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Sidelining allies: Congress’ next objective |
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The new Manmohan Singh Government marks the second step in the Congress game plan to reduce, if not end, dependence upon allies to retain power at the Centre. The first step was taken by the party when it chose not to have pre-poll alliances or seat-sharing deals with major partners, who had helped the party to run the United Progressive Alliance government during the last five years. The Congress may say that it could not agree to what it perceived to be the unreasonable demands of the allies such as the Samajwadi Party, the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Lok Janshakti Party in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, but basically the Congress chose to fight the Lok Sabha elections in these states on its own as part of the strategy formulated by party general secretary Rahul Gandhi, backed by his mother and party president Sonia Gandhi.
One look at the 79-member Manmohan Government makes it clear that the Congress has grabbed all key infrastructure and social sector ministries, except for IT and Telecom, which has gone to the DMK, and the Railways, which has been allotted to Trinamul Congress chief Mamata Banerjee.
Even where important ministries have been given to the allies, junior ministers belonging to the Congress have been put in place. A. Raja of the DMK has retained the crucial Information Technology and Telecom Ministry, but he will have to work with two young and assertive junior ministers from the Congress – Sachin Pilot and Gurudas Kamat.
It is also apparent that ministries that affect the lives of disadvantaged sections of the people have been allocated to Congress ministers and especially those who have the reputation of getting things done. Rahul Gandhi has often said that he wants to give top priority to ministries which look after rural infrastructure, health and education. The Rural Development Ministry, which was with Raghuvansh Prasad Singh of the RJD in UPA-I, has gone to C.P. Joshi from Rajasthan, who is credited with the Congress win in the Assembly and Lok Sabha elections in the State. Kapil Sibal, reputed to be an efficient Minister, has replaced Arjun Singh in the Human Resource Development Ministry.
Only the Nationalist Congress Party of Sharad Pawar appears to have got its way in the allocation of portfolios. Both Sharad Pawar and Praful Patel have retained the portfolios they had in the first Manmohan Singh government, despite their party not being able to improve on its Lok Sabha tally.
Perhaps the Congress is hoping to continue its alliance with the NCP in Maharashtra, which is going to have Assembly elections in four months time. But there are voices, and influential ones at that, which want the Congress to go it alone in the state. Significantly, the Congress has included in the new central cabinet people like former Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh who have been and are still espousing the strategy of breaking ties with the NCP and going it alone in the state. Sharad Pawar is not going to be very happy at co-existing with people like Deshmukh because their vote-bank in terms of the Marathas is the same.
DMK president and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi has been able to have his way so far as the inclusion of seven of his party nominees in the Union Council of Ministers is concerned, but was not able to get the important portfolios of Railways and Health, which he wanted for his party. But he should have the satisfaction of settling the feud in his family on sharing the crumbs of office, at least for the time being. By making his younger son M.K. Stalin Deputy Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, a day after the elder son M.K. Azhagiri took over as Chemicals and Fertilisers Minister at the Centre, he has secured peace in the family for the time being. But he will have to find a place for his daughter Kanimozhi some time in the future. Kanimozhi opted out of the Central Council of Ministers, when it became apparent that the Congress would not give an additional slot of Cabinet Minister or Minister of State with independent charge to the DMK to accommodate her.
While putting the allies in their place, the Congress has to weigh the pros and cons of dumping them altogether. Most of the regional parties have a history of anti-Congressism. The Congress would not want a situation to emerge where anti-Congressism again becomes the flavour of the day, so to say, in the political arena. In such a situation, the Congress realises that the major beneficiary will be the BJP, with whom most of the major regional outfits have allied with at one time or the other in the past.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said that his new cabinet is a mix of youth and experience. How this combination will answer the needs of the nation remains to be seen. But with the formation of the cabinet and the allocation of portfolios, the Congress has moved a considerable distance on the road to sidelining the allies.
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