Furious over the Bahujan Samaj Party's debacle in the Lok Sabha polls, party supremo Mayawati is now targeting officers belonging to the elite Indian Administrative Service and Indian Police Service in the state.
Nearly 50 IAS and IPS officers were shunted out late on Friday night simply because BSP candidates in their respective districts had lost the election.
Even though their shifting was described as 'routine transfers', it was evident that the handpicked officials were being targeted solely on account of the party's poor performance.
While a dozen district magistrates and nearly three dozen superintendents of police and deputy inspectors general of police have already come in the firing line, more heads will roll in the days ahead, claim insiders.
Topping the list of transferred IAS officers was Kanpur Divisional Commissioner Dinesh Singh, who got the axe because of the victory of Congress nominee Shree Prakash Jaiswal, who was the Union minister of state for home in the outgoing United Progressive Alliance government.
Interestingly, not a single Brahmin official faced Mayawati's wrath, event though several BSP candidates have lost in districts and divisions under the jurisdictions of officials from that community. "Even Scheduled Caste officers have not been spared, but Brahmins remain the privileged lot," commented one of the chief minister's 'victims' .
He cited the case of Lucknow Divisional Commissioner Prashant Trivedi , whose posting remained untouched in spite of the fact that BSP's high profile nominee Akhilesh Das had been badly defeated in the state capital.
A senior IPS officer, who was also given marching orders, told rediff.com, "I fail to understand what the government wants. Does it expect a district police chief or a district magistrate to ensure the victory of the ruling party candidate?"
"Any regime where a district magistrate or superintendent of police or any other officer is compelled to ensure the victory of a ruling party nominee in an election would be defeating the very spirit of the Indian Constitution," observed retired IAS officer R C Tripathi.
"An IAS or IPS officer owes allegiance to the Constitution, which clearly states that he/she will not side with any political party," he told rediff.com.
He added, ""Transferring officers because the ruling party nominee under his/her jurisdiction was defeated in an election is a new phenomena and I have never experienced it in my nearly four-decade long service. This is a dangerous trend which is being practiced in the country's most populous state."
