As the Uttar Pradesh government gears up for by-elections to two Lok Sabha and 12 Assembly seats, there seems to be much confusion among senior officials on the model code of conduct, leading to cancellation of the Cabinet briefing yet again in the last minute today.Today’s Cabinet briefing was scheduled for 12.45 pm and messages had been sent out to newspaper offices that the government would announce decisions taken at the Cabinet meeting in the morning presided over by Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav. But mediapersons thronged State Chief Secretary Vinod Kumar Mittal’s office only to be told the briefing was cancelled. The briefing was called off apparently after the chief secretary was informed that it would violate the model code of conduct.As Mittal left his office within minutes of the cancellation, officials said he had been summoned by the Chief Minister. ‘‘Since the Chief Minister is going to Mumbai tomorrow, he has called the chief secretary to brief him,’’ said an official.This is not the first time that the Cabinet briefing has been cancelled in the last minute. Last week’s Cabinet briefing was also called off in the eleventh hour.
