Rajnath takes over, claims he’ll survive term

The size of the ministry has, however, shrunk because four ministers in the Gupta government who belonged to hill states have left as has Kalraj Mishra, former PWD Minister, who has been made the state party chief.

Addressing his maiden press conference as CM, Rajnath remarked, “I will act on what I say. There will be no difference between my words and deeds.” He expressed his intention of expanding and reshuffling his ministry by the end of November. The BJP now has a majority of only two MLAs after the creation of Uttaranchal and sources say efforts are on to effect a further split in political parties to increase the number of supporting MLAs.

Rajnath added that the allocation of portfolios to the new council of ministers will be done within the next couple of days.

Since Rajnath is not a member of any House in the state, he made it clear that he would not seek membership of the Legislative Council to fulfill the constitutional obligation of being a member of any of the Houses within six months of becoming CM. “I will enter the Legislative Assembly and not seek entry in the Council,” he said. His predecessor, Gupta, had not faced the electorate and was elected to the Council.

Elaborating on the priorities of his government, the CM, who has allegedly been soft on criminal elements in his capacity as the state party chief, said, a result-oriented drive would be initiated to improve the law and order situation. “I will not solve the problems on basis of statistics but I want direct results and would base my valuation on the feelings of the masses,” he maintained. He asked the civil and police authorities to firmly deal with criminal elements. “Whoever feels that he cannot deliver the goods should be ready to pack his bags,” he said.

Singh denied there was any proposal to appoint a deputy chief minister in the state. He said though his government had a razor-thin majority in the 403-member state Assembly, there was no danger to his government and exuded confidence that it would complete its full term.

Regarding his future agenda, Singh said he would wage a “relentless war” against corruption and take firm steps to root it out from the state. He said Prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had assured him full assistance in implementing developmental schemes in the state.

Regarding bureaucratic reshuffles, the new Chief Minister said he was not in favour of effecting major administrative changes as he would like to ensure that the present set of officials acted with firmness, dedication and sincerity and achieved results.

Asked as to how he would deal with criminal elements “within” his ministry, Singh said, “Just wait and see.”