Lucknow:
He may have been appointed as the caretaker governor of Uttar Pradesh, but Aziz Qureshi is taking his new assignment seriously. He will start holding
janata darshan from tomorrow, in a move which invited angry reaction from Akhilesh Yadav's party, which rules the state.
Mr Qureshi, who is the governor of Uttarakhand, has been assigned the additional charge of Uttar Pradesh. The post fell vacant on June 17 after B L Joshi, an appointee of the previous UPA government, resigned.
In a departure from tradition, Mr Qureshi, who was sworn in as the governor of Uttar Pradesh yesterday, has decided to throw open the doors of the Lucknow Raj Bhawan to the common man. He will meet the people from 11 am to 1 pm daily to listen to their complaints.
The step is considered unusual as it's only elected heads of governments who take recourse to
janata darshan to listen to complaints of the people and resolve them on the spot. Former Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar used to meet the people every Tuesday. Mr Yadav, the present chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, too has adopted this mechanism.
In the past, governors have adopted this practice only during spells of President's rule.
The Samajwadi Party, not surprisingly, criticised the governor. "There is no reason for him to hold
janata darshan. This will create a parallel government. It's a clear case of interference by the Centre," argued party MP Naresh Agarwal.
For a change, the Samajwadi Party and the BJP found themselves on the same page on the controversy. "This is against the Constitution as long as there is an elected government in the state. There is no need for this. He (the governor) should take this decision back," observed the state BJP chief Laxmikant Bajpai.