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Mayawati revamps Lucknow police, replaces DGP

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati transferred the state's police chief late on Saturday evening to crown her shakeup in the afternoon of Lucknow's law enforcers.

Faced with deteriorating law and order under her very nose in the state capital, which is also Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's parliamentary constituency, Mayawati revamped its entire police administration.

While the changes in the city police force's top brass weren't exactly surprising, what stunned everyone was her drastic step of suspending Lucknow district police chief B B Bakshi, who had survived three chief ministers.

Senior Superintendent of Police Bakshi was known to be close not only to senior Bharatiya Janata Party minister Lalji Tandon, who was largely instrumental in putting the BJP-Bahujan Samaj Party alliance together, but also to the prime minister's office.

A spokesman for the chief minister's office said Mayawati had given SSP Bakshi an ultimatum "to pull up his socks or face the music".

"Since the officer failed to curb the rising incidence of crime in the city, he had to be fired as the chief minister had made it loud and clear that she would brook no laxity from anyone," the spokesman explained.

Murder, robbery, loot and other heinous crimes had become the order of the day in the city, so much so that the PMO felt constrained to express concern.

Besides Bakshi, the chief minister gave the marching orders to Deputy Inspector General of Police Gurdarshan Singh and Inspector General of Police (Lucknow zone) A K Jain, both of whom were thought to be her blue-eyed boys. Mayawati had handpicked Singh and Jain after she assumed office just about eight weeks ago.

Anil Agarwal replaces Bakshi, while Arun Kumar, rated as one of Uttar Pradesh's best police officers, has been named to replace Gurdarshan Singh. Hoshiar Singh Balwaria will be the new IGP (Lucknow zone).

Down the line, as many as nine of the 14 circle officers have also been replaced, while one has been suspended together with a station house officer.

The chief minister's spokesman said, "Madam wanted to let the message go across the state that similar action will follow wherever lapses are found and officials fail to deliver the goods."

Some time after this shakeup, Mayawati decided that Director General of Police R K Pandit would also have to go and named R M Shukla to replace him.

Pandit has been shunted to the largely ornamental post of director general (police housing).

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