States: Uttar Pradesh; Sudden Bravado

In a departure from his conciliatory ways, Kalyan gets tough with errant colleagues.

Enough is enough. That's what Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Kalyan Singh seems to be saying all of a sudden. Till recently, the joke doing the rounds in the state was that one could get away with murder -- literally -- because Kalyan would not initiate action in order to stay afloat. Even the report of the Special Task Force (STF) which established evidence of the links between prominent politicians, including some of his cabinet ministers, and the slain underworld kingpin Shri Prakash Shukla had made no difference, ensconced as the indicted were in the belief that nothing would come out of it. Now, Kalyan seems to be in a desperate hurry to dispel such impressions.

KALYAN THEN...

...AND NOW

"I am running a coalition government of different hues."

"We inherited an empty coffer. Everything is in a shambles."

"Criminals will have to go behind bars or leave the state."

"Come what may, I will not tolerate crime corruption."

"I am not prepared to hear any excuses now."

"Criminals will either be jailed or liquidated."

In an overnight change of strategy, the chief minister has decided to be all fire and brimstone. Taking his ministerial colleagues unawares, he is trying to use the same STF report to his advantage. In other words, he is wielding it as a stick, telling the indicted ministers and legislators that they either fall in line or face the consequences.

What has perhaps helped embolden Kalyan is the October 9 decision of the three-judge bench of the Supreme Court to refer the issue of disqualification of 12 Jantantrik Bahujan Samaj Party (JBSP) ministers to a constitution bench. No sooner was the decision taken than Kalyan swung into action, sacking three junior ministers -- Shiv Ganesh Lodhi (food and civil supplies), Sunder Singh Baghel (dairy development) and Gorakh Nath Nishad (animal husbandry) -- on charges of "corruption and nepotism" besides reshuffling portfolios of seven others. It was not only meant as a warning to those indulging in dissident activities within the BJP but also to ambitious allies like Naresh Agarwal of the Loktantrik Congress against politically blackmailing him.

That was not all. The happy-go-lucky bureaucracy too was given a taste of his new style of functioning. Air-dashing to far-flung Badaun in the western part of the state last Tuesday, Kalyan stormed the government offices unannounced, seized files and examined entries and redressed public grievances. By the time he returned to Lucknow the same evening, the district magistrate stood transferred and seven others, including the chief engineer (power) and the chief medical superintendent, were suspended.

Such clampdowns, vowed Kalyan on his return, would be carried out in all other districts. Initially, it did create a flutter in the bureaucratic circles. IAS Officers' Association President A.P. Singh even admitted, "The Badaun action is bound to shake the bureaucracy out of its deep slumber and remind it of its accountability and responsibility." But soon the same nagging doubts about the chief minister's ability to act began to surface.

The verbal announcement by Chief Secretary Yogendra Narain that action will be taken against the indicted ministers "if a high-level inquiry proves that they have links with Shukla", it turned out, was not backed by a written order to the STF to conduct any such inquiry. It also took much persuasion by the young IAS lobby to get Kalyan to constitute the three-member panel to look into the charges made against the three officers -- Principal Secretary (Science and Technology) Akhand Pratap Singh, Secretary (Raj Bhasha) Neera Yadav and Principal Secretary (Religious Affairs) Bijendra Singh Yadav -- voted as the "most corrupt" by a section of the IAS officers last year.

Taken by surprise by these developments, Kalyan's ministerial colleagues have gone on the offensive. Among their grouses is the fact that Kalyan had not taken them into confidence before dropping the three ministers. Urban Development Minister Lalji Tandon made his displeasure felt when he remarked that the "cabinet has a collective responsibility". What he was saying was that Kalyan may have consulted the high command on the issue but he should have also taken his own colleagues into confidence.

The sacked ministers' response was predictable. Lodhi maintained that he had been dismissed because the chief minister was afraid of his growing popularity among the Lodhis. Baghel vowed that Kalyan would be made to pay a heavy price for his "sudden bravado".

The opposition leaders too have begun to exploit the issue. Referring to Kalyan's new 15-point programme, "the basis for the development of a corruption-free state", Ramesh Dixit, the Congress spokesman, said: "There is nothing new in it, it's a crude attempt to cheat the people again." As if to call Kalyan's bluff, Samajwadi Party leader Narendra Singh Bhati dared him to weed out the corrupt from his ministry or step down himself "instead of talking so loudly".

If the chief minister means what he is saying on his new course, he will take up the challenge. But as Lok Dal leader Samarpal Singh asks, "Can he?" The STF issue apart, there is a huge backlog of cases -- Ambedkar Udyan, Gorakhpur planetarium, float pump scandal, Greater Noida land scam, to mention a few -- waiting to be dealt with. Initiating action in these cases may mean the end of Kalyan's chief ministership but that, he should know, is the only way he can restore credibility to himself and to democracy in Uttar Pradesh.