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Two UP ministers quit to protest portfolio reallocation

Sharat Pradhan in Lucknow

The reshuffle of the council of ministers in Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday has sired a storm with two Bharatiya Janata Party ministers resigning and at least two others threatening to quit.

Rakesh Dhar Tripathi made no bones about his anger at the manner in which the portfolios had been reallocated.

"I will continue to perform my duty as a soldier of the BJP, but let me make it very clear that I am not happy with the reshuffle, therefore I decided to give up my ministership," he told reporters after resigning.

He added, "I have been an MLA for four terms; it was therefore humiliating for me to be divested of some important departments when others much junior to me were entrusted with key portfolios."

Munnalal Maurya, minister of state for horticulture, said he did not think it worthwhile to continue in a department where "I have no work and no files coming to me."

Chief Minister Ram Prakash Gupta in a statement late night said these were minor problems and "we will sort them out."

State BJP chief Om Prakash Singh also dismissed it as a "minor internal affair of the party". "There is nothing to worry," he said, "we will sort out everything."

But the resignations are being seen as a manifestation of the growing bickering within the BJP, which had witnessed a setback not very long ago with the expulsion of former chief minister Kalyan Singh.

Much trouble has been brewing in the BJP since the high command chose Gupta as Kalyan Singh's replacement. Gupta, who was resurrected from oblivion for the prized chair, has become an eyesore for those who had been aspiring for the job.

Prominent party politician Kalraj Misra topped the list of such, even in the days Kalyan Singh headed the team. His proximity to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee gave him the confidence to believe that the slot would be his once he was able to ensure Kalyan Singh's ouster.

Naturally, with his hopes dashed, Misra is out at his manoeuvrings once again - only, his target has now changed from Kalyan Singh to Gupta.

Thus, a whisper campaign was started against the chief minister, with all kinds of spicy stories about his "forgetfulness" and "inertia" spreading as part of a well-orchestrated exercise. Obviously, it was the work of the same lobby that butted Kalyan Singh out from office.

Political observers, therefore, are of the view that there is much more than meets the eye in Tripathi's resignation. Tripathi's longstanding association with Kalraj Misra too cannot be overlooked.

The Misra lobby was waiting for an opportunity to fire its salvo. Gupta gave them that by divesting Tripathi of a part of the portfolios he held. As against irrigation, floods and higher education he had earlier, Tripathi was left with just higher education after the reshuffle.

What chagrined him more was entrusting Mangal Singh Saini with the portfolio of irrigation, which is regarded as the most lucrative of all government departments. Saini, in any case, had not found favour with the Misra lobby.

A few other ministers like Radhey Shyam Gupta and Ram Asrey Kushwaha too are unhappy with the reshuffle, even though they haven't made any noise about it. Sources close to them described the exercise as "discriminatory".

While Radhey Shyam Gupta has been shifted from the all-important food and civil supplies to law, Kushwaha, as minister of state has been attached to the new food and civil supplies Cabinet Minister Narendra Singh, with whom he is at loggerheads.

Jan Bahujan Samaj Party state chief Markanday Chand has openly expressed his reservation against his partyman Kushwaha's shifting.

"This was absolutely unfair to our party specially when the chief minister knows that Narendra Singh was cross with us after we dissociated ourselves with him and he formed his own group," Chand said.

A senior JBSP leader alleged: "Those with utterly shady records had been given the lucrative portfolios, while the portfolios of forthright ministers had been chopped."

Evidently, Gupta had conceded the lucrative portfolios to allies under pressure. Thus, KMBSP leader Narendra Singh, who had so far held the rural development portfolio, is now entrusted with food and civil supplies, while Amar Mani Tripathi of the LCP has managed to get a transfer from small industries to sales tax and institutional finance.

Incidentally, observers feel that the chief minister may review the reshuffle.

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