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Behenji on sacking spree
Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati sacked around 150 chairmen, vice-chairmen and directors of various state commissions, boards and councils on Tuesday, reports HT Correspondent.
Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati sacked around 150 chairmen, vice-chairmen and directors of various state commissions, boards and councils on Tuesday.
In a precursor to her big-ticket post-poll sacking exercise, involving even some ministers, the commission chiefs were made to put in their papers to senior ministers Babu Singh Kushwaha and Lalji Verma at the party headquarters.
Chairman of the State Education Research Council Bal Krishna Chauhan confirmed to HT that Kushwaha had summoned all the chairmen and other office-bearers of corporations and councils, asking them to quit, taking responsibility for the party’s debacle in the elections.
He said, “All of them have submitted their resignations, owning moral responsibility for the electoral results.” But before putting in their papers, they blamed bureaucrats for their poor performance that in turn affected the party’s electoral prospects.
Some, however, gave it back. For instance, BSP sources, who refused to be identified, said the chairman of the Uttar Pradesh Minority Commission, Ghayasuddin Kidwai, alleged that although the BSP had the mandate to fight against criminals, it ended up making them election candidates, instead.
Over the past two years, Mayawati roped in prominent people from different walks of life as commission chiefs to widen the base of her party. They were given the status of ministers, with a monthly salary of Rs 25,000, red-beaconed official cars and other facilities enjoyed by ministers.
Exceptions, however, were made in the cases of the chairperson the UP State Commission for Women, Abha Agnihotri, sister of BSP general secretary S.C. Mishra, chairman of UP Pollution Control Board Anil Kumar Mishra and state Council of Science & Technology chief Mohammad Jamil Akhtar, who doubles up as Mayawati’s media advisor.
