Their patience has apparently given way after yet another round of verbal lashing by Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav on Saturday and ministers in the Akhilesh Yadav government now want that the inefficient and corrupt ministers should be identified and removed so that the entire lot does not get blamed.
The ministers, particularly the younger ones, feel that constant rebuke by the party leadership at public platforms has left them disgraced in their constituency. This correspondent spoke to 11 ministers over the weekend and, barring two who did not wish to comment on the situation, nine said that they would like the party leadership to clear the air.
“Each time netaji (Mulayam Singh Yadav) talks about ministers being corrupt and inefficient, it casts a shadow on all of us. When we go to our constituencies, people look at us with suspicion. It would be better if netaji identifies the black sheep and gets them dropped from the council of ministers,” said a SP minister from eastern UP.
Another minister from the Terai belt said that that the party leadership had labelled the entire council of ministers as “chors”.
“Even my supporters ask me that who are the ministers whom netaji is pointing finger at. What do I say to them? Till the air is cleared, each one of us is under a cloud,” he said.
A senior minister also admitted that the constant lashing by the leadership was denting the image of the SP government.
“As a result of this, the MLAs have started behaving rudely with us and the officers now tend to ignore us because they know that the party leadership — who matters the most — is unhappy with us. The chief minister should go in for a revamp and drop all those with whose performance he is not satisfied,” he said.
Yet another minister said that in the prevailing situation, it would be difficult for ministers to contest or campaign for the Lok Sabha elections.