Caught off guard

Silence speaks louder?

In his latest letter to Chief Minister Mayawati,Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh gave a specific example where action had not been taken in a case of irregularities in the implementation of MGNREGA. He even named the officer involved: Raj Bahadur,who had been CDO of Gonda. Interestingly,in her rebuttal,Mayawati accused Ramesh of targeting UP,but did not say anything about Raj Bahadur. Even Cabinet Secretary Shashank Shekhar Singh,who briefed the media about Mayawati’s letter,was silent on Raj Bahadur. If Ramesh’s charge about Raj Bahadur is wrong,why doesn’t the government deny it?

Cereal signal

On June 30,BJP leader Uma Bharti publicly announced she would not eat cereals and survive on fruits until the Centre constituted a ‘Ganga board’ to review all projects for checking pollution in the river. She had expressed dissatisfaction over the functioning of the National Ganga River Basin Authority,constituted under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The BJP had than spoken highly of Uma Bharti’s ‘dedication’ to the cause of the Ganga. Now Uma Bharti has started taking cereals in her meals,though the Centre has not yet constituted a ‘Ganga board’. An associate said Uma Bharti broke her pledge after getting ‘a positive signal’ from the PM. But why hasn’t she made an announcement this time?

Yatra versus fast

Intervention of Sanjay Joshi has failed to narrow the gulf between the party’s state leadership and Gorakhpur MP Yogi Adityanath. They stayed away from the party’s two Jan Swabhiman Yatras,not even when the yatra,led by former BJP president Rajnath Singh,camped in Gorakhpur and held public meetings in adjoining districts. The Yogi was also conspicuous by his absence from the Vijay Sankalp Samagam Sammelan held in Ayodhya to mark the conclusion of the yatras on November 17,where BJP national president Nitin Gadkari was the chief guest and almost all senior leaders from the state were present. Asked about his absence,a partyman said the Yogi had organised a dharna-cum-fast at Gorakhpur district headquarters against the government’s failure to take measures to check encephalitis that very day.

Eye on Kushwaha

Now that former family welfare minister Babu Singh Kushwaha has fallen from grace,visitors to his Kalidas Marg residence are kept under watch. Kushwaha is Mayawati’s next-door neighbour. After his exit from the cabinet in April,a barricade was installed,checking access to the Chief Minister’s residence from the side of Kushwaha’s residence. Next,a CCTV camera was installed on the barricade. Maybe the idea was to keep a watch on anyone approaching the CM’s residence,but the camera automatically covers those visiting Kushwaha. Obviously,Kushwaha could not be comfortable with the constant watch on his visitors.

Party pooper

It has been more than two years since Beni Prasad Verma left the Samajwadi Party. But he still gets confused sometimes. At a press conference on Saturday,a reporter asked Verma about his party’s stand on the BSP government’s proposal for the division of the state. Much to everyone’s surprise,Verma replied,“You mean Samajwadi Party?” He had to be reminded that he was now in the Congress.