Lucknow Nama

Que Sera Sera

After returning from the United States,Azam Khan is all set to visit South Africa. While neither government officials nor Samajwadi Party leaders know the purpose of his visit,his media coordinator says that the visit is private. Khan is scheduled to take a chartered flight to South Africa on Monday night. After the US fiasco,party workers hope that Khan’s second foreign trip will remain free from controversy.

Dutiful in-charge

Before leaving for America,Chief Secretary Jawed Usmani gave charge to his batchmate Alok Ranjan,who is Agriculture Production Commissioner. Alok Rajan immediately directed his staff to cancel all review meetings which Usmani had lined up. He also told them to present before him only urgent matters. He also disappointed some IAS officials who tried to push certain files on whom Usmani had raised objections.

‘Working’ smart

Congress leaders are very punctual,specially the conveners and chairmen of about 20 departments and cells. When state president Nirmal Khatri is scheduled to be in the office,they arrive long before him and get busy in their rooms. Khatri,who sits in a room in a corner on the first floor,naturally passes by most of these rooms. Obviously,the chairmen and conveners think he is gullible enough. The act is played out a few times every months. On other days,too,the chairmen and conveners are punctual,but by being punctually absent.

Waiting to be heard

BJP state president Laxmikant Bajpai made a roster of duty for party leaders to sit in the BJP office in order to meet visiting workers and listen to them. There were seven groups of leaders,each assigned a day. District units were informed about the arrangement. It worked well,but only until Bajpai left for Bareilly on Tuesday evening. In his absence,no one sat in the party office. As a result,many of the visiting partymen had to prolong their stay in Lucknow,waiting for Bajpai to return to the state capital and listen to what they had to say.

Protocol bites

On Saturday,Anna Hazare was to make a night stay at Lucknow before leaving for Kannauj for a personal function. His supporters,therefore,made a request for booking two rooms at the VVIP guest house. But Estate Department officials turned down the application — there is no protocol to reserve rooms for Anna Hazare,who does not have any post,they said. For two days,Anna’s supporters made rounds of the Estate Department,but to no effect. Finally,they approached the CM’s secretariat. After intervention of senior officials,two rooms were reserved for Anna Hazare in the VVIP Guest House.

Religion rules

The BSP has changed its decision to field Priyanka Pandey,wife of religious guru Chinmayanand Bapu,from Mirzapur in the Lok Sabha election in favour of former minister Rakesh Dhar Tripathi. However,BSP chief Mayawati,who is on a drive to woo Brahmins,has compensated for the loss by choosing another candidate with strong religious credentials for Mathura. Udayan Sharma,who belongs to Vrindavan,is associated with seven temples in Mathura and Vrindavan.

Catch 22

On Sunday,the Samajwadi Party got a reminder of a forgotten election promise. Farmers under the banner of “Bhumi Bachao Sangharsh Samiti” organised a dharna in Lucknow. They also met Food and Civil Supplies Minister Rajendra Chaudhary and demanded that the government ensure that they got compensation for their acquired land at the rate which the SP had promised in its manifesto,which means six times the circle rate. Rajendra Chaudhary promised that he would convey their demand to the chief minister. But the fact is that the departments concerned have already said ‘no’ to compensation at six times the circle rate.