Minister in-waiting still awaits his ‘crowning moment’
LUCKNOW: Elected twice on Samajwadi Party (SP) ticket from Sikandarpur assembly constituency of Ballia in eastern Uttar Pradesh, Mohammad Ziauddin Rizvi is a minister in-waiting, quite literally.
Inducted as a minister in the cabinet reshuffle on June 27 by chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, Rizvi could not be administered oath of office as he was away on a pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia.
He returned on July 10. And since then Rizvi has been camping in the state capital, anxiously waiting for that crucial call from Raj Bhawan for his ‘crowning glory’ moment.
“I don’t know why I am not being sworn in. I have met both the CM and the ‘netaji’ (Mulayam Singh Yadav) and they have assured me ‘ho raha hai,’ (it’s being arranged) but I am yet to get a call,” he told Hindustan Times. Probably, the delay is from Raj Bhawan’s side. The governor will have to give a date for the swearing-in ceremony; he wonders aloud adding that ‘ruling party’s equation with the governor was well-known’.
Coming back from Saudi Arab after performing ‘Umrah’ (pilgrimage), Rizvi would have loved to rush back to his constituency to be with his family and relatives but he cannot do so. “People in my constituency have put up welcome arches and banners when they heard that I had been appointed a minister. I don’t know what to say to them and that is the reason why I am putting up in the State capital,” he said.
Of the seven assembly seats in Ballia district, the SP had won five in 2012 polls. The Akhilesh government has two ministers from the region – Ambika Chowdhary, who lost from Phepna constituency, but was still inducted, and Ram Govind Chowdhary. With the SP regime in its last leg ahead of the 2017 polls, Rizvi’s inclusion on what was the last cabinet expansion was not without a reason.
“After it’s break-up with the Qaumi Ekta Dal, which has pocket of influences in the Purvanchal region, the party wanted to check the possible fallout and resentment the move may have caused among the Muslims by making him (Rizvi) a minister,” pointed out a party leader.