Miffed ministers take on bureaucrats

LUCKNOW, December 26: Kalyan Singh's ministers are a sore lot these days. They feel the bureaucrats in the State have short shrifted them a...

LUCKNOW, December 26: Kalyan Singh’s ministers are a sore lot these days. They feel the bureaucrats in the State have short shrifted them and have set about making amends.

Witness the case of the PAC commandant at Gonda, Jasveer Singh, who has demanded security cover against the alleged threats being faced by him from Cabinet Minister (Independent) Raghuraj Pratap Singh. Jasveer in a letter to the Home Ministry has claimed that the minister was trying to assault him through his henchmen.

Jasveer during his stint as the Pratapgarh SP conducted raids at the residence of Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhiya following Raghuraj’s indictment in a kidnapping case. The accused claimed in police records that the ransom amount in the kidnapping case was paid at the Pratapgarh residence of the minister. The minister has been at daggers drawn with the IPS official since then.

Another Cabinet Minister Rajaram Pandey (JD), is against the IG (Kanpur Zone) D N Samal. Pandey has alleged that the IG was not taking interest in the probe into the death of his son and nephew. Both died in a car accident near Kanpur on November 15. But, the minister suspected they had been kidnapped before the accident took place and demanded a probe.

He claimed he had called on IG Samal to know the progress of the case thrice at Kanpur Circuit House but he did not turn up. “I will report the attitude of the Kanpur police to Chief Minister Kalyan Singh,” said Pandey.

But, the IG denied having any bias in the case. “We are working out the case without any prejudice,” Samal told The Indian Express. Cabinet Minister Markenday Chand (BSP) has also had a tiff with Gorakhpur District Magistrate K L Meena. The DM reportedly refused to “oblige” some of the “minister’s men” in the newly-opened sugar mill in the district. Markenday took the issue to Kalyan seeking the immediate transfer of the DM. Kalyan too bowed to the pressure and announced at a press conference at Gorakhpur that the DM had been shifted. But, Meena has not relinquished charge so far.

In fact, the Election Commission’s directive that no one should be transferred till the Lok Sabha polls are over without its prior permission has come to the rescue of the DM. The EC has not sent its permission to the Uttar Pradesh Government for his transfer.

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There is also the case of a ’95-batch IAS officer, Amod Kumar Yadav, who has lodged an FIR with the Pratapgarh police for being allegedly beaten up by BJP legislator Moti Singh.

“You cannot expect better things in the present regime. There are as many as 33 ministers in the Kalyan Ministry who allegedly have criminal antecedents,” remarks Congress spokesperson Ramesh Dixi, “and the morale of the bureaucrats is at the lowest ebb owing to the attitude of these ministers and legislators.”