LUCKNOW: It was just his second day in office and newly-elected Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Yogi Adityanath already has a challenge at hand — getting the police department to crack a gruesome murder. Even before going to the office, the Chief Minister summoned the Director General of Police Javeed Ahmad to the VVIP guest house on Monday morning to take details of the killing that rocked Allahabad late on Sunday night. In the afternoon, the DGP was summoned to the CM’s office again, only to be handed out the directive to solve the murder case as soon as possible.
He was told to fine-tune the State law and curb crime and criminals who had made the State their fiefdom over the last five years.
A few hours after Adityanath was sworn in at a gala event on Sunday, unidentified gunmen shot down a BSP leader and five-time block pramukh Mohammad Shami in Allahabad.
After spending nearly two decades as an SP loyalist, Shami had switched over to the blue brigade last month. A dhaba owner, Shami was returning home when miscreants opened fire, killing him on the spot.
As the day proceeded, Adityanath switched over to his anti-corruption agenda.
He convened his first official meeting with the senior-most bureaucrats in the State and asked all of them — especially Secretary and Principal Secretary level officers — to declare their assets within the next 15 days.
Earlier on Sunday, during a meeting with his Cabinet colleagues, Yogi had asked the ministers to furnish the details of their assets in 15 days to the government and the BJP office as well.
For the first time in the executive and administrative history of the State, the new Chief Minister wanted the officers to take a pledge of Swachchata Abhiyan while making a fervent appeal to start the campaign from their own homes and surroundings. A written pledge was circulated to the officers and it was administered by Adityanath himself.
Adityanath introduced the BJP sankalp patra (manifesto) to the officers who would have to ensure the fulfilment of the promises made therein. Interestingly, many bureaucrats seemed to have come prepared for the interaction, with many apparently having memorised the salient features of the manifesto.
In a late-evening development, a government press release said that all the department heads were advised to terminate the services of the advisors and vice-chairmen appointed during the previous SP regime.