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)
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