The UP government could be heading for a major reshuffle in the government and administration after the chief minister returns from his trip abroad later this week.
According to sources, the chief minister is expected to reshuffle and expand his Cabinet and also revamp the state administration. The present strength of the council of ministers in UP is 48 and the chief minister can induct 12 more ministers. He is also expected to change the portfolios of some ministers.
“The Akhilesh government will complete four months on July 15 and the party leadership has already identified some weak points. Despite doing considerable good work, we have somewhat failed in creating an impact on the masses and this needs to be rectified. The chief minister may off load some of the portfolios he holds — he holds 61 portfolios at present — and some new ministers may also be inducted into the council of ministers,” said a senior minister.
The state government is keen to refurbish its image and project Mr Yadav as a man who means business. At presently, the chief minister enjoys the image of being an extremely lenient and forgiving chief minister.
The Akhilesh government, incidentally, also suffered a loss of face on two occasions when the chief minister had to reverse his decisions within 24 hours. The first decision was related to the shutting down of power supply to multiplexes, shopping malls and commercial establishments at 7 pm and the second was related to allowing MLAs to buy cars worth `20 lakhs from the constituency development fund.
These episodes amply indicate that the chief minister was probably being misled by some non-political sources which led to public embarrassment.
It is noteworthy that Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav has been regularly meeting party workers whenever he is in Lucknow and takes feedback from them about the functioning of the government.
“Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav is aware of what is happening at the administrative level in each district and he also keeps tabs on the working of the ministers. He will give necessary guidelines to the chief minister that will be reflected in the reshuffle,” the minister disclosed.
On the administrative front, a massive reshuffle of principal secretaries and secretaries is also on the cards. Those officials, who have failed to establish a rapport with the ministers and have not worked to expectations, will be given marching orders.