Cong puts allies in their places

 

 

The coalition experience for the Congress Party during the last Lok Sabha was a tightrope walk. Regional satraps like Laloo Prasad Yadav, Ram Vilas Paswan or T. R. Balu always kept the Congress leadership on tenterhooks. Many a times, these leaders created political trouble for the government to get their demands fulfilled. However, the dice rolled in favour of the Congress during the 15th Loksabha. None of the allies are in a position of tough political bargaining. The Congress leadership feels political arithmetic is in its favour and that there is no need to face tantrums of NCP or DMK.

Political relationship between the Congress and DMK soured at the time of the formation of the government. Karunanidhi had wanted key portfolios such as telecom, surface transport, health and home. He had even stayed in Delhi for three days. However, after three rounds of discussions, he got the hint that his demands were not commensurate with DMK's strength in Parliament. He was even reminded of Ramadoss' confrontation with the AIIMS director, how he had kept pending files that would have increased seats of nursing and dental colleges and how it had maligned the image of UPA. The Congress leadership gave the Telecom portfolio to DMK and even accommodated Azagiri. An offended Karunanidhi returned to Chennai. He did not attend the oath ceremony. Now, he does not even pick calls of any Congress leader except those of Ghulam Nabi Azad. A bigger blow for DMK arrived when the Congress leadership decided to go it alone in the Assembly polls in Tamil Nadu.

DMK is mainly unhappy, though it was given the telecom ministry, as it was made clear that no DMK minister will not be able to take any policy decision. A group of five ministers was appointed under the stewardship of Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee which will take policy decisions pertaining to these ministries. This clearly meant that the government denied a free hand to DMK ministers like Ramadoss or Balu had enjoyed in their earlier innings. The helplessness of these ministers can be gauged by the fact that nine bureaucrats from PMO and the National Security Advisor can also intervene in functioning of any of these ministries. According to reliable sources, the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) has a keen eye on nine cases involving the ministry of road and surface transport, 23 cases in the health ministry and 18 cases in the telecom ministry. The matter of spectrum allocation during the tenure of A. Raja in the last UPA government is already on the CVC radar. Government agencies are also trying to decipher how money allocated to Balu's ministry evaporated during his tenure. Ghulam Nabi Azad has been called upon to restore AIIMS to its glory days. DMK ministers have to take prior permission from PMO to take any policy-related decision. Ministers of state have been just left with the ceremonial job of inaugurating events. Textile minister Dayanidhi Maran has been demanding for the removal of a UP-cadre bureaucrat but PMO is not keen. Telecom minister A. Raja had shown keen interest during auctioning of 2-G Spectrum allocation, but during allocation of 3-G spectrum, he has been kept away from the matter. M K Azagiri, as it is, is plagued by his weakness in both English and Hindi. He has to take the help of a personal assistant while communicating with Pranab Mukherjee which he finds most irritating. Azagiri avoids attending Cabinet meeting, always being out of Delhi during such meeting.

In Maharashtra, the Congress has to swallow a bitter pill despite winning 20 more seats in the recently concluded Assembly election than its alliance partner NCP. It has to dole out key portfolios to NCP. A senior Congress leader said on the condition of anonymity that attitude of NCP is not Congress-friendly but rather enemy-friendly. The Congress in-charge of Maharashta, A. K. Antony, openly accepted that the party had to bend before NCP just to stop Shiv Sena from coming to power. He told TSI, “The Congress has compromised on government formation with a heavy heart.”

Since the Congress had a pre-poll alliance with NCP during the Lok Sabha election and the recently concluded Assembly polls, the latter retained the ministries it had held in its earlier tenure. Agatha Sangma was made minister of state after Sonia Gandhi's intervention. However, decisions taken by Sharad Pawar and Praful Patel during UPA's earlier tenure have not been taken lightly in the newly constituted government. Pawar and Patel's free hand in running their respective ministries seem to be over. Consultation with Planning Commission vice-chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia was made mandatory on the range of issues that ranges from implementation of proposals of Agriculture Pricing Commission to procurement of foodgrains. Pranab Mukerjee made pre-orchestrated comment against Pawar’s love for cricket. A vast majority in the government feels that Pawar does not focus properly on his ministry. The government believes that had Agriculture Pricing Commission chairman Swaminathan’s recommendations were accepted, the sector would not have nearly collapse. Former member of Agriculture Price Commission Atul Kumar Anjan told TSI, “Had the government accepted these recommendations, prices of pulses and cereals would not have hit the roof. The ministry of agriculture is the culprit. If Rabi harvest is not good and sugarcane growers don't get the right price for their products, it will adversely affect sugar production. It will certainly result in double-digit growth in inflation. Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh says,“If UPA fails to tame rising price of foodgrains, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will be blamed. So, if he is trying to address the situation, it should not be construed as interference in work. Pawar is apparently unhappy over the growing interference of the Planning Commission in everyday functioning of his ministry. He feels that Montek Singh Ahluwalia is only a puppet in the hands of Manmohan Singh. Pawar made his grievances public at the economic editors' conference. He said it would take time to control prices and that sugar stock was not sufficient to fulfil demand. He added that the problem could be tackled by importing sugar. The PMO has kept the agriculture ministry file pertaining to sugar import pending. The PMO wants the agriculture ministry to route the imports through the State Trading Corporation as it will help lowering the price.

Praful Patel, too, needs National Security Advisor M. K. Narayanan's nod to take any policy decision. A committee has been formed to review the decisions taken during his earlier tenure. This has resulted in delay of modernisation of airports. A confidential report says that during his earlier tenure, the national carrier suffered while private ones benefited.

Trinamool Congress Chief Mamata Banerjee is completely focusing on West Bengal. She has not been able to provide complete attention to railway ministry. So, the PMO is completely shouldering her burden on all policy-related matters. The Congress seems to be happy with the way she has rescinded decisions taken during Laloo's tenure. Congress hopes to gain ground in Bihar at the cost of Laloo. It has even hinted at fighting the West Bengal Assembly polls jointly with Trinamool.

The Congress wants to fight next parliamentary polls on the basis of UPA's performance. It knows that regional partners can be easily replaced. And with the Opposition BJP in disarray, there is certainly more elbow room for the party and the UPA government’.