Speculation is rife in Uttar Pradesh about Chief Minister Mayawati's plan to take Amarmani Tripathi back in her Cabinet.
Following reports of his alleged involvement in the murder of a young Hindi poetess, Madhumita Shukla, in May 9, Mayawati dropped Tripathi and ordered the Criminal Investigation Department to look into the case last month.
But despite the probe, she is making no bones about her intention to reinstate Tripathi.
"If Madhumita Shukla's family gives me in writing that they do not suspect the involvement of Amarmani Tripathi in the murder, I will not hesitate to re-induct him into my ministry," she told reporters in Lucknow.
She, however, added, "Let me make it loud and clear that in case the CID holds Tripathi guilty, I will not think twice before firing him, and also throw him out of the Bahujan Samaj Party."
The chief minister's remarks have led political observers to believe that she is unhappy about having had to act against Tripathi.
The Gorakhpur strongman has been her blue-eyed boy ever since he helped her clear the trial of strength that her government had to face a few months back.
"It was only under mounting criticism from all quarters that she removed him from the Cabinet," Samajwadi Party state president Ram Saran Das said.
"How desperate she is to have Amarmani Tripathi back in her council of ministers has been amply demonstrated in her utterances," Congress spokesman Akhilesh Singh said.
A senior Indian Police Service officer claimed that Mayawati had ordered the suspension of state CID Director General Mahendra Lalka simply because he refused give Tripathi a clean chit.
"In my 35 years of service, I have not come across a single murder case where a chief minister asks for requests from the victim's family even for initiating a probe," the officer told rediff.com