Lucknow:
Akhilesh Yadav, the young Chief Minister who swept to power on a promise of a safe Uttar Pradesh, has given officials in his state 15 days to improve law and order.
Ever since his Samajwadi Party (SP) was given a resounding mandate to rule India's most populous state two months ago, there have been a string of law and order issues and incidents of violence; many have involved his own party men, embarrassing Mr Yadav no end.
Today, he held a meeting with 500 senior IPS and IAS officers - it was attended by the district magistrates and police chiefs of 75 districts of UP.
Apart from the deadline to clean the state up, Mr Yadav also took stock of the state government's development schemes in the state.
Officials across the state have been handed the party's manifesto to acquaint them with the government's priorities. In all his thank-you speeches after his party's success in the Assembly polls, Mr Yadav had promised that he would fulfill every point in the SP manifesto. Chief among those was that he would rid UP of goonda raj and ensure good law and order.
To win the UP elections, Mr Yadav, who at 38 is the state's youngest ever CM, had to refurbish his party's image. Political rivals have predicted that the SP will be dogged right through by law and order problems created by its own partymen. There have already been quite a few instances in the last two months when Mr Yadav has been called upon to explain the actions of SP workers and leaders.