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Manmohan Government

	November 29, 2004

Mini expansion

The long-awaited expansion of the Manmohan Singh Government took place on Saturday (Nov. 27) with Jharkhand Mukti Morcha chief Shibu Soren staging a comeback and allocation of a portfolio to TRS chief K. Chandrashekhar Rao who was a Minister without portfolio. Shibu Soren had quit the cabinet on July 24 after a Jharkhand Court issued a non-bailable arrest warrant against him in a 20-year old massacre case. He was able to secure bail after spending over a month in judicial custody. He was on bail since September 8.

Shibu Soren also got back his portfolio, the Ministry of Coal, but without the charge of Mines, which has been given to Sis Ram Ola of the Congress. K. Chandrashekhar Rao who had been a Minister without portfolio since the formation of the Manmohan Singh Government in May this year, was allocated the Ministry of Labour.

Observers say that the Prime Minister was not very keen on an expansion of his Cabinet at this stage, but was forced to go in for it because of pressure from the Congress allies in the United Progressive Alliance Government. Voices have been heard in the recent past against the Congress tendency to retain most of the powers and perquisites of office. Parties like the Nationalist Congress Party have been raising their voice against the Congress appointing its members as State Governors without even consulting the allies. JMM, an important player in Jharkhand, which would be going to the polls to elect a new Assembly early next year, has also been wanting its share of the cake. It appears to have been insisting on reinduction of Shibu Soren in the Cabinet despite criminal cases pending against him, once he secured bail in the cases. TRS has also been stridently raising its demand for formation of a separate state of Telengana out of Andhra Pradesh. Now that its leader, Chandrashekhar Rao, has been given a portfolio, it is expected that it may go slow on the demand. Already, TRS has stated that the word of UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi would be final on the formation of a separate Telengana state.

Shibu Soren’s inclusion in the cabinet is expected to give more fodder to the opposition, especially the BJP, to target the Manmohan Singh Government on the question of tainted Ministers in the parliament session, beginning on December 1. But it has paved the way for a Congress-JMM alliance against the incumbent BJP in the Jharkhand Assembly elections scheduled to be held in February or March next year.

The Prime Minister though was hopeful that the BJP would not make an issue of Shibu Soren’s return. “The basis because of which he left the Government does not exist,” he said. Dr. Singh hoped that the Winter Session of Parliament would run smoothly, and that “the Opposition will be accommodated to the maximum possible extent.” If the Opposition wants to raise any issue, the Government will have no hesitation in discussing it and it should be debated in Parliament.”

After taking charge of the Coal Ministry, Soren said he was happy being back in the Government. “I belong to the coal belt of the country and there is no reason why I should be unhappy. Soren joined issue with the BJP which he accused of “engineering” his resignation in the first place and terming him an “absconder.”

“I am the only tribal leader crusading for the rights of the adivasis. I have struggled throughout my life for ensuring their rights, so there were cases against me. But, be it me, the Prime Minister or the Shankaracharya, the law will take its course.”



UPA Coordination Committee meeting : Panel on Telengana

The United Progressive Alliance has decided to constitute a sub-committee to discuss issues relating to the demand for a separate Telengana state. The Coordination Committee of the UPA took the decision at a three-hour long meeting at the Prime Minister’s residence on Friday, November 26. It came in the wake of sustained pressure by the TRS which has been spearheading the Telengana state campaign for a long time. TRS leaders have expressed their resentment over the Telengana issue being relegated to the cold storage despite its inclusion in the UPA’s Common Minimum Programme.

Reports say that the dinner meeting witnessed lively discussion on political and policy matters, but by no stretch of the imagination it could be termed as rumblings or fireworks. Observers say Congress representatives at the meeting demonstrated their skill in diplomatic management of coalition with the result that everybody was singing the tune of political unity.



Women’s Reservation Bill deferred again

Observers say that RJD leader Lalu Prasad Yadav once again thwarted the possibility of the Government introducing the long-pending Women’s Reservation Bill. Faced with his opposition to the Bill, the Coordination Committee agreed to hold back the Bill for further discussion, making it clear that it will not be introduced in the coming session of Parliament. It was decided that the Government should first ascertain the “final views” of all political parties, the ruling as well as the Opposition, on the issue before reaching a decision to introduce the Bill.

The meeting decided to introduce the National Employment Guarantee Bill during the session besides proposing to introduce about 20 Bills, including 11 “high priority” legislations. The Government will give priority to Bills meant for replacing ordinances. Besides the repeal of POTA and its replacement by the Unlawful Activities Prevention Bill, the Patents Amendments Bill, Banking Regulation Amendments Bill, Public Health Emergency Bill, Pension Fund Bill, and Payment of Wages Bill might be on top of the Government’s list.



Left unhappiness

The UPA-Left Coordination Committee also met during the week where the Communist parties asked the Government to reduce the prices of LPG and diesel and restore the 9.5 per cent interest rate on Employees Provident Fund. Within hours of the meeting on November 24, the Government decided to roll back its decision to raise the LPG price by Rs. 5 every month. Congress sources said the Government had secured the Left parties understanding and even an agreement on the issue of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the telecom and banking sectors. They said the Left’s concerns on the proposed amendments to the Patents Bill had been addressed. In return the Government is said to have agreed to their demand for restoring the 9.5 interest rate on EPF.

Observers say that despite the series of meetings with the UPA leaders, the Left parties are concerned over the attitude of the Government in addressing the sensitivities of the parties supporting the Government from outside. Sources in the CPI(M), CPI and All India Forward Bloc say that the Left parties feel that the Manmohan Singh Government is not much bothered in addressing their concerns. One major complaint was that the Government did not appear to be serious in implementing the Common Minimum Programme which, they felt, was more to elicit the Left support. The Left leaders said several points in the programme had not even been touched upon so far.

Rumblings against the Congress attitude were heard during the week both within the UPA and among parties supporting the Government from outside. The Nationalist Congress Party of Sharad Pawar warned the Congress not to treat the government as its personal fiefdom and urged it to follow the coalition dharma.

“The UPA is not a Congress government. It is a coalition of various parties; the Congress should remember it has only 145 members in the Lok Sabha,” NCP spokesperson D.P. Tripathi said. He urged the Congress to convene regular monthly meetings of the UPA coordination committee to discuss all power-sharing issues.

In the first public critical remarks after the NCP was armtwisted into conceding the Maharashtra Chief Minister’s post to the Congress, the party used unusually strong language to drive home its point.

Asking the Congress to drop its “big brother” attitude, Tripathi said the coordination committee should meet every month.

The differences between the Congress and the supporting parties also came to light during an all-party meeting held to ensure smooth functioning of Parliament. Two of the supporting parties - the CPI and the Samajwadi Party - said the onus for ensuring a constructive session lay squarely with the Manmohan Singh Government.

“The responsibility for paving the way for a hassle-free session lies with the Government. But we have a Prime Minister who has no control over his cabinet colleagues. How can he control the House ?” wondered Samajwadi Party veteran Mohan Singh, alluding to the sparring between senior RJD leader Raghuvansh Prasad Singh and Lok Janshakti Party chief Rambilas Paswan recently.

In Lucknow, Samajwadi Party president and Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav asked his party workers to prepare for a decisive battle against the Congress, and appealed to the Left parties to gear up for the formation of a Third Front. This is the first time that the Samajwadi Party has mounted a blistering attack on the Congress. Hostilities between the Congress and the Samajwadi Party till now were restricted to occasional statements against each other, and the differences were issue-based.

The Congress, meanwhile, has reacted sharply to the Samajwadi Party attack and if indications are to be believed, the war can get only worse in the coming days.



PC’s outfit merges with the Congress

Finance Minister P. Chidambaram who had rejoined the Congress ahead of the Lok Sabha polls and got elected to the Lower House on a party ticket, has formalised the merger of his erstwhile outfit Congress Jananayaga Peravai with the Congress. Chidambaram along with his colleagues and son attended the merger function at the Congress headquarters.

Asked about the delay in the merger of his outfit with the Congress even though he had rejoined the Congress in April, Chidambaram said though he had discussed the merger with Congress leaders soon after he rejoined the party, the event was delayed due to various preoccupations like Lok Sabha polls, budget session and Maharashtra elections. “Thee was no time to go ahead with the merger formally,” he said.