Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya on Monday chaired a meeting of senior police officers, including the Director General of Police, and instructed them to curb the “rising corruption” in the State.
“I had a meeting with Uttar Pradesh Director General of Police, Mr. Prashant Kumar and senior police officers regarding law and order during the monsoon session in Legislative Council and gave instructions to resolve public problems on priority basis at police stations, curbing rising corruption and making efforts to comprehensively curb the rising incidents of cyber-crime,” Mr. Maurya wrote on X, sharing pictures of the meeting.
The State’s Home Department is held by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
Hence, the Opposition questioned the capacity in which Mr. Maurya had held such a meeting with top police officers and demanded a clarification from Mr. Adityanath.
“Keshav Prasad Maurya is a Cabinet Minister. In what capacity is he holding meetings with the top [police] officers of the State? The Chief Minister is helpless. Any Cabinet Minister can hold a meeting of his department but the right to hold a meeting of top officials of the State is reserved only with the Chief Minister,” noted Samajwadi Party leader and former Minister I.P. Singh.
“The BJP government has created an atmosphere of anarchy in Uttar Pradesh. Just as powers are vested in the Prime Minister, similarly powers of the State are vested in the Chief Minister. The paper Deputy Chief Minister is misusing the law. Uttar Pradesh will not benefit from such dictatorship. The Chief Minister should give his clarification on this,” he demanded.
After the BJP’s below-expectation performance in the 2024 polls, Mr. Maurya has in recent weeks been giving weight to the speculation of a rift in the party. He had on many occasions reiterated that the party’s organisation is bigger than the government. “The organisation is bigger than the government, the pain of the workers is my pain. No one is bigger than the organisation,” he said.
