Mayawati gives ministers, legislators a patient hearing

Lucknow, May 20 (IANS) In an unusual move, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) president and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati Wednesday gave a patient hearing to her ministers and legislators during a meeting at her official residence here in the wake of the party's poll debacle.

After obtaining detailed feedback from them on the bureaucracy and the police, she made it clear that action would follow against officials who were becoming a stumbling block in the implementation of various welfare schemes and who were abetting corruption.

Mayawati surprised many as she let others speak for nearly half of the time the three-hour meeting lasted. This was in sharp contrast to the meeting Mayawati chaired at the party office Tuesday when she delivered a nearly three-hour monologue.

While the ministers mostly remained mum, the legislators spoke out against the perceived ills in the government. Some of them blamed the party's poor performance in the Lok Sabha elections on the tardy implementation of various schemes and alleged corruption in the administration as well as in the police.

Most of the speakers trained their guns at bureaucrats occupying key positions, as well as police in general. Their anger was also visible against certain ministers and core officials in the chief minister's personal secretariat - the key power centre.

Two legislators were understood to have gone to the extent of talking quite plainly about the 'unabated corruption' at various levels in the bureaucracy, according to some of those who attended the meeting.

'We have to literally beg before officers, who treat us like petty servants, while they openly indulge in corrupt practices,' said an outspoken legislator who was also very critical of police.

'Nothing moves in the police without greasing the palms of cops. At higher levels, the only difference is that the amount of bribes is higher,' the legislator alleged.

Another legislator complained that while recommendations of the people's representatives were ignored by the police, those with money could manipulate the police.