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Political cross-currents |
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Third Front in Bihar
Bihar could become the test case for an anti-BJP and anti-Congress Third Front alliance. Last week saw hectic parleys with the objective of forging a new understanding between the Janata Dal United, Lok Janshakti Party, Samajwadi Party, CPI(ML), RSP and CPI for an electoral alliance against the RJD-Congress combination in the coming Assembly elections in the State. A senior Member of Parliament of the JDU who refused to be named said that efforts are on to make the party break off from the BJP. If necessary, even party president George Fernandes may be dumped as he is in favour of keeping up the ties with the BJP. The Iftar parties being hosted in Patna have been the trend setters in this direction. The presence of JDU leader Nitish Kumar, at the Iftar party hosted by the Lok Janshakti Party leader and Union Minister Ram Bilas Paswan has triggered speculation in political circles. Nitish Kumar of late has been appealing to Paswan from public platforms to lead the battle against Lalu Prasad Yadav’s RJD. He is even prepared to accept Paswan as Chief Minister if the proposed alliance comes to power.
There may be further developments once the NDA meeting on Monday is over.
Left’s pressures on the Manmohan Government
The Left parties held demonstrations at several places in the country last week to protest against the hike in the prices of petrol, diesel and cooking gas. At rallies at various places, they made the point that the UPA Government headed by Manmohan Singh may also be thrown out of power like the previous NDA if it continues pursuing anti-poor and anti-people policies. Even one of the parties which is represented in the Government, the DMK, has demanded rollback in the prices of petroleum products. The Prime Minister has said that there will be no rollback, but at the same time, he said, a relook at oil prices may be possible. At a meeting on Sunday (Nov.7), he appealed to the Left parties to realise that the hike in the prices of petroleum products had become unavoidable. He said the hike was essential for finding money to execute social programmes for the poor as well as ensure the health of public sector companies.
There are reports that the Left parties are also demanding increase in the rate of interest on Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF). They are expected to increase pressure on the issue after the UPA-Left Coordination Committee meeting takes place. The meeting was scheduled last week, but was postponed because of Palestine leader Yasser Arafat’s death.
Cabinet reshuffle ?
There are reports that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh may reshuffle his Council of Ministers before November 28 when he is to leave for Laos to attend the 10th ASEAN summit. It is expected that the proposed cabinet reshuffle will have the imprint of Dr. Manmohan Singh. Sources say that the reshuffle has been under the active consideration of the Prime Minister ever since he had prepared a report card of all ministries. He is reported to have discussed the matter with UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi.
Maharashtra : Congress-led Government takes office
A new Congress-NCP Government headed by Vilasrao Deshmukh of the Congress has taken office in Maharashtra. It consists of 25 Cabinet and 13 Ministers of State. Twenty-four of the 43 total berths in the Council of Ministers have gone to the Nationalist Congress Party of Sharad Pawar. The Congress will have to remain content with 18 Ministers including the Chief Minister. It has yet to fill up three of its slots. Even after the swearing in, a lot of haggling went on for portfolios within both major parties, the Congress and the NCP. It took several days to finalise the portfolios and even when they were ultimately announced, there was a lot of dissatisfaction. Chhagan Bhujbal who was Deputy Chief Minister earlier, gave open expression to his unhappiness at the portfolio given to him.
UP byelection countermanded
In a major blow to the ruling Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh, the Election Commission has countermanded the byelection held on October 13 in Mainpuri Lok Sabha constituency. The bypoll was conducted after Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav’s resignation from the seat. He had fielded his nephew Dharmendra Singh Yadav as the Samajwadi Party candidate. The Election Commission took the action after complaints of largescale rigging in the constituency and intimidation of voters during the polls. Fresh polling is now to be held next month.
Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts reconstituted
The Government has reconstituted the Board of Trustees of the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts by retiring all the old trustees and replacing them with new nominees. The trustees retired included Congress President Sonia Gandhi, former President R. Venkataraman, and former Prime Minister Narasimha Rao. The new trustees include Rattan Tata, noted film-makers Adoor Gopalakrishnan and Mrinal Sen and former Foreign Secretary Salman Haider. Several of the trustees replaced were appointed by the previous Vajpayee-led NDA Government. Observers say that it was expected that these trustees would quit voluntarily after the regime change. But as this did not happen, a formula was evolved to retire all the eight trustees and appoint fresh members.
Fraud case against Union Minister
The tainted Ministers’ issue is back in focus. The controversial Union Minister for Civil Supplies Md. Taslimuddin, whose past is a catalogue of crime, including allegations of murder and assault, is now facing a serious case of fraud. Demand for the removal of Taslimuddin was echoed again by the BJP after disclosures that a local court had issued a non-bailable arrest warrant against him on October 5 on the charge of committing a fraud. The Minister is later reported to have reached a compromise with the person who had accused him of fraud.
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