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No States Reorganisation Commission : Pranab Mukherjee |
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With AICC media department chairman Veerappa Moily’s talk of a second States Reorganisation Commission creating controversy, the Congress has backtracked on the issue. External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee said in Kolkata on Jan. 20 that there was no immediate plan to set up a second SRC. He was speaking after holding a meeting with leaders of various parties regarding the inclusion of Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council in the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution, and opening of tea gardens in north Bengal. The Trinamul Congress did not take part in the all-party meeting.
Significantly, Mukherjee’s comments came days after celebra¬tions in the Darjeeling hills by those demanding a separate State of Gorkhaland who claimed that a second States Reorganisation Commission is on the verge of being constituted.
The Centre had “never” spoken about setting up a second SRC, Mukherjee said.
He spoke of the Centre’s move to grant Sixth Schedule status to the Darjeeling hills, adding that Bills seeking the necessary amendments to legislation relating to the Sixth Schedule that will pave the way for the setting up of a new hill council in the region had been placed for endorsement by Parliament in the winter session.
On the re-opening of tea gardens in north Bengal, he said though relief was being provided to the workers of 14 estates in the region by both the State and Central governments, “this is not adequate.”
“There is a need to re-open these units, and the Indian Tea Board has submitted a package for their revival,” he added.
Congress gets majority in Goa Assembly on its own
The Save Goa Front, which has two members in the Goa Assem¬bly, merged into the Congress on Jan. 21, increasing its strength to 18 in the 40-member Assembly. The Congress High Command has also cleared the request of three Independent MLAs to join the party. With this, the Congress strength in the Assembly moves up to 21, constituting a clear majority and reducing the blackmail¬ing potential of the allies.
Earlier this month, the Digambar Kamat coalition government was reduced to a minority after three Nationalist Congress Party legislators and an Independent announced that they were withdraw¬ing support.
With these developments, the Congress along with the three-member NCP, whose clout stands diluted, has 24 members in the Assembly. Apart from the NCP loss of clout, another loser will be the two-member MGP which crossed over from the BJP camp to the ruling side with a demand for ministerial berths.
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Newspaper founded by Nehru set to close down
National Herald, founded by Jawaharlal Nehru in 1938, and long considered the Congress voice, is likely to stop publica¬tion by March. AICC Treasurer Moti Lal Vora and the Employees’ Union are negotiating closure of the newspaper, which has suf¬fered massive losses for year blamed on poor management, lack of resources, surplus staff and drying up of advertisement.
Nehru was so attached to the paper he had founded that he declared : “I will not let the National Herald close down even if I have to sell Anand Bhavan, (the family home of the Nehrus in Allahabad).” Even now the paper carries the masthead “founded by Jawaharlal Nehru.”
Under the arrangement Vora reached with the Employees’ Union, over 250 employees, including around 40 journalists of the English and the Urdu editions, published from Delhi, will get compensation. A source said a Rs. 40-crore package had been finalised to pay them.
In 1998, Lucknow’s Nehru Manzil, from where the papers were published, witnessed the sad spectacle of government officials auctioning the Herald’s properties as a huge portrait of Nehru brooded over the sorry turn of events.
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