Exactly a month after he was elected as the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, Akhilesh Yadav called on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to seek more funds, blessings and endorsement.
In his first 24 days as CM, Yadav and his cabinet colleagues transferred nearly 1,000 police and IAS officials. There was some confusion over who was in command in Lucknow as some of these transfers were cancelled within 24 hours; some were re-transferred within a few hours; and many had gone home believing they had to set out to X district, only to be informed by the chief minister’s office next morning that they had actually been transferred to Y district.
Bureaucrats say the multiple poles of power in the government had led to a diminution of the CM’s authority. But Yadav’s Delhi trip was to clear the optics and dispel the impression that he was not in command.
When he met the prime minister, Yadav asked for a smooth transfer of funds for Central schemes such as the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), help in holding the forthcoming Kumbh festival, cleaning of the Ganga and coal supply to the state. He spent nearly an hour with the PM.
“We have not demanded any package for the state. It was a good meeting with the prime minister. A host of issues related to Uttar Pradesh, including the MNREGS, roads, coal shortage, the Kumbh Mela and the Ganga cleaning project, were discussed,” Yadav told reporters after the meeting.
The CM said roads, power, and drinking water were the priority areas for the Samajwadi Party government in UP. “The Centre should grant these funds, only then will the development work reach the people. If UP moves on the path of progress, then the country will move on that path too,” he said.
However, in UP, it was clear the navigation of the government was being done by several people at once. That Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh; minister for public works department and uncle Shivpal Singh Yadav and Yadav himself were on the same page for the first few days was clear as schemes started by Mayawati for the Dalits were cancelled.
The Kanshiram Urban settlement project and the scheme to provide bicycles to girls after they finished Class 11 were scrapped. The Mahamaya Yojana was held in abeyance (the CM clarified the project will not be scrapped, but the name will be changed).
Mayawati had announced for all government contracts above Rs 25 lakh there would be reservation for the Dalits. This stood cancelled, announced the PWD minister.
The announcements to scrap these projects were all made by different sets of people. All that the chief minister said was those against whom the cases that had been lodged under the SC/ST Act would be reviewed by the government. He invited representations from those affected by the law.
Jagdev Singh, officer on special duty in the CM’s office, has been brought back to ‘help’ the CM. He is considered a bureaucrat trusted and relied upon by Mulayam Singh.
The CM’s supporters say Mulayam Singh Yadav’s veto powers over transfers and postings are palpable.
Akhilesh Yadav’s signal announcement was to have a Janata Darbar, on the lines of Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, every week starting 18 April. This is the biggest departure from the past.
