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Yogi’s favourite cop out of ‘full-time’ DGP race
Prashant Kumar, Uttar Pradesh’s acting DGP, seems to be out of the race to take over as the state’s top cop sans ‘acting’ in the title. The 1990-batch IPS officer was appointed acting DGP in January this year. When the Yogi Adityanath-led BJP government formulated a new set of rules for the appointment of a full-time DGP on 5 November, speculation was rife that Kumar nearly managed to drop ‘acting’ from his current posting.
But, Kumar it appears is now out of the race since the UP government failed to initiate the process for him to be eligible for the job in time.
Appointment rules state that only those IPS officers who have at least six months of service left can be considered for the post. In Kumar’s case, his retirement from service is due in May 2025.
His colleagues say if the Yogi government were to appoint Kumar as full-time DGP, it would require extension of service by at least 1.5 years. For this, the state would have needed clearance from the Centre—a situation the state government was trying to avoid.
OBC MLA puts UP BJP in fix
Yogesh Verma, the BJP MLA from Uttar Pradesh’s Kheri, has put his party in a fix. Verma did not turn up for the first day of the Winter Session of the UP Legislative Assembly and instead released a statement: “Kiss muh se jaun? Nyay nahin mila (What face will I show there? I did not get justice).”
Verma, a prominent OBC face in Lakhimpur Kheri, had alleged in October that a BJP supporter—a Thakur—slapped him.
The legislator did eventually turn up for the Winter Session at the request of a senior UP BJP functionary, but told reporters he still seeks justice.
Verma’s demand is that the BJP supporter who allegedly slapped him be arrested or at the very least issue an apology to make up for insult caused to the Kurmi community to which the MLA belongs.
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Image-conscious Fadnavis
In his first meeting with the state’s senior civil servants last week, Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis delivered a rousing pep talk, laying emphasis on digitisation, ease of living by providing as many services online as possible, improving government websites and so on.
But, he also set one thing straight—that he is very mindful of his government’s image.
Civil servants who attended the meeting say, everyone was told to keep an eye on any negative news reports about the government in the media and furnish a rejoinder in not a day, but in an hour.
Kejriwal’s freebies gambit
It was in March that AAP first declared its intention to launch a scheme under which women in Delhi would be eligible for monthly financial assistance. Not long after the announcement, made in the Delhi government’s annual budget, then CM Arvind Kejriwal was arrested by ED.
However, upon his release on bail in September, Kejriwal wasted no time in working out the nuts and bolts of the ambitious scheme. With assembly elections in Delhi looming on the horizon, a team led by CM Atishi was formed to prepare a draft Cabinet note.
While the scheme approved by Delhi Cabinet envisages a monthly payout of Rs 1,000 per woman, Kejriwal, while making the announcement, has promised to enhance the sum to Rs 2,100 if AAP returns to power in Delhi.
He did so, it is learnt, upon learning that BJP would attempt to one-up AAP by promising to double the payout Rs 2,000 per month.
In Maharashtra, the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition had attempted something similar but it did not cut ice with voters since by the time votes were cast, the ruling Mahayuti, under Shiv Sena’s Eknath Shinde as chief minister, had already transferred money to beneficiaries. In Delhi, however, the ruling AAP is not in a position to do that.
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