Lucknownama

Unwelcome guests

Naseemuddin Siddiqui may be the most powerful minister in UP,but he has to live with some unwelcome neighbours. A CBI team probing the death of former deputy CMO Y S Sachan is camping at a guest house on Vikramaditya Marg near Siddiqui’s bungalow. When the minister got to know about it,he reportedly took Estate Department officials to task. But little could be done as the CBI team had moved in. The minister’s discomfort is understandable because his portfolio now includes the Family Welfare Department,in which Sachan had served. Besides,the guest house was being allegedly used as an outhouse by the minister where his visitors and associates stayed. Now,no one wants to stay there.

‘Outsiders’ vs loyalists

After declaring the first list of 73 candidates,the Congress is struggling with the second list. The task of selecting about 100 “winnable’’ candidates and,at the same time,keeping the loyal cadres happy is turning out to be tough. Many of the “winnable” candidates the party has identified are “outsiders’’ who joined the Congress in recent years and months. The old loyalists have made their opposition clear. Among such loyalists are MPs and union ministers who want tickets for their relatives. The party is debating whether it should give up the idea of an early announcement of the second list and defer it to the eleventh hour.

For a ticket

In the 2009 Lok Sabha elections,BJP leader Lalji Tandon had sought votes by circulating an appeal from former prime minister and long-time Lucknow MP Atal Bihari Vajpayee. It worked and Tandon won. Last week,at the launch of BJP’s ‘Samagra Atal’ project,Tandon again remembered Vajpayee while showering praise on Arun Jaitley,who had come from Delhi. Tandon remarked,“I see the image of Atalji in Jaitleyji’’. But partymen see in Tandon’s sycophancy his anxiety to get the party ticket for his son Ashutosh Tandon from Lucknow North assembly constituency. Jaitely is one of the top BJP leaders who will definitely have a say in the selection of candidates. The patriarch,on the other hand,has dissociated himself from party activities because of old age and poor health.

Power centre

In the three weeks after his appointment as security adviser,former DGP Karamvir Singh seems to be emerging as a parallel power centre within the UP police. Since he has an office in the secretariat annexe — it is the same office earlier used by BSP national general secretary S C Mishra — MLAs and other politicians keep dropping in. Besides,he is handling police modernization plans which is normally the responsibility of the DGP. IPS officers wonder if this is a temporary arrangement which will end on the retirement of R K Tiwari,who now holds additional charge of DGP,or will continue even after Brij Lal takes over as the regular DGP on October 1.

Boiling pot

In an unusual development,IAS officers have started voicing their unhappiness at how the government is treating them. At a review meeting last week,a district magistrate from eastern UP spoke about how charges were being allegedly framed against “good officers’’. Many others came up with their big and small grievances. Among the specific examples mentioned was an upright,efficient officer who has been named in a mid-day meal scam. Commissioners and district magistrates from across the state were present at the meeting,which was chaired by Cabinet Secretary Shashank Shekhar Singh. The IAS Association may have become defunct under the present regime,but you can’t keep grievances under a lid for ever.

Poll calls

For the first time,the Election Commission has collected mobile numbers of voters ahead of the Assembly elections. It wants to use the numbers to send election-related alerts and voter-slips through SMS. The latest electoral rolls,which the commission is going to release on September 29,will have the voters’ contact numbers,along with other details. The BJP has been quick to see an opportunity. “We will use the rolls to identify the new voters in the 18-24 years age group,call them on their phone numbers to appeal for participating in our Nav Matdata Sammelans and support the BJP,” said a party leader. One can trust other parties and candidates to come with their own ideas. Come election time and the voters are going to be flooded with unwanted SMSes and calls.