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Political Notes |
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Downsizing ministries: Congress moves
The Congress high command has finally started the exercise of shortlisting “non-performing” ministers in states ruled by the party who are to be dropped while downsizing ministries to meet the deadline of July 7. The anti-defection law limits the size of a ministry to 15 per cent of the Assembly’s strength while permitting 12 ministers in small states. Though central party leaders are tight-lipped about the norms fixed to identify “incompetent” ministers, the chief ministers of the concerned states want the high command to identify the ministers to be axed.
Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh has said he would recommend to the high command that the performance of MLAs be the criteria for deciding the new councils of ministers. Capt. Singh has to drop eight of the 25 members of his Cabinet. Meanwhile, lobbying by rival ruling Congress groups loyal to the chief minister and his deputy, Ms Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, continued with a majority of former ministers camping in New Delhi and meeting senior AICC functionaries.
In Mumbai, the Congress ministers in the Democratic Front government have tendered their resignations to chief minister Sushilkumar Shinde.
Assembly polls : BJP moves
Putting the LS defeat behind, the BJP is getting together its state teams to deliver the goods for the Assembly polls. While leaders from Bihar, Jharkhand and Haryana will meet in the capital to chalk out a strategy, the Arunachal meeting is slated for July 10, for Bihar July 16, Jharkhand July 17 and Haryana July 18.
The only state left out of the exercise is Maharashtra where a BJP-Shiv Sena seat-sharing formula is already in place. Though the BSP has emerged as something of a phenomenon in Vidarbha, it is not clear if it will play spoilsport or throw its lot behind either of the principal formations. Right now, the BJP-Shiv Sena combine can only wait and watch the movement in the rival Congress-NCP camp over the BSP.
It is understood that in Bihar, the BJP-JD(U) alliance has opened up a channel to Steel Minister and Lok Janashakti Party leader Ram Vilas Paswan for a tie-up for Assembly polls. The tension between Paswan and Railway Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav over the allocation of portfolios has thrown up an opportunity for the BJP-JD(U) combine to reach out to the latter.
The Jharkhand BJP is in a state of mess. National vice-president Babulal Marandi was the BJP’s only winner in the recent Lok Sabha polls. The party leadership has to contend with a rivalry between Marandi, former Union minister Karia Munda and a relatively very junior Chief Minister Arjun Munda. Making matters worse is a rather uneasy alliance with the JD(U).
The Haryana picture is still unclear. Akali Dal leader Parkash Singh Badal is trying to broker an alliance between the BJP and Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala’s Indian National Lok Dal. However, all state leaders, with the exception of former Union minister I.D.Swami, are against a tie-up with Chautala.
Shiv Sena meet
With an eye over forthcoming assembly elections in Maharashtra, a two-day conclave of Shiv Sena would be held at Aurangabad from July 10. The meeting would fine-tune the party’s strategy for the assembly polls, slated to held in September-October and discuss threadbare the issues to be taken up against the Congress-NCP-led Democratic Front alliance, Sena sources have revealed.
Sena supremo Bal Thackeray is likely to adopt an aggressive stance over the issue of Hindutva at the conclave, the first after the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls, the sources indicated. Similarly, the saffron party’s debacle in urban areas in the general elections and efforts to overcome the shortcomings would be taken up at the meeting, besides galvanising the party cadre for the polls, they said.
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