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http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...for-sandals-WikiLeaks/articleshow/9873438.cms
Mayawati sent empty jet to Mumbai for sandals: WikiLeaks
Ashish Tripathi, TNN | Sep 5, 2011, 07.02PM IST
Article
Comments (45)
Read more:wikileaks|US embassy|UP chief minister Mayawati|Poloff
LUCKNOW: Apart from calling BSP supremo and chief minister of Uttar Pradesh Mayawati as a 'first-rate egomaniac', a cable titled "Portrait of a Lady" sent by the US embassy in New Delhi to senior officials in US said that Mayawati sufferers from 'eccentric paranoia' and is obsessed with becoming prime minister.
Leaked by Wikileaks, the cable sent by the political consul at the US embassy deals with US efforts to evaluate the political atmosphere in UP. The cable reveals that US embassy's political officers toured three cities in UP in October 2008 and reached to the conclusion that businessmen, politicians, academician and media persons are of the view that Mayawati has done little for development of the state after coming to power in May 2007 election.
According to the cable, "Poloff (political officers) traveled to three cities in Uttar Pradesh (UP) during the week of October 13-17 to gauge the political state of play. A wide range of business, political, academic and media contacts generally agreed that chief minister Mayawati and her party, BSP, have done little to promote development since her May 2007 election.
She has become a virtual paranoid dictator replete with food tasters and a security entourage to rival a head of state. Civil servants will not speak to the press for fear of losing their positions. Journalists admitted they feared retribution should they print anything negative about Mayawati.
One journalist claimed that all civil servants' and most journalists' phones are tapped. Politically, contacts noted that while Mayawati's support from Brahmins and Muslims may be waning, she remains extremely popular with her Dalit vote base. Mayawati is obsessed with becoming Prime Minister and the BSP will spend huge sums in next year's national polls. With all signs pointing to another coalition government in Delhi, Mayawati could be a power broker and perhaps even a king (or queen) maker. "
Further, the cable read: "Poloff met a host of contacts in the UP capital, Lucknow, as well as Kanpur and Varanasi. Those contacts that must deal with the government (which in state-centric India means nearly everyone) remarked on Mayawati's vice-like grip on all levers of power. All decisions must run through Mayawati or her very small coterie of advisors. One Lucknow journalist related a story in which a state minister was forced to do sit-ups in front of her as penance for not first asking permission to call on UP's governor.
Mayawati forced a civil servant to resign when she learned his daughter had joined the Congress party in Delhi. Other than BSP stalwarts, none expressed an even begrudging approval of Mayawati's rule. Under the head "Institutionalized Corruption", the cable said "Most contacts acknowledged that the law and order situation in the state had improved somewhat from the previous SP government of Mulayam Singh Yadav. However, this is not because Mayawati has put more police on the streets or reduced corruption. Rival mafia gangs shooting each other in the streets while vying for dominance characterized the SP's rule.
Now, Mayawati has institutionalized corruption with competitive fealty payments to her replacing shootouts. Just to run as a BSP parliamentary candidate costs roughly 250,000 dollars. This does not ensure victory of course, but with the BSP likely to field candidates in over 300 constituencies nationally, it does ensure Mayawati's campaign coffers will be full, in addition to all her other revenue sources including payoffs and kickbacks from almost every interaction that large businesses have with the state government, standard practices in UP.
In comparison, several commercial contacts in Lucknow and Kanpur spoke glowingly of the business climate in Gujarat and its Chief Minister, Narendra Modi." The statement titled "Eccentric Paranoia" in the cable states that Mayawati's full majority victory in May 2007 UP state assembly elections left her beholden to no one and has allowed her to act on her eccentricities, whims and insecurities. When she needed new sandals, her private jet flew empty to Mumbai to retrieve her preferred brand. According to Lucknow journalists, she employs nine cooks (two to cook, the others to watch over them) and two food tasters.
She fears assassination and demanded from the Central government the highest level of protection available. In addition to this out sized security apparatus, she constructed a private road from her residence to her office, which is cleaned immediately after her multiple vehicle convoy reaches its destination. India has seen such political personalities before, and never failed to deal with them eventually at the ballot box. The cable also delves on on Maya's relations with the press. It states that Mayawati rarely speaks with the media and when she does hold a press conference, questions are not allowed.
More worrying, Lucknow journalists claimed the government has tapped their phones as well as those of civil servants. Most civil servants now refuse to talk to the press. Reporters fear losing their jobs should they print anything negative about Mayawati. Caving to political pressure, a leading national daily removed its Lucknow correspondent after she published a satirical piece about the chief minister. The newspaper's owners also operate sugar mills and chemical factories in UP.
Another cable states that Shashank Shekhar Singh, the cabinet secretary of the UP government, assured US Charge d'Affaires Peter Burleigh at the time of the Lok Sabha elections in 2009 that Mayawati's opposition to the Indo-US nuclear deal was "rhetoric", and that there will be no change in India's foreign policy if Mayawati became the prime minister. Singh also told Burleigh, who was then interim ambassador, that he did not think Mayawati would become prime minister.
While Shekhar spoke elaborately on Mayawati's development plan for UP, Burleigh in his cable observed, tongue-in-cheek that Mayawati's deputy refrained to mention anything about the numerous statues and parks, which he says constitute the bulk of the BSP supremo's building power. It might be recalled that Mayawati had termed Indo-US nuclear deal as anti-Muslim and tried to cash on sentiments of the community which opposed US policies in the Middle East and Afghanistan.
Mayawati sent empty jet to Mumbai for sandals: WikiLeaks
Ashish Tripathi, TNN | Sep 5, 2011, 07.02PM IST
Article
Comments (45)
Read more:wikileaks|US embassy|UP chief minister Mayawati|Poloff
LUCKNOW: Apart from calling BSP supremo and chief minister of Uttar Pradesh Mayawati as a 'first-rate egomaniac', a cable titled "Portrait of a Lady" sent by the US embassy in New Delhi to senior officials in US said that Mayawati sufferers from 'eccentric paranoia' and is obsessed with becoming prime minister.
Leaked by Wikileaks, the cable sent by the political consul at the US embassy deals with US efforts to evaluate the political atmosphere in UP. The cable reveals that US embassy's political officers toured three cities in UP in October 2008 and reached to the conclusion that businessmen, politicians, academician and media persons are of the view that Mayawati has done little for development of the state after coming to power in May 2007 election.
According to the cable, "Poloff (political officers) traveled to three cities in Uttar Pradesh (UP) during the week of October 13-17 to gauge the political state of play. A wide range of business, political, academic and media contacts generally agreed that chief minister Mayawati and her party, BSP, have done little to promote development since her May 2007 election.
She has become a virtual paranoid dictator replete with food tasters and a security entourage to rival a head of state. Civil servants will not speak to the press for fear of losing their positions. Journalists admitted they feared retribution should they print anything negative about Mayawati.
One journalist claimed that all civil servants' and most journalists' phones are tapped. Politically, contacts noted that while Mayawati's support from Brahmins and Muslims may be waning, she remains extremely popular with her Dalit vote base. Mayawati is obsessed with becoming Prime Minister and the BSP will spend huge sums in next year's national polls. With all signs pointing to another coalition government in Delhi, Mayawati could be a power broker and perhaps even a king (or queen) maker. "
Further, the cable read: "Poloff met a host of contacts in the UP capital, Lucknow, as well as Kanpur and Varanasi. Those contacts that must deal with the government (which in state-centric India means nearly everyone) remarked on Mayawati's vice-like grip on all levers of power. All decisions must run through Mayawati or her very small coterie of advisors. One Lucknow journalist related a story in which a state minister was forced to do sit-ups in front of her as penance for not first asking permission to call on UP's governor.
Mayawati forced a civil servant to resign when she learned his daughter had joined the Congress party in Delhi. Other than BSP stalwarts, none expressed an even begrudging approval of Mayawati's rule. Under the head "Institutionalized Corruption", the cable said "Most contacts acknowledged that the law and order situation in the state had improved somewhat from the previous SP government of Mulayam Singh Yadav. However, this is not because Mayawati has put more police on the streets or reduced corruption. Rival mafia gangs shooting each other in the streets while vying for dominance characterized the SP's rule.
Now, Mayawati has institutionalized corruption with competitive fealty payments to her replacing shootouts. Just to run as a BSP parliamentary candidate costs roughly 250,000 dollars. This does not ensure victory of course, but with the BSP likely to field candidates in over 300 constituencies nationally, it does ensure Mayawati's campaign coffers will be full, in addition to all her other revenue sources including payoffs and kickbacks from almost every interaction that large businesses have with the state government, standard practices in UP.
In comparison, several commercial contacts in Lucknow and Kanpur spoke glowingly of the business climate in Gujarat and its Chief Minister, Narendra Modi." The statement titled "Eccentric Paranoia" in the cable states that Mayawati's full majority victory in May 2007 UP state assembly elections left her beholden to no one and has allowed her to act on her eccentricities, whims and insecurities. When she needed new sandals, her private jet flew empty to Mumbai to retrieve her preferred brand. According to Lucknow journalists, she employs nine cooks (two to cook, the others to watch over them) and two food tasters.
She fears assassination and demanded from the Central government the highest level of protection available. In addition to this out sized security apparatus, she constructed a private road from her residence to her office, which is cleaned immediately after her multiple vehicle convoy reaches its destination. India has seen such political personalities before, and never failed to deal with them eventually at the ballot box. The cable also delves on on Maya's relations with the press. It states that Mayawati rarely speaks with the media and when she does hold a press conference, questions are not allowed.
More worrying, Lucknow journalists claimed the government has tapped their phones as well as those of civil servants. Most civil servants now refuse to talk to the press. Reporters fear losing their jobs should they print anything negative about Mayawati. Caving to political pressure, a leading national daily removed its Lucknow correspondent after she published a satirical piece about the chief minister. The newspaper's owners also operate sugar mills and chemical factories in UP.
Another cable states that Shashank Shekhar Singh, the cabinet secretary of the UP government, assured US Charge d'Affaires Peter Burleigh at the time of the Lok Sabha elections in 2009 that Mayawati's opposition to the Indo-US nuclear deal was "rhetoric", and that there will be no change in India's foreign policy if Mayawati became the prime minister. Singh also told Burleigh, who was then interim ambassador, that he did not think Mayawati would become prime minister.
While Shekhar spoke elaborately on Mayawati's development plan for UP, Burleigh in his cable observed, tongue-in-cheek that Mayawati's deputy refrained to mention anything about the numerous statues and parks, which he says constitute the bulk of the BSP supremo's building power. It might be recalled that Mayawati had termed Indo-US nuclear deal as anti-Muslim and tried to cash on sentiments of the community which opposed US policies in the Middle East and Afghanistan.
