, trying to dissipate the heat.
Well, it really is a luxury car. The colorful wires are connected from one part of the engine to another, and a black box with yellow nuts is lying in the middle.
Various mysterious pipes kept spewing out steam, and there was oil everywhere. How mysterious and wonderful it all was!
Ron has a residence in New Delhi, a villa he bought in the Defence Area, although he doesn't live there much.
After all, this is the capital of India. Even if you don't like it, you should try to integrate into it and never isolate yourself outside the political center.
Not only him, the Suer family also bought an apartment here.
Now based in New Delhi is the second son of Aditya, Vijay, Ron's cousin.
When he learned that Ron was coming, he waited at the villa early.
"Ron, I heard the new Chief Minister is difficult to deal with?"
"Bidaf is even worse than him: greedy and tyrannical."
"I really don't understand why we have to deal with that untouchable. I heard she wants a share of our cement factory."
"No way, Vijay, this is a political issue. You have no choice in Uttar Pradesh."
"I feel that woman is unreliable. This is her first time as Chief Minister, so she's bound to want to get involved in every business."
"Don't worry, we have the power to restrain her. She won't dare to act recklessly."
"What I'm saying is, this is India, there's more room for maneuver. Especially in New Delhi, if you get to know the high-ranking officials here, you don't have to be afraid of that untouchable."
"Speaking of New Delhi, come, let me introduce you to someone, Muna!" Ron waved.
"Sir." He stepped forward.
"This is Muna, the leader of the Progressive Party we founded. I brought him here to broaden his horizons. Vijay, you need to help him get to know more officials in New Delhi."
"Oh, I heard about it. Progressive Party, right? Very good. Don't be afraid, we will be a family from now on, and you will be a member of the Sur family." Vijay became enthusiastic.
Of course he knew Muna's background. He was just Ron's servant before.
But now that he has been pushed to the forefront, Vijay naturally knows what to do.
With Mayawati, the untouchable chief minister, in front, what's the big deal about deliberately winning over a Shudra?
Ron rented an apartment for Munna in New Delhi so that he could stay here in the future.
As a state government official, I sometimes need to go to New Delhi to do business.
Like the Chief Minister, who spends several months here every year and even has his own official residence.
When Ron arrived in New Delhi, he did not rush to the Ministry of Energy to obtain an electricity license. Instead, he first met an old friend, Mo Daxian.
Alas, Daxian has had a tough time this year as he has once again been ostracized from Gujarat’s inner circle.
After the BJP won the election last year, he fully supported Patel to become the chief minister and spent a lot of time advising her.
As a result, his old rival Waghela became resentful after seeing this. He believed that Mody was instigating the core members of the BJP to deliberately stay away from him.
So Waghela went all out and took half of the BJP's legislators to a resort in central India in the second half of last year.
He threatened them unless the party removed Patel and appointed him as chief minister.
Otherwise, take all your team and leave the BJP and overthrow the current government.
The party leadership had to intervene and Vajpayee was sent to Gujarat to broker a peace deal.
Eventually, Patel was asked to step down in favor of the third candidate, Suresh Mehta, who was chosen after a compromise.
As punishment, Modly was expelled from Gujarat to New Delhi early. He was originally supposed to take office this year.
Not only that, his former ally Patel also developed a rift with him because of this incident.
In short, my dear, your career has not been going well recently and your life has not been happy.
But being in New Delhi is not without its advantages. It is the headquarters of the BJP and he comes into contact with a series of national leaders of the party every day.
Ron's visit today was a pleasant surprise.
When the old immortal met an old friend in a foreign land, he rarely smiled.
"Mr. Soul, we haven't seen each other for half a year."
"So, I heard you've been having some troubles lately?"
"That's the thing about politics, you don't always have a smooth road."
"If you ask me, you need to step forward and stop thinking of yourself as a secretary behind the scenes."
"In front of the stage?"
"Yes, under the spotlight. As a politician, how can you stay out of the public eye for too long?"
"But... I..." Mo Daxian suddenly hesitated.
"Why, haven't you ever thought about running for office? Are you planning to be a secretary and write for others for the rest of your life?"
"That requires support from within the party." The immortal whispered.
"Isn't the BJP's headquarters in New Delhi? You can reach all the top leaders."
"It's still too early now." Mo Daxian thought he was not qualified enough.
"Morning?" Ron chuckled. "I'll introduce you to someone someday. His name is Muna. He's only in his twenties, but he's already a minister in Uttar Pradesh."
"What?" The immortal's beard trembled with shock.
"Didn't Singh tell you? A new political party has emerged in Uttar Pradesh, the Progressive Party. He is the party leader and is participating in the coalition government in the state."
Ron told him the story of Muna, and the immortal was very excited. This was a path he had never imagined.
It’s better to become famous early, and the same applies to playing politics.
"By the way, what brings you to New Delhi this time?"
"You know, I'm going to invest in electricity and mobile communications. They're crucial to India's development, aren't they?"
“Yes, so.”
"For licenses and permits."
"I think I can help." The immortal nodded.
“Hey, do you know anyone in New Delhi?”
"The Power and Transport Ministries are both run by minority parties, who are allies of the BJP."
Tsk, that's good. Ron can get to know officials from the Ministry of Electricity and the Ministry of Transportation again.
(End of this chapter)
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