Gupta shifted bureaucrats for selfish gains, says Oppn

LUCKNOW, JULY 10: The state's Opposition parties today reiterated that Chief Minister Ram Prakash Gupta had transferred 78 IAS and IPS off...

LUCKNOW, JULY 10: The state’s Opposition parties today reiterated that Chief Minister Ram Prakash Gupta had transferred 78 IAS and IPS officers with an eye on the district panchayat elections.

The BJP government has posted “pliable” officers in districts where its position is weak with the intention of getting its men elected as district panchayat chairmen, these parties say.

Speaking to mediapersons at the Janata Darshan programme today, Gupta of course denied the charges. The transfers, he said, were essential and in the people’s interest.

Story continues below this ad

But Samajwadi Party (SP) state president Ram Sharan Das and Congress spokesman Akhilesh Pratap Singh insisted that the massive reshuffle could not be called routine, as the Chief Minister is making it out to be. These DMs and SPs would help the BJP win at least 30 district panchayats, they claimed.

The Opposition leaders also pointed out that only recently, Gupta had said that there would be minimum transfers in the state. What was the urgency for such a massive shake-up, they asked. Incidentally, while transfers are normally conducted in April and May, the Chief Minister had postponed these due to panchayat elections.

During press conferences in the city last week, both SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) vice-president Mayawati had feared that official machinery might be exploited and money and muscle power used by the BJP government to capture district panchayats, for which the elections would be held by the end of this month.

They had added that if the BJP government resorted to rigging or misused the official machinery, it would boomerang on it in the forthcoming Assembly elections. The BJP’s support base had already “eroded” and in the Assembly polls, it would be routed, they claimed.

Story continues below this ad

In the last elections, the BJP had won only 12 district panchayats. Gupta, it seems, is hoping to take that tally to 30, thus demonstrating to the party high command and also his detractors that he is in full control of the state.

The Chief Minister reportedly finalised the transfer list in consultation with state party chief Om Prakash Singh, PWD Minister Kalraj Mishra and Urban Development Minister Lalji Tandon. These three leaders, incidentally, had opposed the high command’s recent move to appoint Union Surface Transport Minister Rajnath Singh as chief minister in place of Gupta.

Modi writes foreword to Giorgia Meloni’s memoir, calls the book her ‘Mann Ki Baat’

India4 hr ago

PM Modi hails Italian PM Meloni's autobiography, praising her as a patriot and contemporary leader. He applauds her for championing cultural heritage and motherhood. The book, a bestseller, depicts Meloni's journey as a woman in politics and her historic rise to becoming Italy's first female PM.

View all shorts

Live Blog

PHOTOS