Uttar Pradesh Governor T V Rajeshwar Rao's newfound interest in the state's law and order situation has angered Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav, a Ministry of Home Affairs official told rediff.com on Tuesday.

The governor, according to the official, was agitated on learning that desperados had looted a petrol pump owned by Begum Noor Bano, former Congress MP from the Rampur constituency.

He promptly summoned Director General of Police V K B Nair and asked him to hand over a list of bad characters in the region.

The governor also asked for such a list from Lucknow Senior Superintendent of Police Kamal Saxena, the official said.

The CM now suspects that the governor is working at Congress president Sonia Gandhi's behest.

Observers perceive Rajeshwar as a Nehru-Gandhi loyalist.

The governor was earlier a senior Intelligence Bureau official and the CM thinks that he is using his IB contacts to harass the bureaucrats in UP.

The official said that the bureaucrats and police officers in the state are now in a quandry.

They cannot defy the governor and at the same time are apprehensive that the CM may soil their annual confidential report if they do not do his bidding.

Add to this the fact that by-elections are going to be held in UP for UP for two Lok Sabha and 12 assembly seats.

"Yes, we have received feedback that the ground is being prepared for a massive rigging exercise during the by-elections and we are requesting the election commission to take note," Congress general secretary in-charge of Uttar Pradesh, Satyavrat Chaturvedi, told rediff.com

The CM, on the other hand, alleges that the Congress is taking gubernatorial help in its bid to dislodge the government.