Lucknownama: No room for Ms Bharti

In the past fortnight,Congress president Sonia Gandhi and general secretary Rahul Gandhi both visited UP,but they kept a distance from senior state leaders. In fact,they made it clear that the state leaders better spend more time in the field. Congress leaders were expecting that Sonia would,at least,spare some time to meet them and give guidelines about the party’s future line and strategy. Sources said some of the state leaders,who wanted to meet Sonia in Rae Bareli,were clearly told to meet her in Delhi after taking appointments. The upshot is that the party remains directionless and adrift.

Mystery Connection

Bhadohi is the subject of discussion among SP leaders these days,and not because of the antics of jailed MLA Vijay Mishra,who represents Gyanpur constituency in the district. Bhadohi now has a star connection,even if it is a fading star. The district has been chosen by the party’s Rajya Sabha MP Jaya Bachchan for spending her MPLAD funds. Already the first instalment has reached the district administration. In her previous tenure,Jaya had opted for Azamgarh district as it was the home district of the then SP national general secretary Amar Singh. This time,partymen aren’t sure why she has chosen Bhadohi.

Deadline matters

Forgetting his status and protocol,Minister for State for Panchayati Raj Kamal Akhter last week went to the office of Director General of Medical and Health Dr Vibha Lal in Swashtya Bhawan. Rakesh Singh,MLA from Aligarh,accompanied him. The minister asked Dr Lal for the transfer of an employee. Getting over the surprise of the minister’s visit,Dr Lal politely reminded him that the last date for making transfers was July 31 and it had passed. But the minister persisted. Dr Lal then told him that the deadline had been fixed by none other than the Chief Minister and the minister better get the deadline extended. A red-faced Akhter beat a quiet retreat.

Lucky amendment

Swami Prasad Maurya,who has been promoted as BSP national general secretary within days of his removal as state president,should thank the ruling SP. With an eye on the Kushwaha-Maurya votes,the ruling party has lately started giving greater importance to general secretary Ram Ashrey Kushwaha. At a meeting of party MLAs and MLCs last week,Kushwaha was seated on the dais with SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav,Speaker Mata Prasad Pandey and Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav. That was enough for Mayawati to realise that by removing Maurya as BSP state president,she had given the SP an opening. She promptly made amends by making Maurya the party’s national general secretary.

Stay put

Transport Minister Raja Aridaman Singh is helpless against an IPS officer. He tried to remove Agra SSP S C Bajpayee when the officer refused to meet him at his residence. Recently,a burglary reportedly took place at the minister’s residence. When Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav called up to find out the details,Aridaman Singh poured his heart out and reportedly complained against the SSP. But,for all his efforts,Bajpayee still remained in his post.

Transfer in Transformer

When Avnish Awasthi,Chairman-cum-Managing Director of the UP Power Corporation Ltd,was removed on July 30,everyone linked it with the collapse of the northern grid. But sources said the real reason was different. Awasthi had sent notices to certain companies for supplying sub-standard transformers and decided to invite tenders only from reputed companies in future. Since the reputed companies demanded higher rates,it came handy to the political godfathers of the affected companies to hit back,and Awasthi was removed. In order to save their neck,heads of different power corporations reportedly disowned their own reports on defective transformers. But the government is in a fix. How to give a clean chit to the firms which were served notice only a few weeks ago?

unlucky beginning

Avnish Awasthi’s successor A P Mishra took over on July 31 at 12.15 pm. He was still busy receiving bouquets and congratulatory calls when,at 1.02 pm,the northern grid,the eastern grid and the north-eastern grid collapsed,plunging half of India into chaos. Greetings turned into questions about reasons for the grids’ failure,the second in less than 24 hours. Anxious callers asked him when the power would be restored. Having just taken over,Mishra had no answers. A good-natured Mishra was candid enough to admit before the mediapersons that for him,it had been a case of “misfortune in the very first adventure”.