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Multiple probes rile Akhilesh?

After Yogi took over, Akhilesh had said that he would just watch the govt's performance for 6 months, but reports of over-enthusiastic BJP leaders clashing with the cops have made him change his mind.

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After keeping quiet for nearly a month after the Yogi Adityanath government took over in Uttar Pradesh, former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav has found his reasons for hitting out at the Bharatiya Janata Party government, even as the several schemes launched during the Samajwadi Party regime are under the scanner.

The Yogi government has been hogging the headlines for its new work culture as far as working hours and pace of decision-making is concerned. But in the past few days, incidents involving BJP leaders in clashes especially in western UP have pepped up the Samajwadi Party and its spokesmen, who are now trying to corner the government over law and order situation.

Akhilesh showed uncharacteristic aggression in his interaction with the media in Lucknow recently. He lost his cool on seeing a media person sporting a saffron shirt and also on being repeatedly asked about the continuing conflict in the Yadav family, he also aggressively tried to corner the government on recent incidents in Saharanpur and Meerut.

Akhilesh Yadav

In early days after Yogi took over as Akhilesh had said that he would watch government's performance for six months and not comment on its actions. However, reports of over-enthusiastic BJP leaders clashing with police and administration have apparently made Akhilesh change his mind.

Incidentally, poor crime control and failure to maintain law and order across the state was a major reason behind the widespread resentment among the people against the Samajwadi Party. Yogi too had cautioned partymen and leaders to desist from making unreasonable demands and maintain discipline. Even Prime Minister Narendra Modi had warned party MPs from Uttar Pradesh to stay away from trouble.

But recent incidents involving cow protection squads, protest demonstrations and rallies, and clashes with police especially in western UP seem to suggest that the warnings have fallen on deaf ears. BJP MPs in Agra, Saharanpur and Barabanki, besides leaders at the district-level, have been caught in controversies related to threatening and intimidating police personnel.

These incidents have given an opportunity to leaders of opposition parties especially the SP to corner the BJP over the issue of law and order.

Quick action

Even though the appointment of new Director-General of Police Sulkhan Singh and the latest reshuffle of police superintendents in several districts including Lucknow, Kanpur, Noida, Bareilly and Saharanpur, appears to be aimed at tightening the grip over the law and order situation, the wide publicity given to incidents in west UP has made BJP spokesmen a little jittery.

The filing of a FIR against Raghav Lakhanpal, the BJP MP from Saharanpur, in the case involving a mob attack on the residence of the Saharanpur superintendent of police is cited by a BJP spokesman as an example of the quick action taken in the case. "In similar attacks on police stations led by SP leaders in the past years, the police did not dare name the SP leaders, leave along filing a case against them," said a BJP spokesman.

But the Samajwadi Party has apparently got the boost it had been looking for over the past four weeks over which Yogi's decisions dominated the news space. Although the Saharanpur incident did not lead to serious rioting or casualties, the Samajwadi Party sent a five-member team to probe the incident involving clashes between two groups over taking out Ambedkar Shobha yatra rally.

The sudden belligerence of the Samajwadi Party

Even though Akhilesh has been trying to make it into a big issue, the Yogi government is going ahead with inquiries into various projects launched or commissioned during the former regime. It has withdrawn the highly unpopular decision to allow large-scale commercial activities in residential colonies in Lucknow and cracked down on illegal construction patronised by SP leaders.

Besides, the case against former minister Gayatri Prajapati has also been strengthened and inquiry into the Gomti riverfront project and the ambitious signature building Jayaprakash Narayan International Convention Centre is continuing. The much-hyped Samajwadi Pension Scheme and the free smartphone distribution scheme have also been put on hold.

It is likely that names of officers and political persons might come up as the inquiries progress, which may be embarrassing for the former ruling party and its leaders. This could explain the sudden belligerence of the Samajwadi Party on Saharanpur, Meerut and the so-called 'saffron attacks' on police.

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