Lucknow: Tussles between Uttar Pradesh Cabinet ministers and senior officers of their departments are no rarity in the Yogi Adityanath government. The latest on this list is Panchayati Raj Minister and Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) chief Om Prakash Rajbhar, who has accused senior officers in his department of ‘non-cooperation’ and sought their removal.
Rajbhar has written to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, alleging negligence in his own department. He accused Principal Secretary Anil Kumar and Director Amit Kumar Singh of failing to properly implement government decisions, and alleged that officers were “not listening to anyone”. He also alleged that funds meant for publicity and promotion of government schemes were being spent arbitrarily in collusion.
Rajbhar has demanded that the two senior officers be removed from their posts immediately.
The complaint comes amid a disagreement between the minister and department officers over the second-phase tender for the Panchayati Raj department’s digital library project. Sources said the minister and officers could not reach an agreement on the tender, following which the officers sent the file through the chief secretary for a decision. The move reportedly did not go down well with Rajbhar, prompting him to raise the matter with the chief minister.
In his complaint, Rajbhar pointed out that elections are approaching but the digital library project is yet to be completed.
He also questioned the department’s handling of the first phase of the project. According to Rajbhar, a report was submitted claiming that the first phase had been completed, while at the same time action was recommended against 16 District Panchayati Raj Officers (DPROs) in connection with the project.
He alleged that incorrect reports had been submitted and that negligence was also found in digital libraries at Sambhal and Unnao. He further alleged that funds allocated for publicity and promotion of Panchayati Raj schemes were being spent arbitrarily.
Speaking about the dispute, Rajbhar said decisions taken at the top level were not being implemented properly within the department. He said officers had been repeatedly asked to complete the first phase of the digital library project at the earliest in view of the approaching elections.
On the tender issue, Rajbhar clarified that there had been no discussion about favouring or selecting any particular agency. He said he had also verbally requested the chief minister to remove the principal secretary and the director. “Officials sitting in Lucknow want to run the entire state from their offices. They have little interest in feedback about schemes being implemented in the districts,” Rajbhar told ThePrint
He added that ministers and other elected representatives regularly travel across districts and interact with people, giving them a better understanding of the ground situation.
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Not the first
The latest dispute is not the first instance of differences between ministers and senior bureaucrats in the Yogi government, where tensions over administrative decisions and the implementation of schemes have surfaced many times in the past.
Last year in July, Industrial Development Minister Nand Gopal Nandi made serious allegations against officers, accusing them of ignoring government policies, being negligent, not following ministerial instructions and favouring certain individuals.
In a letter to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Nandi claimed that officers had refused to share important files with him for the past two years despite repeated instructions. He alleged that some officers were taking decisions on their own, ignoring government policies and procedures. He also claimed that important files were being made to disappear to delay development work.
Before him, Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak, Cabinet minister Ashish Patel, Cabinet minister Sanjay Nishad, Minister of State (Independent Charge) Dinesh Pratap Singh, Cabinet minister Jaiveer Singh, Minister of State Dinesh Khatik and Minister of State Pratibha Shukla have raised similar concerns at different times.
Last year, Cabinet minister Ashish Patel accused the state government’s information department of trying to destabilise his party, Apna Dal (Soneylal), by allegedly pressuring a section of the media to publish false and misleading reports about differences within the party.
Ashish Patel did not write a letter this time but raised the issue through a social media post. Earlier, however, he had written to the government about the alleged negligence of department officers.
In February last year, Minister of State for Women Welfare, Child Development and Nutrition Pratibha Shukla wrote to the Director of the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS), alleging corruption and irregularities in her department.
Before Shukla, Cabinet minister and Bharatiya Janata Party ally Sanjay Nishad had also repeatedly raised concerns about government officers. In June this year, Nishad said officers were not listening to ministers. “Officials do not listen to ministers. They are answerable to us, and we are answerable to the public,” he said.
Nishad also alleged that some officers in the state government were politically inclined towards the Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party but projected themselves as supporters of the BJP. He claimed that such officers were giving incorrect feedback to the party’s top leadership.
The repeated letters and public statements by ministers have given the Opposition another opportunity to target the Yogi Adityanath government. Samajwadi Party spokesperson Manoj Kaka said the differences between ministers and bureaucrats had become a regular feature of the Yogi government.
“Ministers versus bureaucrats has become so common in UP that we do not even consider it a big news. It is now very much evident that even ministers are unhappy with the Chief Minister, which is why their letters keep becoming public. Allegations of irregularities are emerging from different departments, while the Chief Minister appears unaware of them,” he told ThePrint.
According to senior BJP functionaries in Uttar Pradesh, there have been several instances of differences between ministers and bureaucrats over the past three years.
The issue first came into the spotlight during Yogi Adityanath’s second term in July 2022, when Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak wrote to the then Additional Chief Secretary, Medical and Health, Amit Mohan Prasad. Pathak expressed his displeasure over the transfer of doctors in the department. The transfers had taken place when Pathak was not in the state.
Since then, several ministers have written letters expressing their dissatisfaction with government officers. Many of these letters have later surfaced on social media and gone viral.
Reacting to the controversy, a senior officer in the Chief Minister’s Office said, “Everything is functioning smoothly in the government. Such issues keep coming up from time to time and are not a major concern. There have also been instances where ministers themselves made their letters public. I do not want to go into the details. Our focus is on ensuring the smooth functioning of the government, and that is what we are working to maintain.”
(Edited by Nardeep Singh Dahiya)
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