Lucknownama

“We say that this government has little respect for the constitutional norms. But we will take a decision only after consulting our elected representatives,” said Joshi. Then why talk of Maya hatao?  Sources said the party does not really want Mayawati’s dismissal; it wants her to stay on and destroy all chances of BSP’s reelection in 2012 by her misrule. But lately SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav has assumed an aggressive posture and even reiterated his old statement that he will run bulldozers on the memorials. For obvious reasons,the Congress does not want to look soft or weak. So it came out with “Maya hatao”. But in the process,the party has goofed up.

Following Rahul Baba

It takes nothing less than Rahul Gandhi’s prodding to set the Uttar Pradesh Congress into action. Everyone knew that there was a drought,and that conditions in Bundelkhand were particularly bad. But it was only after Rahul Gandhi asked senior UP leaders about the action they had taken and the future plans for the drought-affected areas that the party sprung into action. A committee was immediately formed and was asked to probe into the alleged sale of women in Bundelkhand. Though the leaders claim that they had already planned this committee,the fact is that it started functioning only after Rahul met the state Congress president,Rita Bahuguna Joshi,and AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh. Similarly,the party’s decision to form local committees to check NREGS implementation in the drought-affected areas followed Rahul Gandhi’s suggestion.

SP fight

What is the reason behind the recent outburst of SP general secretary Amar Singh against his boss Mulayam Singh Yadav? In an interview from Singapore,where he is convalescing after surgery,Amar Singh said that the party was ignoring him and Mulayam Singh visited him in Singapore only for the sake of formality. SP sources said the high-profile party general secretary is unhappy over Mulayam Singh Yadav’s ambivalent attitude towards the Congress-led UPA government. He is for immediate snapping ties with the Congress,while Mulayam Singh doesn’t want to act in haste. Before the SP national executive meeting in Agra last month,Amar Singh had issued a series of statements that the SP will withdraw support to the UPA government. But nothing of this sort happened.

Search for identity

Om Prakash also known as Baba Dube,whom the Samajwadi Party has nominated for the by-election from Rari Assembly constituency,is a former BSP man. He will contest against BSP parliamentarian from Jaunpur Dhananjay Singh’s father Raj Deo Singh. It was Dhananjay’s entry into the BSP that had led to Baba’s exit. Baba was among the champions of BSP’s social engineering before the 2007 Assembly elections.

After the formation of the BSP government,Baba had hoped that he would be rewarded with the party ticket to contest the Lok Sabha election from Jaunpur. But Dhananjay Singh,the lone JD(U) MLA from Rari,joined the BSP,got the ticket and was also elected to the Lok Sabha. Now Baba will seek support of his Brahmin community by posing as the victim of BSP’s social engineering.

Timeout

The state government’s reply to the Union Home Ministry’s recent communication, which expressed concern over the frequent transfer of IPS officers,has led to interesting speculation. The government said that it has fixed the tenure of the DGP for at least two years. Since DGP Vikram Singh has been around for more than two years,does it mean his time is up? Although Additional DG (Law and Order) Brij Lal has also completed two years,the letter does not talk of a fixed tenure for any other post,an officer pointed out.