If any official does not pay heed to their grievances, “you can contact my secretaries,” she reportedly told her MLAs. “You can also give it to me in writing your complaints against officers.” Mayawati’s advice comes against the backdrop of party legislator Shekhar Tiwari’s alleged involvement in the Gupta murder case.

She also underlined the legislators’ role in the implementation of government schemes. “She also made it clear that she does not want to take any MLA to task in the year’s first meeting,” recalled one of the legislators.

Others who attended the meeting said the chief minister was armed with a report the party’s general secretary S C Mishra has filed, but she preferred not to discuss it either. Mayawati also asked the legislators to remain alert about the Opposition’s move to target her and the party with an eye on the coming Lok Sabha elections. Protests have been organised on her birthday on January 15.

Asking the legislators to organise public meetings on her birthday, she briefed them on how to counter the Opposition propaganda regarding alleged extortion in the name of Chief Minister’s birthday.

The party will celebrate her birthday as “Virodhi Parties Dhikkar Diwas” across the state, and highlight the nexus between industrialists and different political parties. A booklet spelling out the issues to be highlighted was distributed.

The booklet contains excerpts from the petition that one Vishwanath Chaturvedi had filed in the Supreme Court for an inquiry into the assets of Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh and his relatives, the party line on the Auraiya incident, the memorials being constructed in Lucknow and the association of other parties and their leaders with criminal elements.