Lucknownama

“Mayawati finds both elements in Mishraji — trust and competence,” remarked an ebullient Mishra supporter. His camp believes he will be back in political limelight in September. They say Mishra was targeted by rivals within the BSP for the party’s poor performance in the Lok Sabha elections. So,he went to the CM and requested that he be relieved of political work to take care of legal matters. By the end of September,the by-elections to the 13 Assembly seats and one Lok Sabha seat will be over. If the party does badly,no one can then blame Mishra. On the contrary,by proving his skills in the state’s legal battles,Mishra would have paved the way for his political rehabilitation,so runs the argument of Mishra loyalists.  

Yadav in dilemma

More than one month after his appointment as the president of Samajwadi Party’s state unit,Akhilesh Yadav is still to constitute his executive committee. Members of the SP youth brigade who were hoping to get into the party executive are now getting weary of waiting. In the words of a leader,“Akhilesh is caught in a Catch 22 situation. Neither can he ignore his father’s loyalists nor the young leaders he likes. There is also a group loyal to his uncle Shivpal Singh Yadav.” All of them have to be accommodated in a committee whose strength has never exceeded 45.

Pre-emptive action

As the AICC is giving finishing touches to its disciplinary report for UP,there is an uneasiness in sections of the party. Some leaders who hold important positions faced charges of indulging in anti-party activity,and siphoning off election money for personal use. Naturally,they are worried. Since utmost secrecy is being maintained in the preparation of the report,anxious partymen hang around disciplinary committee office,hoping to get some clue,so that they could take a preemptive action. Remarked a UPCC official,“When the party was nowhere in the picture in UP,people never bothered about disciplinary action. But now people keep calling the office to know about the report.” The leaders in the danger zone are hoping that with Assembly by-elections round the corner,the party may not take any harsh action against them.

Never give up

The Supreme Court may have refused to stay the installation of Mayawati’s statues,but petitioners Ravi Kant and Sukumaran aren’t giving up. On Sunday,they launched an on-line campaign to seek public support. They are forwarding the link http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/mayawaticase/ to their well-wishers. It explains their case and appeals to the people to register their comment against misuse of public money by the Mayawati government. Ravi Kant said this on-line petition will be open for public opinion for one month and then the responses will be submitted to the President of India and the Chief Justice of India.

No time for ministers

The chief medical officers and additional directors of health were taken by surprise on Sunday when soon after completing a review meeting,jointly taken by Health Minister Anant Mishra and Medical Education Minister Lalji Verma,they were asked to move to Mines Minister Babu Singh Kushwaha’s house. Now,Kushwaha is also Family Welfare Minister and he decided to review the work of this department,doesn’t matter if it wasn’t scheduled. Like the previous meeting,here also the officers were asked to ensure transparency in the Janani Suraksha Yojana,ensure timely payment to ASHA workers and function in a manner that improved the image of the government. Officers wondered why Kushwaha called a separate meeting to repeat this. One explanation was that he did not want to sit with the two ministers.