Back in the saddle

After scoring an unprecedented victory at the hustings and with the din of electioneering having died out, it’s back to business for Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar. Of course, it will be a little different this time with foe-turned-friend Lalu Prasad Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal in coalition. But Mr Kumar is quickly reassembling his old team of babus for the new term.

In the run-up to the elections, he had been forced to ditch senior IAS officer Amir Subhani from the home department due to his proximity to the chief minister. Among the first things that Mr Kumar has done is to bring

Mr Subhani back to the home department as principal secretary in place of S.K. Rakesh who has returned to his old department of panchayati raj. According to state chief secretary Anjani Kumar Singh, a minor reshuffle of babus is on the cards. Watch this space for updates. Facing fire Babus in Uttar Pradesh are a harried lot and not just because of the frequent transfers which the Akhilesh Yadav sarkar is quite enthusiastic about. Though he’s just about half-way through his tenure as chief minister, Mr Yadav seems to have elections on his mind already. At a social enterprise summit in Lucknow, the chief minister surprised many by threatening IAS officers with dire consequences if they failed to implement his government’s policies.

While babus are inured to being used as pawns in UP’s political battles, it appears that the relationship between the government and the state bureaucracy has touched a nadir under the Samajwadi Party government.

After SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav’s birthday bash, suspended IPS officer Amitabh Thakur complained to UP governor Ram Naik about the massive misuse of official machinery for a private celebration.

Senior IAS officer Surya Pratap Singh has also criticised the state government for lavishly splurging on a celebration at the cost of developmental activities.