The bureaucrats loyal to UP Chief Minister Mayawati are faced with a peculiar predicament owing to the imminent parliamentary elections. On the one hand, the polls present a vital opportunity to demonstrate their loyalty to her regime. On the other, they have to be wary of drawing the attention of the Election Commission with any show of bias as this would mean an adverse entry in the service record.
Both IAS and IPS officers are facing this dilemma. Worse, their earlier experiences are making them reconsider the present scenario. Bureaucrats loyal to the last Mulayam Singh Yadav regime today find themselves being shunted here and there. Truly, as an officer commented wryly, “It’s a do or die situation.”
Some have used their influence to get postings out of harm’s way. This has raised the hackles of other loyalists, who are lambasting them for being so career-conscious. “Now that it is time to pay back for those plum postings, why are they so afraid?” remarked an officer. “A one-sided affair does not last; just wait till the elections get over.” So the knives are being sharpened!
PM cuts AIIMS, Ramadoss to size
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s decision to have Dr Ramakant Panda, head of the Asian Heart Institute in Mumbai, do a beating heart re-do bypass at AIIMS has boosted the morale of the home-grown specialists. The PM could have chosen to go abroad or invite a specialist from a foreign hospital like his predecessor, Atal Behari Vajpayee.
At the same time, it exposed the hollow claims of ex-AIIMS director P Venugopal and his followers that the institute has the best heart-care facility in the country. Why is the AIIMS heart care centre lagging? Insiders blame it on Dr Venugopal’s ego and his politicization of the department.
In his inimitable style, the PM also sent a strong message to Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss by excluding him completely. The PM’s security chief conveyed to the AIIMS administration that the Health Minister would not be allowed to enter the cardiac centre during Manmohan’s stay there. The Prime Minister’s equation with his Health Minister is reminiscent of Morarji Desai’s reported snub to then Health Minister Raj Narain. The latter had gone to the airport with a bottle of perfume to receive PM Desai, who was returning from a foreign trip. Desai apparently remarked, “Abhi aap ittar lagate hain, mere pichhe chakku chalate hain.”
RAW chief’s health butt of sarcasm
The selection of the Research & Analysis Wing (RAW) chief has never been easy and this time was no different. KC Verma of the 1971 IPS batch of the Jharkhand cadre was picked over three top officials of the organization. This raised eyebrows, especially as he has never worked with RAW. Verma has always been with the Intelligence Bureau. Before this assignment, he was an Internal Security Adviser to the Home Minister.
South Block’s officers are all the more taken aback by Verma’s appointment as, six months ago, he had been offered the post of IB chief and had declined on the ground that he had just had bypass surgery and would not be able to withstand the stress of the work. How, ask the officers, has he become strong enough in six months to take up the strenuous job of RAW chief?
Just desserts for Neeta Chaudhary
And here is a tidbit about another UP bureaucrat, Neeta Chaudhary, also being in an unhappy situation. She has been shifted three times in two months. However, it is only after the Mayawati government came to power that the stars stopped favouring the imperious Chaudhary. Earlier, she led a charmed life. As Principal Secretary, Health, she was the real boss of the health department and even Minister of Health Anant Kumar Mishra was not treated properly by her.
Then, two months ago, her troubles began. At the medical university’s convocation in Lucknow, Vice-President of India Hamid Ansari criticized the state machinery for the miserable state of health in Uttar Pradesh. Chaudhary had to pay the price. She was the lone person transferred. Her subordinates in the health department distributed sweets while one can imagine the state of mind of her new subordinates in the industrial health department. Now, she is leaving the latter department for the planning and programme implementation department. And it is the turn of the staff there to go into a tizzy.
The author is retired as Professor from the University of Delhi in 2024. He is an alumnus of IIM Indore and holds a PhD from the Delhi School of Economics. An investor activist and former member of various SEBI committees. He taught Capital Markets and Investment Banking at leading business schools of India.
