“Same.” Adil raised his hand.
“Same.” Qureshi added.
“Then why did I even schedule these 15 minutes?” Amaal rolled her eyes, a gesture she could get away with off the record in a room that was Atharva, Adil and Qureshi and not the CM, the Commerce Minister and the IT Minister.
Atharva glanced at Samar. “I read your report.”
“It’s still preliminary.” Samar spoke for the first time since the meeting started.
“Are you writing these from first-person experience or passing on from others’?”
“You think I am bluffing?”
Atharva paused. What were they talking about?
“I think it’s not practically possible to have this high number of intakes in the first round of membership drive for a new party.”
“We are an established party with a government in this state.”
“But new for Himachal.”
“I will not put your words in my mouth and say the numbers are false.”
“I did not say they were.” Atharva opened his iPad and pulled on his glasses, reading something. “I think they look inflated because so many territories together cannot grow together.”
“Maybe they are and you don’t want to accept it.”
“Atharva, Samar,” Qureshi intervened. “Let’s take a step back here. The problem is inflated numbers or membership in Himachal?”
“The problem is funds,” Atharva scrolled on his screen. “Himachal does not generate any right now, so we are pumping in from J&K KDP.”
“What did you expect?” Samar scoffed. “It takes time to penetrate a new state.”
“Then start by wooing potential donors.”
“We started KDP by self-funding,” Samar countered.
“Because Kashmir politics had kept its doors tightly locked for us and our ideology. Not the case for Himachal. There is no secessionism, no separatism, no anti-India sentiment.”
Samar seethed, but kept quiet.
“I suggest you go to these areas and do a random sampling. If 5 places work, then I am ready to accept these numbers.” Atharva set his iPad down.
Samar shot to his feet — “I am the President of this party, not your bureaucrat. Since this meeting is off the record, you can openly tell me this is punishment for making you unhappy.”
“This is not a punishment.” Atharva cut coldly.
“Tell yourself that if it makes you sleep easy.” Samar stepped back and pushed his chair in, his eyes roving the room and landing on her.
“Schedule however you want the ministers in KDP engagements, Amaal. If there are any gaps, we will manage from our side. The party’s karyakarta will know how important they are for the CM who won on their shoulders.”
With that, he walked out of the room.
————————————————————
Samar parked his car on the slope and turned the wheel. He pulled the handbrake and got out. He hiked the way up to his destination. The gate to Atharva’s house was a distant beam, security cooped up inside at this late hour. He glanced at the gate closer to him. Aamir Haider’s gate.
The security here was not as tight as the other house, of course.
