Ramzan rumble

At the fag-end of UP Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav’s tenure, the rats are beginning to desert his sinking ship. Some politicians still enjoy the fruits of power courtesy of the chief minister even though they are making their unhappiness with the Samajwadi Party government public. Yadav for his own reasons has not thrown out such disloyal elements but is biding his time.

The most obvious case is that of UP’s Haj and Minority Welfare Minister Haji Yakub Qureshi who attended Ram Vilas Paswan’s Iftar party recently and went on record damning Yadav’s government. Qureshi said it was well known that Yadav has done little for Muslims. RLD chief Ajit Singh’s lieutenant Anuradha Chaudhary continues as chairperson of the Irrigation Commission, including management of ground water — a post which is the equivalent of a minister in Yadav’s cabinet — even though it is clear that Ajit is just biding his time before he makes a switch. Even minister of Sports R K Chaudhary, who quit BSP to join Yadav, has made it plain that he is looking for greener pastures.