BJP MLAs' ire against bureaucrats

By Our Special Correspondent

LUCKNOW, MAY 14. The second open display of anguish by nearly 60 backbencher BJP MLAs in the lobby of the State Assembly while the House was in session has shown up a lack of cohesion at the top in the party, growing bureaucratic apathy towards the people's representatives and the failure of the Chief Minister, Mr. Ram Prakash Gupta, to get rid of the irritants within his charmed circles as also the wont of the party legislators to extract petty concessions in the midst of the crucial Budget session.

Only three weeks ago, BJP legislators staged noisy demonstrations in the lobby, while the House was in session. The main target then was a shadowy figure - Sandip Bansal, who, for long had been a family friend reportedly seeking to do back seat driving, from the official residence of the Chief Minister. Although holding no official position, Bansal had reportedly been issuing directives to bureaucrats of different levels.

Among those who had raised the heckles indirectly targetting the Chief Minister were several senior party legislators. Mr. Gupta later met them and explained his position. On May 1, the party legislators were invited to a dinner at the Chief Minister's official residence and the matter appeared to have ended there.

However, yesterday's demonstration by another set of legislators led by a Minister of State, Mr. Shiv Shankar Singh Patel and the subsequent gherao at the Chief Minister's office was an outburst against unresponsive bureaucrats.

The main thrust was to secure transfer of the Superintendent of Police of Fatehpur, which the Chief Minister had to finally order. The Minister alleged that the police official had misbehaved with him on telephone. Others targeted a few other police officials including the state police chief as also the Principal Secretary (Home) whose exit they demanded. The BJP legislators also expressed ire against the bureaucrats in the Chief Minister's secretariat, who they alleged were not carrying out his directive. They held the Chief Minister responsible for the bureaucratic apathy, questioning his style of functioning and lack of assertiveness.

Mr. Gupta on his part individually listened to the complaints of all the aggrieved party legislators, while the House sat carrying out its business, with thin attendance in the treasury benches.

Two things were conspicuous in the entire drama on Friday. That the aggrieved legislators, taking a cue from the earlier demonstration were keen to be seen publicly at their boisterous best,particularly to draw the attention of the mediapersons sitting in the Press gallery much to the embarrassment of the Chief Minister.

They all knew that the Government was most vulnerable in the midst of the Budget session. Some genuinely felt that due to the unresponsive bureaucracy and police they would be routed in the next elections. Mr. Patel, on the other hand, drew flack from a section of BJP for demanding the head of the S.P. of Fatehpur, on a petty issue.

Another unseemly aspect was that only a handful of ministers, but none of them senior, sought to involve themselves in sorting out the impasse. The open display of indiscipline, within the house, has a few parallels and it also casts a reflection on the leadership. The scenario was similar to what was witnessed a few days earlier when the PWD Minister, Mr. Kalraj Misra, had tendered his resignation, in the wake of corruption charges levelled against him by an opposition MLA, and none of his senior cabinet colleagues came up to his defence. This time however, the anguished legislators would not listen to any other minister, since most of the grievances were related to the police and general administration, the departments handled by the Chief Minister.

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Section  : Regional
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