Kalyan wakes up to administration

Today Kalyan convened a meeting of the Inspectors General of Police and the Deputy Inspectors General of Police to ask them to improve the law and order situation which, of late, has been deteriorating in the wake of the political uncertainty in the state. The Chief Minister, who has got a reprieve from the party’s central leaders till the Lok Sabha elections, is also trying to improve his own image too by planning to bag more parliamentary seats than in the last elections and take credit for it. A better performance at the hustings, he feels, will go a long way in ensuring his continuance as Chief Minister even after the elections.

Simultaneously, he has begun a patch-up bid with his detractors by attending to their grievances. He has even offered a plum post to Rajendra Singh, brother of Devendra Singh Bhole, who had announced his resignation from the Kalyan Singh Ministry while levelling serious allegations against Kalyan. Bhole was one of the maindissident leaders.

At today’s meeting, he asked commissioners to ensure a fair and free Lok Sabha polls and instructed them to take action against those indulging in booth-capturing, treating them as dacoits. He said sensitive booths and criminals in the state should be identified at the earliest and precautionary measures taken.

He said there were 2.85 lakh transformers in the state, out of which only 651 are not working. Efforts were being made to repair these transformers to ensure uninterrupted power supply to farmers and industrialists. As the state was going to get more power from the central grid, there would now be no shortage, he assured. As elections would be held after the rainy season, he ordered officials to take all steps to prevent the floods and drought conditions — the mismanagement of which could go against the party.