E-Paper
U.P. assembly’s efforts to change negative image of its MLAs continue
Uttar Pradesh assembly’s budget session ended on May 31 this year
Uttar Pradesh assembly’s budget session ended on May 31 this year. It is meeting again for monsoon session which began on Monday (September 19). It used the intervening period to listen to the problems of members from different sections of the society and groom the younger ones as potential state or national level leaders.
A separate group has been formed for the young MLAs as there are 51 MLAs under 40 age group in the 403-member 18th state assembly. A separate group is there for women members and a day will be reserved for them to speak in the monsoon session. There are doctors, engineers, MBAs, chartered accountants, advocates, experts from agriculture sector and various other fields.
As each group has its own concerns and issues, assembly speaker Satish Mahana has organised five interactions with them and more special interactions are likely to continue for them after the monsoon session.
“Yes, as of now, I have formed five groups and have interacted with them. My meetings with these groups are about reminding the members how to do better. How they can play a better role in society. I have given separate targets to each of these groups. You (MLAs) are the future of political system. I have told them (young MLAs) how can they win five, six, seven or eight times? How can you go up from a common MLA to a state or a national-level leader?,” said Mahana when asked about the formation of groups and his interaction with them.
“We had four-and-a-half-hour-long interaction with the young MLAs. We had to end the meeting for dinner as they still wanted to continue. I have told them (senior MLAs) that they must have done some good work and so educate the young MLAs about the same. Gone are the days when you (senior MLAs) used to prove yourself by making a noise in the house. Now the proceedings of the state assembly are telecast live. You should conduct yourself in such a manner so that the young MLAs can learn from you,” said Mahana.
The speaker said perception about the U.P.’s MLAs within and outside the state was not good. “All the negative things are spoken about U.P. MLAs. This is not right. We have well educated doctors, engineers and MBAs. We have young MLAs who are less than 40 years of age. We have chartered accountants, we have advocates. We have MLAs with doctorate (PhD) degree. We have agriculture specialists. We have MLAs from every field. So, this perception needs to be changed,” he said.
“I have told young MLAs how will you win the poll eight times will depend on the language you use, the manner in which you behave with people, the relations you have with them, how do you meet the expectations of the people. I have told women MLAs not to care about what is said about them and instead focus on work. I have told the MBAs and M Tech engineers. When you have meetings with IAS officers, who are well qualified, prove yourself you are equally or more qualified. You are aware of ground realities too. Go to meetings well prepared. Prove yourself there. If any engineer gives incorrect facts, prove him wrong and tell what is right,” he said.
“You need a platform. You have the platform of the state assembly. Now you can either use this platform for creating chaos and nuisance or for debating important issues. If you opt to debate, the people will know how intelligent you are. We had state assembly’s budget session without any adjournment. This has never happened,” said Mahana.
