LUCKNOW: BSP leader and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati’s bete noire and former bureaucrat Panna Lal Punia, now a Congress MP, has been appointed chairman of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC). He will take charge on Friday.
The post has been lying vacant since Congress leader Buta Singh’s term ended five months ago.
Though a move already speculated upon in the media, Punia disclosed that he has received communication from the Rashtrapati Bhavan on Wednesday appointing him the chairman of the NCSC.
And, as expected, he has made it known that his first priority in Uttar Pradesh would be to examine the utilisation of funds under the Special Component Plan, which is meant for the welfare of the Dalits.
The issue is likely to cause plenty of embarrassment to Mayawati and a further cause of animosity between the BSP and the Congress.
As an IAS officer, Punia had served Mayawati thrice as her principal secretary and was one of her trusted officers. But relations soured during the investigation of the Taj Heritage Corridor case by the CBI, as the bureaucrat reportedly refused to take technical blame and absolve the BSP supremo even as he was promised all help from her government in the matter.
After his retirement in 2005, Punia joined the Congress and contested the Assembly elections from- Fatehpur in 2007, but Mayawati put in all efforts to ensure his defeat.
However, in the LS elections held in 2009, Punia had the last laugh when he was elected from Barabanki with a record margin.
Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi, had taken a sudden break from his campaigning in Rae Bareli had flown to Barabanki unannounced to seek votes for the candidate.
Party sources said Punia’s appointment as chairman of the NCSC is part of the Congress strategy to make him the Dalit face of the party to counter Mayawati.