Prime Minister Manmohan Singh may have spoken of the cordial relations he shares with UP chief minister Mayawati during his recent interaction with editors, but his office certainly does not seem to believe in the basic courtesies.
According to sources in the CM’s secretariat, Ms Mayawati has, till now, written about 129 letters to the Prime Minister on issues ranging from demands for special financial packages to demands for additional security personnel, more electricity, the trifurcation of Uttar Pradesh, a Bharat Ratna for the late Kanshi Ram and the need for a caste-based census.
In her very first letter to Dr Singh, in May 2007, immediately after being sworn in as CM, Ms Mayawati demanded a financial package of `80,000 crores for the development of Uttar Pradesh.
Thereafter, she has sought financial assistance for Bundelkhand, Purvanchal, floods and drought.
Officials in the CM’s secretariat admit that the letters, each one drafted by Ms Mayawati herself, did not even elicit an acknowledgement, leave alone a proper reply.
According to a senior BSP functionary, Ms Mayawati’s letters are designed to make “the world aware of the party’s views on crucial issues”.
“That is why she has written letters to the Prime Minister on issues like piracy off the Somalia coast, the murder of the Dera Sacha Sauda leader in Vienna, attacks in Maharashtra on north Indians, and even the violation of security norms by Mr Rahul Gandhi during his visits to UP. We want the country and its people to know that Ms Mayawati is deeply concerned about such crucial issues and it is the Congress that pays no heed to such matters,” he explained.
Interestingly, after writing each letter, which is well publicised in the media, Ms Mayawati makes it a point to blame the Congress for the poor pace of development in UP. “It is the Congress that refuses to cooperate with my government and does not respond to my requests. It is the Congress-led UPA government that is to be blamed if anything is found lacking in my regime,” she has repeatedly emphasised at every press conference.
While Ms Mayawati will be using these letters to accuse the Congress of “non-cooperation and indifference”, the Congress will use the same letters to blame Ms Mayawati for alleged misappropriation of Central funds.
The Congress admits that the decision to not respond to these letters is deliberate. “When elections are held, we will speak with facts and figures. Mayawati will have to explain to the people what she has done with the Central funds sent for the state’s development. She can spend `50,000 crore on building parks and memorials but waits for the Centre to give `500 crores so that she can start relief work in drought-hit Bundelkhand. Her priorities are all mixed up, and if she thinks that by publicising her letters she can get away with poor governance, she is sadly mistaken,” said a senior AICC leader.