LUCKNOW, OCT 24: The ostrich-like attitude of the BJP's central leadership in taking a decision to end the prevailing political uncertainty in the state is once again working to the advantage of Chief Minister Kalyan Singh. It has given him enough time and opportunity to consolidate his position for countering the challenge to his leadership.After mobilising the support of his party MLAs, a majority of whom are backwards, Kalyan is now trying to drive home the point that he is in no way affected by any uncertainty over his leadership and is carrying on as usual. On Saturday night, he effected a major administrative reshuffle, shifting 53 IAS officers, including the deputy magistrate and commissioner, both Brahmins, of the Prime Minister's constituency.By reshuffling the bureaucracy, his first major exercise after a gap of five months, the Chief Minister has tried to convey the impression that he was undeterred by reports that the party leadership was thinking of removing him after the poor performanceof the party in the recent parliamentary elections.Besides trying to show that he had a firm grip on the government, Kalyan has also given his tacit approval for the ongoing campaign to mobilise maximum number of party MLAs pledging support to his leadership. Sources said so far the Kalyan camp has mustered support of 78 MLAs while his trusted ministerial colleagues, like Hukum Singh and Nepal Singh, are working overtime to coax more legislators into their camp.The MLAs who had reposed faith in Kalyan Singh had earlier decided to meet senior party leaders in New Delhi to tell them that any move to replace Kalyan (a backward) with an upper caste (Kalraj) would backfire. This plan was postponed reportedly on the advice of the Chief Minister who told them not to do anything till his meeting with L.K.Advani at Dehradun on Sunday.Kalyan had sparked fresh speculation about his likely removal when a few days back he asked the party leadership to take an early decision and refused to work at the Centre oraccept any gubernatorial assignment if he was replaced.Soon after his plea for an early decision, Kalraj Mishra's name began doing the rounds in government circles as the candidate for the top job. Ministers, both from the party and allies, and officers started flocking to his residence.The Chief Minister fired another salvo when he dared the party leadership to take notice of the changing socio-political scenario of the state. ``Any party which ignores the trend of changing scenario will suffer heavily,'' was the not-so-subtle warning of Kalyan.In last night's reshuffle, three principal secretaries, 15 secretaries and commissioner level officers and 20 district magistrates were transferred. The divisional commissioners of Lucknow, Varanasi, Jhansi, Mirzapur and Chitrakoot Dham were shifted. The district magistrates of Lucknow, Bareilly, Varanasi, Meerut, Sultanpur, Rae Bareilly and Muzaffarnagar were also transferred.Arun Kumar Misra, commissioner of Lucknow division, has been transferred toKanpur on the same post while Sanjay Agarwal, the DM of Meerut is the new DM of Lucknow. Saurabh Chandra, commissioner of Varanasi division, has been made Commissioner of Lucknow. His place will be taken by Manoj Kumar, the commissioner of Mirzapur division.
