Ministers are involved in corruption and I know exactly who is doing what. If the ministers do not perform, they will face the consequences.
The bureaucracy is involved in a conspiracy to sabotage the government and officers are not listening to us, they will pay the price.
Ministers are not listening to party workers and I have been getting complaints about this. They are more involved in transfers and postings.
I am not satisfied with the government and Akhilesh should take note of this.
These are not statements made by any Opposition party in Uttar Pradesh. Such statements are made by Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav almost every second day when he addresses workers at the party’s state headquarters in Lucknow.
This week, for the 39th time in the past seven months, SP president Mulayam Singh Yadav lashed out against son Akhilesh Yadav’s government. “The bureaucracy is not being reined in and we will have to remove all district magistrates and police chiefs in the state to tone up the administration,” he said on Wednesday.
Senior UP minister Mohd Azam Khan went a step further and announced that the government must wield the stick to make officers toe the line. And all this after Mulayam Singh gave his son’s government 10 on 10 marks in June.
His father’s stance is causing intense embarrassment to the Chief Minister, who can neither accept nor reject Mulayam’s allegations. On the other hand, it is leaving the party cadres as well as the common man completely puzzled.
“We do not know if Netaji (Mulayam Singh Yadav, as he is known in party circles) has some reason to do this, but his repeated criticism of the Akhilesh government is sending out a very wrong message. He is our mentor and should advise and criticise in private and not in public,” said a senior minister.
Another young minister in the Akhilesh government said that the “Netaji” was trying the patience of the Chief Minister: “It was Netaji who saddled the Akhilesh government with ‘uncles’ and if they are not performing, the Chief Minister is not even allowed to check them. Even the officers in the CM’s Secretariat report to Netaji instead of the CM. How long can one expect Akhilesh to lead his father’s army and that too, without any powers?”
Meanwhile, a Mulayam aide said that the latter was deliberating criticising the Akhilesh government to checkmate the resentment among party workers and divert the attention of the people from the lapses being committed by the government.
“It is better that Netaji vents his ire rather than the party cadres showing their resentment. That is why he meets thousands of party workers every day and listens to their woes at the party office. People’s expectations have sky-rocketed and it is not possible to satisfy everyone so soon. Netaji is playing a psychological game with the party workers,” he confided.