Ironically, the Kalan Singh government had prepared a transfer policy which said that not more than 15 per cent of the total cadre under any service would be transferred in a year. That's on paper. So bureaucrats in UP are wondering everyday that who is next on the list. Since March 15, Kalyan Singh has moved 163 IAS officers, 218 IPS officers, 257 state civil service officers and 79 state police officers. The IAS cadre has a strength of nearly 550 and 35 per cent of them have been transferred in over three months.

The state may be facing a financial crunch and the budget shows a deficit of Rs 4,393 crore but the State Government is busy indulging in the ritual performed with fanfare by Kalyan Singh's predecessors,Mulayam Singh Yadav and Mayawati.

Mulayam Singh during his tenure in 1993 had shifted 821 officials and Mayawati during her two stints transferred nearly 1,900 officials. Kalyan too began with a bang. Within 12 days after taking over on September 21, 1997, Kalyan shifted 180 officers.

What restrained him for a short while was the restrictions imposed by the Election Commission on transfers during elections.