Ushering in single-party rule in Uttar Pradesh after 14 years, BSP chief Mayawati today took charge of Lucknow for the fourth time at the head of a 48-member ministry, rewarding several upper caste members and Muslims with ministerial berths for helping her rainbow coalition ride to power.

She was sworn in as Chief Minister by Governor T V Rajeswar while her proud parents, Prabhu Dayal and Ram Lata, seated beside the Governor’s wife, looked on. Also there were her two brothers and their wives, apart from the family of her closest confidant, the BSP’s Brahmin mascot and her lawyer, Satish Mishra.

And in her first announcement after taking charge, 51-year-old Mayawati warned her opponents that her government would not tolerate communal violence and would withdraw security of “criminal elements”. She also came out in support of reservations for the economically backward sections.

Although Mulayam Singh Yadav showed up for her oath-taking ceremony at Raj Bhavan — he sat with former Speaker and his party colleague Mata Prasad — Mayawati talked tough, saying that all decisions taken by the SP government after elections were announced in February stood “cancelled” and would be probed.

“All investigations into these decisions will be done without political vendetta,” she said, yet making it clear that no leniency would be shown against the guilty.The Industrial Development Council set up by the previous government, she said, will be scrapped and a new policy evolved.

Soon after assuming office, she overhauled her entire secretariat, transferred 173 IPS officers, including 12 IGs, 27 DIGs and almost all district police chiefs. Several other officers stood suspended, and the counting was still on till late evening.

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