Lucknownama

BSP or SP? The argument continues
Which is the bigger party 8212; Bahujan Samaj Party or the Samajwadi Party? Who is the bigger leader 8212; Mayawati or Mulayam Singh Yadav? A debate among legislators in the Assembly recently caused some consternation in Samajwadi circles. A BSP leader said Mulayam Singh Yadav is the national president of a regional party, while Mayawati is the national president of a national party. He then asked his SP colleagues as to how many meetings Yadav had addressed in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Delhi. He also went on to add that while behenji was campaigning in these states, Yadav was passing time in Etawah, Lucknow or Delhi. The BSP leader rubbed in that his party was contesting all 590 seats at stake in Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, and it was a dry run for Mayawati8217;s planned march to Race Course Road next year. Further, unlike Yadav, she is actually being taken seriously as a possible future prime minister.

Officer needed to okay creation of new posts
Swami Prasad Maurya, state BSP president and cooperative minister, is in search of an officer who can take up the job of Registrar of Cooperative Societies RCS and work according to his wishes. The minister has tried four officers, but all have failed to live up to his expectations. At present, Principal Secretary Cooperatives Amal Kumar Verma is holding the additional charge. B L Meena, the last RCS, was removed after he refused to okay a proposal for the creation of 200 posts in the Pradesh Cooperative Cold Storage Federation PACSFED. Meena defied the minister because he thought this will do nothing but add to the wage bill of PACSFED, set up in the good old days of socialism for opening cold storages in rural areas for the benefit of potato farmers. Over a decade ago, the government had decided to get rid of the redundant stores and many were actually sold. The PACSFED has since become a construction agency for cooperative bodies and other government agencies. Since it has a captive clientele, it keeps getting work, which helps it to pay salaries. But no one can be sure how long with this will continue. Nevertheless, Maurya is keen on the creation of posts and this is the first task that the new RCS will have to handle.

Upper caste voters lend an ear to Dalit cause
Chief Minister Mayawati8217;s concept of 8220;social engineering8221; has resulted in an unintentional fallout. The booth level officers involved in correcting photo electoral rolls have found out that, for a change, sections of the upper caste voters in villages are helping in the work. 8220;In the past, they used all sorts of tricks to get the names of Dalit voters deleted from the electoral rolls. But now, BSP supporters from the upper castes take pains to ensure that all Dalit voters are included,8221; said an official in the election office. 8220;In the present situation, there is little chance for the feudal forces to include wrong entries in the photo electoral rolls,8221; he added.

Disaster management finds no takers
Last week, the Centre for Urban and Environmental Studies organised a two-day programme to train Nagar Panchayat chairmen in disaster management. Of the 40 chairmen who were invited, only five turned up. As the inaugural session proceeded, four of them left. Only Zahir Malik, chairman of Jalalabad Muzaffarnagar Nagar Panchayat, stayed. But he too left after lunch, compelling the authorities to cancel the event.

Home dept, the nest of controversy
The Home department seems to be becoming a place for controversial officers. First, Home Secretary Mahesh Gupta hit the headlines when the CBI filed a chargesheet naming him in an old case of irregularities in recruitment to the Information department. Next, a committee was constituted to examine the role of another home secretary, Javed Akhtar, in the police recruitment scam. He was, however, given a clean chit last year. Now, speculation is rife about another Home department officer who had done a stint in one of the districts where the food grain scam took place in 2004-2005. The CBI is investigating the matter and the role of this officer is said to be under scanner.