Lucknownama: CM on web,page

Uma Bharti may not have liked Babu Singh Kushwaha’s induction into the BJP,but Kushwaha campaigned for her in Charkhari. He arrived by helicopter and addressed a public meeting on February 14,although Uma Bharti was not there. However,she did not show the expenses of the programme in the details she submitted to the Returning Officer. Since the Election Commission’s expenditure observer had mentioned the public meeting in his report,the Returning Officer raised an objection. Uma Bharti then added the cost of the programme,which was around Rs 30,000. But the Returning Officer again raised an objection,this time pointing out that the cost of hiring the helicopter,which was around Rs 50,000,had not been added. He also said that this lapse could invite action under rules. Uma Bharti had to add this amount too.

Grooming up

Former BJP president Rajnath Singh often sends his two sons,Pankaj and Neeraj,for carrying out inaugurations and laying foundations of development works in his Lok Sabha constituency Ghaziabad. Last week,Neeraj laid the foundation of 1.3-km long road at Dastoi village for which money had been sanctioned from the Local Area Development Fund of the party’s Rajya Sabha member Kusum Rai. Neeraj is neither a public representative nor an office bearer in the party. Pankaj is,however,state general secretary of the BJP. A party leader in Ghaziabad explained,“As other politicians promote their sons, Rajnathji is also doing the same. But only when he does not have time that he sends his sons for such functions.’’

Loud Action

Congressmen are desperate to find out the purpose of their legislature party leader Pramod Tiwari’s visit to the Samajwadi Party office last week. Tiwari’s explanation was that he had gone to seek help for his wife,who was admitted in SGPGI for medical treatment,but few Congressmen are ready to believe this. They say that given Tiwari’s personal contacts and relations with top Congress leaders at the Centre,he does not need help from SP leaders. Some think Tiwari was simply trying to build pressure on the Congress high command not to go ahead with its decision to remove him,along with state Congress president Rita Bahuguna Joshi. Incidentally,Joshi herself was planning to meet Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav to get certain things done in her constituency Lucknow Cantt. After the speculation over Tiwari’s visit to the SP office,she has shelved her plan.

Media lessons

So long as it was in power,the BSP kept a distance from media. Now,its senior leaders are collecting the names and contact details of reporters representing various TV channels and newspapers. Why the change? Sources said that Mayawati was disappointed that her first public outing after the elections — a visit to Agra to attend an event to mark B R Ambedkar’s birth anniversary last week — did not attract much publicity. She asked party leaders to ensure better media coverage of her programmes in future. The BSP leaders are,therefore,preparing to familiarise themselves with reporters.

Food for thought

Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiyya is not only Minister of Jails,but also Food and Civil Supplies. But while he is very vocal about his ideas for improving jails,he is silent on what he proposes to do in the Food and Civil Supplies Department. Sources said he is wary of the Food and Civil Supplies Department because of the ongoing CBI investigation into the foodgrain scam,which took place during the previous SP regime. Therefore,he is keeping a safe distance from it.

Babu power

Some ministers have the habit of summoning officials to their residence to show off their clout. Often officials comply with such dictates. But when Transport Minister Raja Mahendra Aridaman Singh summoned Agra SSP Sunil Chand Bajpayee to his residence,the SSP reportedly excused himself,saying that he was busy at a qawwali programme at Fatehpur Sikri. The minister then fixed another date. This time,the SSP diplomatically suggested that they could better meet at the circuit house. The minister took it as an affront and complained to the Chief Minister and the Chief Secretary. Maybe,he did not know that the SSP is well-connected in top rungs of the ruling party. Nevertheless,the Protocol Department has asked for a report from the DM.

No surprises

Sports Minister Kameshwar Upadhyay is busy making surprise inspections and suspending officials for various reasons. However,the suspension of a sports officer rank official in Gorakhpur has not gone down well with many. The minister found that “old bricks were being used in the construction work” and the sports officer had “no control” over the quality. The fact is that Nisha Mishra is a hockey coach and she was in Varanasi to evaluate the performance of hockey trainees when the inspection was carried out at Gorakhpur Stadium. Interestingly,in some places,the officials got to know about the minister’s “surprise inspection’’ in advance. One such place was Lucknow’s KD Singh ‘Babu’ Stadium where officials got ample time to put everything in order before he arrived.

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