Lucknownama

Another confrontation between the BSP and Congress seems to be in the making.

Another Cong-BSP spat?
Another confrontation between the BSP and Congress seems to be in the making. The Centre had recently announced that it will set up postgraduate medical institutes in several states,including Uttar Pradesh. So far,there has been no consultation with the state government. Congress sources say that,in all likelihood,the institute will be located in Rae Bareli,the constituency of Congress president Sonia Gandhi. All know how the Mayawati government had tried to stall the proposed rail coach factory in Rae Bareli last year. The Congress alleges that the state government has been creating hurdles in the way of several other projects which the Centre wants to set up in Amethi and Rae Bareli. But the state government never fails to point out that the Centre cant see beyond Amethi and Rae Bareli. As for the proposed medical institute,govermment sources said that there was no justification of locating it at Rae Bareli when Lucknow,just 60 km away,has another premier medical institute,SGPGI. The state government would prefer the proposed institute be set up in some backward area.

No entry
The BSP national convention,where Chief Minister Mayawati was elected party president for the third time,was held behind closed doors. The media wasnt even allowed access to the inauguration. Nor was any briefing held after the event just a statement was issued. Officials of the Information department invited representatives of the electronic media to hand over video clips of the event. To their consternation,the TV reporters found there was no audio. We were asked to completely erase the audio, said an official. Nothing surprising,as this comes from a party which is secretive even about its second-most important office-bearer.
It was about a year ago that Mayawati had announced the appointment of one Alok Kumar Verma as BSP vice-president. Since then,no one has seen or heard of this gentleman. Or,does he exist at all?

State BJP in crisis too
The spectre of the crisis in the BJP looms large over its state unit. Several leaders are training their guns at state party president Ramapati Ram Tripathi,who is a nominee of national chief Rajnath Singh now under attack from several quarters. The state unit is in the middle of a membership campaign,but there is little enthusiasm. Who would like to join a party that appears gripped by a death wish? A party leader said that ticket seekers for the 12 Assembly byelections have suddenly disappeared. No one now comes to the party office asking for a ticket, he said. Everyone is waiting and watching for the denouement of the drama being played out in Delhi.

Chief secy mends fences
IAS officers have been suspended,and an inquiry is on into the case of allotment of plots to hoteliers in Noida. The grapevine has it that Chief Secretary Atul Gupta is out of the woods. The talk in the babudom is that Gupta,whom Mayawati had asked to explain the delay in taking action in the matter,has mended his fences with the people who matter. His body language has changed. He has managed to patch up a deal with those who were targetting him, said an IAS officer. The story is that after the CM asked him for an explanation,Gupta found himself alone. Quickly,he made some deft moves. Those who were eyeing the Chief Secretarys chair will now have to wait.

Coaches polish shoes
On Sports Day on Saturday the cup of woes of the ad-hoc coaches brimmed over. With ad-hoc coaching camps in different sports reduced from 232 to 145 this year,a number of coaches have been rendered jobless. The Regional Sports Office in Lucknow celebrated hockey wizard Major Dhyan Chands birthday by organising an under-14 boys district-level hockey tournament. There,some of these coaches chose to sit outside the Sports Directorate,polishing shoes of the passersby. Some of the sports officials are themselves athletes,the only difference is that they have regular government jobs while we have to live with the uncertainty of annual contracts, said Anil Dubey,vice-president of NIS Khel Prashikshak Sangh. Similar protests were organised at regional sports offices across the state,but there was no response from the bosses. Looks odd when there is so much talk of promotion of sports and the hype over the Commonwealth Games next year.

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