War between UP government and Governor exposes wrangles between Mulayam's SP & Akhilesh's government

LUCKNOW: A family feud and feudal politics. What else do you need for a prime-time TV serial or for the latest episode in UP politics involving an open war between the Akhilesh government and Governor Ram Naik?
It all started when nine seats in the nominated category of the Lucknow Vidhan Parishad fell vacant in May. Ignoring the claims of Akhilesh's youth brigade, barring Rajpal Kashyap, Samajdwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav sent out a new candidate list on May 20 comprising old SP faces.
Eyebrows were soon raised on the inclusion of real estate businessman Sanjay Seth in the list. It's not every day that a samajwadi government' nominates a building magnate to the legisalture's upper house. "Sanjay Seth is a rich builder. And yet SP, which claims to have socialism close to its heart, is hell bent on sending him to the Vidhan Parishad," said state BJP chief Laxmikant Bajpai. "Seth is directly linked to certain members of the Yadav family. Are there no socialists left in the party now?"
And if inner-party rumblings were not enough, governor Ram Naik refused to approve five of the nine nominations. The governor initially asked for more details about the candidates. After two months, Naik cleared nominations of SRS Yadav, Ram Vriksh Yadav, Jitendra Yadav and Lilawati Kushwaha but said he had received complaints against Kamlesh Pathak, Ranvijay Singh, Abdul Sarfraz Khan, Rajpal Kashyap and Sanjay Seth. He cited that some of them had criminal records and sought the government to provide more details on them. SP, on its part, refused to revise the list.
BUILDER BUDDY OF BODY-BUILDER SON
Among this lot from ‘Mulayam's list', Sanjay Seth clearly stands out. Seth, the 48-year-old managing director of Shalimar Corp, is known as the man behind several luxury projects in Lucknow. His constructions have made quite a reputation for their distinct designs and premium positioning. Seth is known to be close to Prateek Yadav, Mulayam's younger son from a second marriage to Sadhana Gupta. Prateek, who has stayed away from politics, is known as a fitness freak who also dabbles in real estate. Seth is alleged to be his business partner. When contacted, Seth refused to talk about his alleged closeness to the Yadav family. "I can't comment on what others are saying," he told ET.
Seth is often spotted at high-profile parties, making a quiet exit after a brief appearance. Along with his partner Khalid Masood, every December, Seth attends the Saifai Mahotsava, the annual festival organised in Mulayam Singh's native Saifai village at Etawah district. The two are the most prominent builders in Lucknow, who have now made forays into upscale localities in Delhi as well. They had also undertaken some government projects in the previous BSP government as well. Even as Raj Bhavan was seized of the matter of MLCs, Seth was raided by the income-tax authorities on June 18. Over 100 investigators raided his residence and office premises in Lucknow, Delhi and Mumbai.
Since the first refusal from Raj Bhavan, the MLC file has made four back and forth trips from the chief minister's office to the governors' desk. No resolution is in sight. And it's not the only quarrel that is raging between the governor, a former BJP MP and minister in Atal Bihari Vajpayee's Cabinet, and the Mulayam Singh Yadav-led Akhilesh Yadav government.
ANOTHER SQUABBLE
In tandem with the fight over MLCs is another squabble over the selection of the Lok Ayukta, in which the chief justice of the Allahabad high court has also been pulled into it. After the tenure of the last UP Lok Ayukta, NK Mehrotra, expired in March 2014 – after Mulayam Singh ensured his two-year extension by having his son's government amend the Lok Ayukta Act through an ordinance– the Supreme Court had directed the state government to find a replacement quickly. In July this year, the apex court had given the UP government four weeks to appoint a new ombudsman.
In early August, the government forwarded the name of former Justice Ravindra Singh to the governor for approval as the state's new Lok Ayukta. Naik, however, objected to this name, citing norms being tossed aside in the selection procedure. The governor said that no meeting between the chief minister, the leader of opposition, and the chief justice of the Allahabad High Court was held as mandated under the UP Lok Ayukta and Deputy Lok Ayukta Act, 1975.
To add fuel to the fire, Naik made it public that Allahabad high court chief justice Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud had actually written to the chief minister asking him to send a ‘panel of names' for the selection, but this was not done.
In the August 20 letter to Akhilesh, Chandrachud had stated that Singh was seen to be close to the ruling party and was, therefore, not fit to be appointed as Lok Ayukta.
NO SURRENDER
After Naik rejected Ravindra Singh's name on August 25 for the fourth time, the Akhilesh Yadav government moved swiftly to amend the Lok Ayukta act to remove the chief justice from the selection committee. The UP Lokayukta and Up- Lokayukta (Amendment) Act 2015 was tabled in the assembly on August 27, and passed by a voice vote with the Opposition staging a walk-out.
The new Act has paved the way for a new four-member body comprising the chief minister, the leader of Opposition, the Speaker, and a retired judge as members of the selection committee. The retired judge in the committee will be selected by the CM and the Speaker.
The governmental-gubernatorial war over MLCs and the Lok Ayukta has exposed how the Akhilesh Yadav government has been blindly backing its loyalists for important appointments, despite their alleged unsuitability for the posts and underlined who the real power in the Yadav government in Lucknow is.