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Congress to shift focus to domestic issues

	August 06, 2007

Having successfully worked out the 123 agreement for imple¬menting the civilian nuclear deal with the United States, the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government at the Cen¬tre, reports say, is to shift focus to domestic challenges, with the Lok Sabha elections less than two years away. The Congress is prepared to face opposition from some quarters to the nuclear deal, but is hopeful of sailing through. The BJP, of course, has come out in opposition to the deal and wants it to be referred to a joint parliamentary committee, and the Left parties are con¬sulting atomic energy specialists before coming out with their stand on the deal. But the Congress is hopeful that the Left will eventually come around and decide not to oppose it.



The Congress, the leading light of the UPA, is of the view that after the civilian nuclear deal with the United States is done and put aside, it is time to shift the focus to major domestic issues like measures for empowerment of the Other Back¬ward Classes (OBCs) and improvement in the status of the Muslim community. Another major challenge facing the Congress-led UPA Government is the agrarian crisis in several states. The problem of tackling extremism, which has manifested itself in Maoist elements carrying out daring raids on police camps, especially in Chhattisgarh, is also getting increased attention.





Implementation of reservations, Sachar Committee report major tasks



At a preliminary meeting held by the Congress last week to discuss the 2009 Lok Sabha polls scenario, implementation of OBC reservations and recommendations of the Sachar Committee on uplifting the Muslims, were identified as major challenges. A senior Congress leader who attended the first of these prepara¬tory meetings on Thursday, August 2, said that it was recognised that the Sachar Committee Report and OBC reservations were sensi¬tive issues which needed to be handled carefully in the run up to the elections. AICC general secretaries and leaders in charge of state units attended the meeting held at Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s residence.



The Congress-led UPA Government would need to act on the findings of the Rajinder Sachar Committee report in a positive manner in the coming months, the leader said.



The Sachar Committee, which went into the socio-economic and educational status of Muslims across the country, painted a grim picture of their condition and suggested measures for improvement. The UPA Government tabled the report n Parliament last year, but is yet to act on the suggestions made in the docu¬ment. However, keeping the report in mind, the Government set up committees for an Equal Opportunities Commission, a national data bank, education and skill development and for identification of minority dominated districts in May this year. The move was followed by Sonia Gandhi promising immediate implementation of the Sachar Committee report.



Pressure is now slowly mounting on the Government from community organisations as well as the Left parties to implement Sachar Committee’s suggestions.



On the OBC reservation front, several UPA constituents such as DMK, PMK, RJD, as well as non-UPA parties such as JD(U), have become the policy’s strongest votaries. This has left the Congress in an unenviable position of defending a policy in court that at least some sections of the party suspect to be electoral¬ly damaging.



Depending on the Supreme Court’s ruling, (the court has stayed the implementation of the policy now) the Congress will have to formulate its stand on the issue. It will have to decide how to take credit for the OBC reservation policy in a way that will benefit it in the next elections.





All out attempt to woo aam admi (common man)



The 11th Five Year Plan for the period 2007-12 being formu¬lated is all set to raise social sector spending while pruning funds allocated for infrastructure and energy. The objective obviously is to woo the aam admi (common man), the UPA has been assiduously trying to court. The drive has got more intense now that elections are less than two years away.



The allocation is expected to be finalised at the full Planning Commission meeting to be chaired by the Prime Minister today, August 6. The plan lays emphasis on seven priority sec¬tors - education, rural development and panchayati raj, health, agriculture, scientific departments, physical infrastructure and energy. These sectors will account for 70% of the gross budgetary support (GBS) during the 11th plan, compared to 53% in the previ¬ous plan period that ended on March 31 this year.



The allocation for the education sector is likely to more than double. The share of education is set to increase from 7.8% in the 10th Plan to 18.2% in the 11th Plan. For rural develop¬ment, the increase has been proposed from 10.8% to 13.6%, for health the increase is from 5.6% to 8.9% and in agriculture the raise is from 7.1% to 10.5%. However, in percentage terms, there is reduction in the share of two crucial sectors - infrastructure and energy - where the government is banking on support from private sector through public-private-partnership. The GBS allo¬cation for infrastructure has been reduced from 10.2% in the 10th plan to 4.2% in the 11th Plan and for energy the decline is from 5.9% in the 10th Plan to 4.2% in the 11th Plan.





Media campaign on “inclusive” growth



Apparently not learning from the fate of the India Shining campaign launched by the previous BJP-led National Democratic Alliance Government, the UPA Government is planning to launch a media blitz time for the 2009 general elections, highlighting its achievements and flagship programmes. The theme of the campaign will be inclusive growth. The move is a follow up to a meeting held by the Prime Minister with Union Ministers for Agriculture, Human Resource Development, Urban Development, Rural Development, Health, Road and Transport, Finance and Information and Broadcasting on June 22.



A content advisory group was subsequently set up to decide the content of the media campaign. At the first meeting of the group in July, several decisions were taken on the launch of the campaign. The highlights are :



(a) Earmark half-an-hour slot each day on the Government’s flagship programmes on public broadcasters (AIR and Doordarshan);



(b) Starting August, have ministers-in-charge of flagship programmes organise quarterly interactions with the media;



(c) Launch the umbrella campaign on September 1.



(d) Appoint nodal officers in Ministries of the rank of Joint Secretary to coordinate the campaign,



The decision to speed up the UPA’s preparations for 2009 was reportedly taken after Union Minister for Rural Development Raghuvansh Prasad Singh wrote to the Prime Minister lamenting that while the Government was spending three times more on the socio-economic sector than the previous NDA regime, this had not been adequately highlighted.





Minor Cabinet reshuffle, Congress revamping on cards



There are reports that some of the UPA allies like the RJD, are pressing for increase in their representation in the Council of Ministers. But official sources say that a Ministry reshuffle is improbable before the end of the Monsoon session of Parliament which starts on August 10 and continues till Sept. 14. If at all a cabinet reshuffle takes place, it will be a small affair and will not affect top Congress Ministers like P. Chidambaram, Pranab Mukherjee, Shivraj Patil, A.K. Antony, Arjun Singh and Sushil Kumar Shinde.



The RJD, the NCP and the DMK have been demanding more minis¬terial berths. There is a possibility that RJD leader Raghunath Jha and DMK president Karunanidhi’s daughter Kanimozhi may be inducted in the Council of Ministers. The NCP is pressing for elevation of Minister of State for Civil Aviation Praful Patel to the Cabinet level.



Congress president Sonia Gandhi is also believed to be keen on revamping the party organization so that it is ship-shape for facing the 2009 Lok Sabha elections. Parliamentary Affairs Minister P.R. Dasmunsi said in New Delhi on August 2 that party MP Rahul Gandhi could be given a bigger responsibility in the organisation in the near future.



“He is already the leader of the next generation. The leadership will shortly decide what role he would play,” the Minister said.



Asserting that the UPA government would fulfill all commit¬ments made in the national common minimum programme by next year’s Budget, he said new programmes would be formulated for the remaining tenure of the government. “No government in the last 15 years has spent as much money on education as the UPA has done. Our spending on social welfare is much more than that of any other government in the past,” he said.





Mani Shankar Aiyar’s potshot at the Government



While the Government is talking of carrying out its commit¬ments to improve the lot of the common man, Panchayati Raj Min¬ister Mani Shankar Aiyar is again speaking of what he calls, “the huge invisible India that has not changed since the pre-economic reforms era.” At a panel discussion in New Delhi on July 30, Aiyar, who was in the audience, savaged the panelists including Finance Minister P. Chidambaram for championing the strident pace of economic reforms while ignoring the plight of the people.



At his acerbic best, Aiyar poured venom at the “obscenity” of celebrating the country’s “billionaires” while turning a blind eye to the interests and concerns of the majority of underprivileged people.



Aiyar had earlier questioned the decision-making regime of a select elite in the government about major economic policy and other issues that have wide-ranging adverse implications for an overwhelming majority of the people.





Congress not for another coalition in Karnataka



Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, on a one-day visit to Banga¬lore on Friday, August 3, said that the Congress is not in favour of another coalition exercise in Karnataka. Addressing Congress workers, he virtually ruled out tying up with the H.D.Deve Gowda-led Janata Dal (Secular) to form a government in the state. Dr. Manmohan Singh said as the JDS-BJP coalition had failed to deliver, the state would like to see the Congress emerge as the single largest party during the next Assembly elections. He hinted about winds of change in the state in October when the Janata Dal (Secular) is slated to handover the Chief Minister’s post to the BJP under their power-sharing formula.



There have been reports that former Prime Minister Deve Gowda is keen on sharing power again with the Congress instead of handing over the Chief Minister’s post to the BJP on Oct. 3.



In a related development, former Deputy Chief Minister Siddaramaiah called on Congress president Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi on August 3 to discuss the political situation in Karnata¬ka. Siddaramaiah, who was with the Janata Dal(Secular) till about a a year ago and left the party to join the Congress following differences with Deve Gowda, is opposed to the Con¬gress, entering into any power-sharing arrangement with the Janata Dal (Secular). Speaking later, Siddaramaih said the rank and file of the Congress in Karnataka was totally opposed to any alliance with the JDS.





Congress high command tells Delhi unit to stay united



The faction-ridden Delhi unit of the Congress has been given a strong message by the party high command not to fight among themselves, and instead, unite to expose the land allotment scam unearthed by the CBI.



The multi-crore scam, in which plots meant for slum-dwellers were grabbed by canteen contractor Ashok Malhotra, has not only exposed the nexus among land mafia, bureaucrats and politicians in the city but also put the spotlight back on the factionalism that ails Delhi Congress.



The scam, Delhi Congress leaders said, has split the party vertically with a section blaming Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit’s camp of resorting to dirty tricks and her supporters accusing detractors of trying to topple her.



The Congress high-command stepped in on Saturday, August 4, to control the situation. While Dikshit gave her version of events to party president Sonia Gandhi, general secretary Ashok Gehlot met a group of anti-Dikshit leaders, including Union Minister Ajay Maken, senior party leader Jagdish Tytler and Delhi Ministers Haroon Yusuf, A K Walia and A S Lovely.



“There is no conspiracy to topple the government. The allot¬ment of VIP number plates is not an issue at all. The real issue is the distribution of plots that took place when the BJP was in power in Delhi. The CBI should inquire into it and the guilty should be punished,” Gehlot told reporters after meeting the Delhi leaders. He denied the possibility of a change of leader¬ship in the state, saying, “It is not under discussion now.”