Routed Maya tries the Rahul formula

This is one development that will surprise everyone. But for poll-battered Mayawati, it was, perhaps, inevitable. The Dalit icon has taken a leaf out of Rahul Gandhi’s book on how to influence Dalits! 

In a major damage-control exercise she unveiled at the end of a marathon meeting on Sunday evening, Mayawati instructed top IAS officers to roam the countryside and visit at least one Dalit locality. “I want to know if the benefits of government schemes are reaching the poor,” she said.

Sounds familiar? Well, Rahul Gandhi took the lead when at a recent press conference he said that ensuring that government funds reached the targeted beneficiaries was the best way of ensuring the country’s development.

He even mentioned his father, the late Rajiv Gandhi’s famous quote that out of each rupee sent out by the Centre, only 15 paise reaches the person it is meant for.
The BSP chief has called a meeting of all party office-bearers on Tuesday. The question they are likely to mull: What went wrong?

Party insiders say Mayawati also plans to take inspiration from the success of the Sheila Dixit government in Delhi where the Congress won all seven seats. Significantly, Mayawati has called all seven party candidates from Delhi for this meeting. “She would want to know the formula which helped Sheila Dixit bag the CM’s chair for a second consecutive term (a challenge Mayawati would face in 2012) and how her government’s performance helped the Congress sweep Delhi,” a BSP leader said.

Top bureaucrats who attended her “review meeting” on Sunday were not surprised when she cracked the whip. “This was only to be expected,” a senior officer said. “The CM had made it clear that lack of performance would now invite immediate and severe punishment,” he said.

“Work does not get done even after I give clear instructions... this can’t be tolerated,” Mayawati roared. “People have to run from pillar to post for petty matters. If things don’t change now, senior officers would be the first to be punished,” she warned. She said during her election tours she had learnt that her instructions were not being followed. “I will now go on surprise tours to see the reality for myself,” she said.

Mayawati has directed her principal secretaries to tour the districts in the divisions allotted to them. Apart from hearing people’s complaints and taking stock of development programmes, they would focus on the Ambedkar Rural Development Scheme and the Kanshi Ram Urban Development Scheme. They have also been ordered to spend time in a Dalit basti.