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MLAs, ministers blackmail 'weak' UP CM

Uttar Pradesh's 93 ministers and 425 members of legislators, particularly those belonging to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies, are virtually ruling the roost in the state, with a rather weak Chief Minister Ram Prakash Gupta readily giving in to their unending demands.

"If the former chief minister (Kalyan Singh) was inaccessible and most unwilling to accede to the demands of MLAs, the present one felt so insecure with his government's precariously hanging majority that he was willing to get blackmailed by all and sundry," said a bureaucrat.

No wonder 40 per cent of the state's Indian Administrative Service and Indian Police Service officers besides at least 30 per cent of the state civil service officers have been reshuffled by Ram Prakash Gupta ever since he assumed UP chief ministership about a month and a half ago.

The present chief minister has acquired the reputation of being the ''most liberal" of all his predecessors. It was, therefore, not surprising that if 25 IAS officers were transferred in a day, at least 10 would get their transfer orders cancelled or altered within the next 24 hours.

If in the past requests for transfers were made in a formal format, today all that a member of legislative assembly is required to do is to pass on a slip of paper stating the name of the official, his present post and desired place of posting and the chief minister would promptly oblige.

"Of the total requests received from legislators, at least 90 per cent are related to transfers and postings," said a bureaucrat in the chief minister's personal secretariat. "The chief minister prefers to conveniently ignore serious objections by top officials including the chief secretary against posting an official in a particular place because of his shady antecedents."

In a recent case, the transfer of an upright police officer as deputy inspector general of police in a particular district was reversed after a Loktantrik Congress Party minister Vivek Singh threatened to resign.

No sooner than the minister submitted his resignation letter to his party chief Naresh Agarwal, the chief minister gave marching orders to the DIG within 48 hours of his assuming a new charge.

Encouraged with their success in making the chief minister dance to their tunes --obviously for the fear of being ditched by his supporters like his predecessor - MLAs have now got down to demanding a bigger pound of flesh.

With Gupta willing to stretch himself to any length to appease his partymen and allies alike, it is quite likely that they would be able to compel the chief minister to bow down before their fresh list of demands.

Interestingly, the fresh list includes a hike in their constituency allowance from the existing Rs 5 million to Rs 10 million -- unmindful of the deteriorating financial health of the state, where the government has been finding it difficult to even disburse its monthly salary bill.

The scheme, introduced not very long ago by then chief minister Kalyan Singh, was aimed at giving every legislator the same discretion as was available to members of Parliament for development works in a constituency. Records show that the amount had remained under-utilised in several constituencies.

The MLAs also seek discretionary powers for sanctioning at least 200 hand-pumps in each constituency. Currently, this discretion is available for only 25 hand-pumps. Under the new panchayati raj scheme, these powers have been vested in the village development committee, headed by the village 'pradhan'.

The legislators have also demanded compliance of their directions by the administration within 24 hours. "No questions should be asked when a MLA demands a certain thing to be done," roared a legislator, while bragging about his exploits in getting all key police officials of his area shifted in one stroke.

They have also blatantly sought the appointment of only their own "hand-picked" officials in their respective constituencies. "We should have the right to have our own man in our area otherwise how do we ensure public good?" reasoned out a BJP legislator, who is facing several criminal charges.

Evidently, MLAs had taken the cue from members of the jumbo-sized council of ministers who have been only hankering after "lucrative" portfolios. And sure enough, if ministers were allowed to have a field day, MLAs did not want to be left far behind.

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