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As per the district-level Vigilance and Monitoring Committee’s decision, a training camp was organised for the proper implementation of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Schemes (NREGS). Owing to Gandhi’s personal initiative, Andhra Pradesh principal secretary K Raju was also present at the camp to demonstrate the Andhra model of NREGS implementation.
Trouble began in the morning after MP Tahir, alongwith four BSP MLAs of Sultanpur district, boycotted the camp. Tahir protested Gandhi’s selection as the chairman of the committee and blamed him for not caring enough for the development of Sultanpur. “Rahul’s continuance as the chairman of the committee is illegal. I have already raised this issue in Parliament,” Tahir said. According to him, Gandhi is also the pro-chairman of the same committee in Rae Bareilly. “How he can hold both the posts?” he questioned.
BSP MLA O P Singh, who represents the Jaisinghpur Assembly segment, said they were not opposed to the training camp. “But the committee should not become a political platform. Rahul is little concerned about the district’s development,” he added.
The BSP leaders said the chairman of the monitoring committee should be the MP whose parliamentary constituency covers the largest part of the district. However, Congress leaders said this post should be held on rotation, and BSP MP Tahir had also headed this committee for a year after its formation.
Akhilesh Pratap Singh, chief spokesperson of UPCC said: “Why is BSP raising this issue now when Rahul has been holding this position for the last one year? He became the chairman of this committee with the consensus of these members only. Rahul wants to implement NREGS in a free and fair manner, leaving little scope for corruption. May be this is what has annoyed the BSP.”
Congress MLA from Amethi, Amita Singh, said: “The BSP leaders’ boycott was pre-planned. Though we have different political ideologies, we should not make the committee a political forum. It is meant for discussing development issues. The boycott was meaningless,” she said.
Most of the block pramukhs were little bothered about the political overtones of the camp. “It was pure politics. So I have no comments. I am neutral,” said block pramukh of Shukla Bazar, Shiraj Ahemad. He added that AP’s NREGS model is not practically possible in Sultanpur. “While the Andhra system is excellent but it is totally dependent on computers. Here there is no such infrastructure,” he said. Talking about the camp, he said the officers from Andhra Pradesh told them about the government’s move to ensure weekly payment of wages.
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