Dilli Ka Babu: The axe effect

Mumbai: The purge continues. Uttar Pradesh CM Akhilesh Yadav is trying to set things right. This, almost by default, means sacking or transferring bureaucrats.

The first major change was appointing trusted aide Alok Ranjan as the state chief secretary, replacing Jawed Usmani.

Then came another round of mass transfers of cops and officials.

But what has virtually shocked observers is the recent sacking of senior IAS officer Deepak Singhal from the post of principal secretary (home) which he had been assigned just two weeks ago.

The CM’s axe has fallen on the top officer not because of the outcry over the failing law and order in UP but reportedly due to the babu’s alleged proximity to Union home minister Rajnath Singh.

Mr Singhal has been replaced by Rakesh Bahadur, a tainted officer named as accused in the Noida plot allotment scam.

Mr Bahadur is the fifth home secretary in the little over two-year tenure of the Akhilesh regime. In UP, the more things change the more they stay the same.