Personal staff slams UP Minister’s arrogance
Many Ministers are known to throw their weight around with their staff, but it is not often that they face the united ire of the suffering personnel. Heavyweight Uttar Pradesh Minister, the ‘brash’ Mohammad Azam Khan, has to contend with the anger of his office people who have refused to work under him. The Minister is not known to be the most considerate man at the best of times, but he appears to have tipped his arrogance beyond the limits of tolerance. As many as eight private staff members, including two private secretaries, remained absent for days together in protest against the allegedly uncouth conduct of their Minister. There may not have been one particular incident that triggered the revolt; it is the outcome of accumulated anger over a period of time. The victimised personnel must have indicated their displeasure to the Minister in some ways over their shoddy treatment and must have received further abuse. Mr Khan's arrogance stems from the strength which he derives from the support of the senior leadership of his party, including Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav. The fact that he has got away with everything short of murder under the chief ministership of a much younger Akhilesh Yadav, has only emboldened him. It is not clear whether the Chief Minister has been able to cast a sobering influence on the senior leader. What is crystal evident is that Mr Khan does not care much for the Chief Minister. He has escaped the axe despite his name being linked, with at least some prima facie material, to the Muzaffarnagar violence. And he continues blatantly with his insulting behaviour. Mr Khan has always been like this. The shocking language he had used and the slanderous campaign he had launched against Member of Parliament and former actor Jayaprada is still fresh in memory. But the all-powerful Minister not just got away with something that the party ought to have stiffly pulled him up for, but he also managed to undercut his then rival and equally powerful member of the Samajwadi Party, Mr Amar Singh. Only a few months ago, Mr Khan threw a tantrum at an airport in the US when the authorities there insisted on thoroughly frisking him. His anger had boiled over to the extent that Mr Akhilesh Yadav, who had accompanied him, had to cancel in protest his scheduled presentation before a select gathering on the State Government's successful handling of the Kumbh Mela in Allahabad.
If Mr Khan had his way, he would sack every single one of the eight-member personal staff that has revolted. Indeed, the State Government, egged on by the Minister, had planned the move. That may not happen because such high-handed action could lead the entire low-level bureaucracy to rise in support of the victimised personnel. Given the situation, a reconciliation is being hammered out. But will Mr Khan mend his waysIJ