This Week Uttar Pradesh: Promised in opposition,forgotten in power

Impressed by statues

During his visit to Lucknow,Presidential candidate Pranab Mukherjee admired the statues and murals of Dalit icons installed at Mayawati’s home. Part of her residence is a memorial dedicated to BSP founder Kanshi Ram,built with government money. Over the last five years,Congressmen and their leaders,including Rahul Gandhi,had spared no opportunity to criticise Mayawati for wasting public money on memorials and statues. Now one of the party’s most senior leaders not only praised these structures but,according to what a delighted Mayawati announced to the media later,also bowed before them. Congress leaders tried to hide their embarrassment by saying the admiration Mukherjee expressed was his personal opinion.

No sign of Uma

Uma Bharti has not been seen in UP after the Assembly elections. That means she has neither visited the state BJP office nor attended the recent budget session that lasted more than a month,although she is now the MLA from Charkhari in Bundelkhand. Leaders of other parties asked several times where she was,but even senior BJP leaders like Laxmikant Bajpai,Kalraj Mishra and legislature party leader Hukum Singh had no clue about the reason for the absence of the leader who had been the BJP’s CM candidate. Some said they would communicate the desire of people to see her in the Assembly,others said she was not keeping well. Last heard,she was planning a campaign for a clean Ganga.

Announced,withdrawn

The government has had to roll two decisions back in less than a month,each within 24 hours. First,the order to close down malls and shops at 7pm and restaurants at 10pm in view of the power shortage drew protests across the state. Then last week,the decision to let MLAs and MLCs spend up to Rs 20 lakh from their LAD fund on buying a vehicle for personal use was widely condemned,with opposition parties even turning down this option for their members. CM Akhilesh Yadav was quick to accept these as mistakes,but it is not clear who had advised him in the first place. SP leaders are blaming unnamed bureaucrats,but bureaucrats have been saying the announcements took them,too,by surprise.