Mishra gets berth in Maya Cabinet

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati today inducted the BSP's Brahmin face and Rajya Sabha member Satish Chandra Mishra in her Cabinet and honoured her Cabinet Secretary and Vice Chairman of UP Planning Commission Shashank Shekhar Singh by giving the status of a Cabinet minister.

Mishra, the all-India general secretary of the BSP since 2004, has been responsible during the past one year for diverting upper castes to the Bahujan Samaj fold. He was elected to the Rajya Sabha on a BSP seat in July 2004.

On the other hand, a pilot by profession, Singh is the first non-IAS officer to hold the post of Cabinet Secretary in the Mayawati Government. He has been given the status of a Cabinet minister for his additional charge of Vice Chairman, UP Planning Commission. An order to this effect was issued today from the Chief Secretary's office.

Meanwhile, in an all-party meet headed by CM Mayawati today senior BSP leader Sukhdev Rajbhar was unanimously elected Speaker of the Vidhan Sabha. Rajbhar was sworn in as Cabinet minister on May 13. Today he resigned from the Council of Ministers to hold the post of the Speaker.

The meeting was attended by former leader of Opposition Lalji Tandon, Congress' Pramod Tiwari, Rashtriya Lok Dal's Kokab Hameed besides Cabinet ministers Naseemuddin Siddiqui, Lalji Verma, Indrajeet Saroj and Swami Prasad Maurya. Since Lalji Verma, who was holding the charge of the BSP's state head, has been inducted in the Cabinet, BSP MLA from Chitrakoot Narendra Pratap Singh Patel has been appointed the state President.

'Projects in pipeline won't be scrapped'

LUCKNOW: It's early days yet, but so far Mayawati seems to be sticking to her May 13 promise that development and law and order and not political vendetta will top her agenda. Replying to queries on Wednesday, UP Cabinet Secretary and Vice-Chairman of the UP Planning Commission Shashank Shekhar Singh said, "Development projects started by the Uttar Pradesh Development Council would not be stopped." Scrapping of the UPDC by Mayawati moments after she took over as the Chief Minister had given rise to speculation about the fate of projects started by the previous Government.

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