Home arrow Archives arrow Round the States arrow Round The States 2009 arrow Manmohan’s New Team:Raw Deal For Some States, by Insaf,28 May 2009
 
Home
News and Features
INFA Digest
Parliament Spotlight
Dossiers
Publications
Journalism Awards
Archives
RSS
 
 
 
 
 
 
Manmohan’s New Team:Raw Deal For Some States, by Insaf,28 May 2009 Print E-mail

Round The States

New Delhi, 28 May 2009

Manmohan’s New Team

Raw Deal For Some States

By Insaf

Manmohan Singh’s team is finally in place. After three days and several rounds of hectic brainstorming, he and Sonia Gandhi have hand-picked a total tally of 78 ministers comprising 33 of Cabinet rank, seven Ministers of State with independent charge and 38 Ministers of State. Various conflicting claims based on caste, region and community have been taken into consideration. However, it has left some of the bigger states unhappy, even angry with the raw deal they have received. Andhra Pradesh is a prominent case in point. Despite sending a record number of 33 Congress MPs, the State has just one Cabinet Minister in S. Jaipal Reddy and five Ministers of State. The total strength of AP Ministers in the previous UPA Government was six and this has remained unchanged despite the State sending many more MPs. In sharp contrast, neighbouring Karnataka returned only six MPs. It has got five Ministers of whom three are of Cabinet rank. S.M. Krishna, Veerappa Moily and Malikarjun Kharga.

Equally hurt by the raw deal are UP, Bihar and Orissa. Even though UP has been given five Ministers of State, it has none in the Cabinet. UP expected to get better representation since the Congress Party’s efforts to revive itself in the State spectacularly paid off. The party, no doubt, faced a dilemma in how to pick Salman Khursheed over Sriprakash Jaiswal who has now won thrice in a row. But there was a way out. Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi could have easily picked up Mohsina Kidwai, one of the senior-most Congress members and formerly a Cabinet Minister from UP. This would have given greater representation to women apart from making the Muslims happier. There is no Muslim representation in the Cabinet from UP, Bihar or West Bengal where the community voted for UPA in large numbers. A group of prominent Muslims had pleaded for at least 11 Muslim Ministers. Eight States have drawn a blank: Chhattisgarh, Arunachal, Mizoram, Manipur, Sikkim, Nagaland, Tripura and Goa.

*                     *                                               *                                                 *

Mamata Focus On Bengal

Having turned the tables on the Left Front in West Bengal, Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee will not let her new responsibility as Union Railway Minister derail her bigger plans. She has made it known that she would have little time for Delhi and in fact, took charge of her ministry in Kolkata on Tuesday last, the first time a Union Minister has done so. Her focus is to end the 30-year rule of the Left Front in the State in the 2011 Assembly elections. Thus, for her the core issues are the SEZs, agriculture and industry. The TMC is thus preparing to resume the agitation against land acquisition by the State government, giving top priority to the 400 acres acquired from ‘unwilling’ farmers in Singur for the Nano car plant. As for violence-ridden Nandigram, peace seems to be returning. Mamata will be able to further test her strength in the State, with byelections  to 12 Assembly seats, which fell vacant with the MLAs getting elected to the Lok Sabha this year, and elections to the Municipalities and the Kolkata Corporation next year.

*                                               *                 *                                                 *

Mindless Violence In Punjab

Punjab was set ablaze in dmindless violence by low-caste Sikhs protesting against a bloody clash over gurdwara offerings in which Sant Niranjan Das of the Jalandhar-based religious sect Dera Sachkhand Ballan was injured and his second in command killed, in far off Vienna on Sunday last. Three persons were dead and many injured in Monday’s violence. The Army had to be called out and curfew imposed in Amritsar, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Phagwara, Phillaur and Hoshiarpur as protestors played havoc with law and order. Thousands of passengers were stranded as protestors’ disrupted traffic on the Grand Trunk Road and the Ludhiana-Amritsar rail section. The Railways had to cancel or re-route almost 50 trains as a precautionary measure after agitators set ablaze two trains in Punjab and squatted on tracks. The Election Commission had to put off polling for Nurmahal Assembly seat from May 28 to June 12. Even adjoining Himachal Pradesh was affected with the administration stopping state-run bus services to Punjab, after two buses were torched. So was the case in Haryana, which witnessed violence in Ambala. Worse, hundreds of Vaishno Devi pilgrims in Jammu and Kashmir were stranded in Katra. While Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal convened an all-party meet condemning the Vienna incident, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was prompted to appeal for peace. 

*                                               *                 *                                                 *

Naveen Sets Record In Orissa

Naveen Patnaik has set a record in Orissa by becoming Chief Minister for the third time in a row. With a landslide victory in the recent Assembly elections under his belt, 103 seats in a 147-member Assembly, the 62-year-old BJD chief Patnaik is expected to have smooth sailing in the House. Not only does he not have an opposition, but more importantly there is hardly a leader in its ranks who can be a real challenge to him. Most veterans from either the Congress or the BJP got defeated. Given that as it may, Patnaik has decided to reward loyalists for the commendable performance of his party. He has brought in people loyal to him, such as Suryo Narayan Patro and his advisor Pyari Mohan Mohapatra to head important ministries. He, however, has kept some key portfolios with himself, particularly the home ministry, to keep a watch on the fight against the Maoists, who have spread their base over 15 of the State’s 30 districts. Reports are that the Maoists are preparing for a phased armed confrontation and this could be Patnaik’s biggest challenge other than meeting the high expectations of his people in the State.

*                      *                                               *                                                 *

Tamil Nadu’s Family Ties

In Tamil Nadu, the family triumphs over the party insofar as the DMK chief M Karunanidhi is concerned. The drama over Cabinet berths between the Congress and the DMK ended on Sunday last, with Karunanidhi coming around to accepting seven berths as against his original demand of nine posts. It now comes to light that more than the bargaining with the Congress, the DMK was caught between conflicting claims of five aspirants, all supported and blessed by different members of Karunanidhi’s extended family. While MK Azhagiri, 58-year-old son and first time MP had the backing of Karunanidhi’s second wife, Dayalu Ammal, his daughter, Rajya Sabha member Kanimozhi had the backing of her mother, and Karunanidhi’s third wife Rajathi. Grand nephew, Dayanidhi Maran apparently had Karunandhi’s elder daughter Selvi’s support. And, though former Minister for Surface Transport and Shipping TR Baalu and A Raja four-time MP and former IT Minister are not in the family, they are said to be close to Rajathi and Dayalu households respectively!---INFA

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)

< Previous   Next >
 
   
     
 
 
  Mambo powered by Best-IT