Pushed against the wall by the sagging popularity of the Akhilesh Yadav Government, jittery Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav asked the ministers to either pull up their socks or face the consequences.
Some of the ministers, who were in the line of fire, were scolded for their acts of omission and commission. Addressing a five-hour-long marathon meeting of the 59 Council of Ministers here on Sunday, Yadav said it was imperative to restore the party’s credibility.
The SP chief even expressed concern over the criticism by the opposition parties over the law and order situation in the state. “This is tarnishing the image of the UP Government,” he said.
He dispelled doubts of a Cabinet reshuffle ahead of the state’s Assembly session scheduled to begin from June 19. The SP chief named some of the controversial ministers and even gave them a last warning to improve their performance.
Mulayam repeatedly admonished Gayatri Prasad Prajapati (Amethi), Pawan Pandey (Faizabad) Abhishek Mishra, Durga Yadav and Balram Yadav. He pulled up Prajapati for his failure to mobilise support while he rapped Pandey for his failure to check illegal mining in his region. The SP chief highlighted how Abhishek Mishra had embarassed the party by getting barely 26 votes from his home booth.
Interestingly, Mulayam referred to his register which showed the performance of each minister. Emphasising his resolve to restore the party’s position, Mulayam asked the ministers to ensure party’s victory in bypolls to 12 Assembly seats.
later, briefing reporters about the meeting, Cabinet minister Mohd Azam Khan remarked: “After a review of the elections, Netaji has asked us to work in order to ensure victory on all the seats where bypolls will be held.”
The state will be witnessing bypolls to 12 seats as 11 BJP MlAs and one Apna Dal legislator have been elected to lok Sabha.
On speculations that some ministers may be asked to quit after the party’s dismal performance in lok Sabha polls, Khan took a jibe at the media saying, “the news of resignations came from you (media). You decide and they will resign.” He said that the party would continue to fight for the “truth”.
State party spokesman and senior minister Rajendra Choudhary in a statement said Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav had asked all the party workers to ensure that the party’s image was improved. He directed that partymen should be present from 10 am to 2 pm on every Monday in their respective Vidhan Sabha offices to attend to the grievances of the public.
The ruling SP had won only five seats in lok Sabha polls in Uttar Prdesh with Mulayam winning from Mainpuri and Azamgarh, daughter-in-law Dimple from Kannauj and nephews Akshay Yadav and Dharmendra Yadav from Firozabad and Badaun respectively.
After lok Sabha polls, SP had dissolved all its state and district units. Only state president Akhilesh Yadav has been retained. SP won by a comfortable majority in the 2012 Assembly elections with 220 odd MlAs in the 403-member house.