12-06-2005, 11:39 PM
I gotta tell ya these scums have no self respect whatsoever. For them, italian Sonia is queen.
For Natwar, the buck stopped at 10 Janpath
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Navin Upadhyay/ New Delhi
The drama revolving around Natwar Singh's midnight visit to Congress president Sonia Gandhi and the subsequent announcement by Congress spokesperson Anand Sharma that he was willing to quit the Union Cabinet has reinforced the impression that 10 Janpath calls the shots not only in running the party but also the UPA Government.
While Natwar Singh carried on being defiant after meeting the Prime Minister on Saturday and shouted from the rooftops that he refused to become the sacrificial lamb, he nevertheless surrendered to the dictate of Ms Sonia Gandhi like a lamb.
<b>Sources said that Ms Gandhi had agreed to grant him a hearing only after Mr Singh promised to resign from the Cabinet.</b> Sources said in his meeting with Ms Gandhi on Tuesday, Mr Natwar Singh discussed with her the draft of the resignation later, which he is to submit to Mr Manmohan Singh when the latter returns from Moscow on Wednesday. Clearly for him, the real boss was not the Prime Minister but the all-powerful party president.
The message was rammed home when Congress spokesman Anand Sharma and not the Prime Minister's media advisor Sanjaya Baru briefed the media about Mr Natwar Singh's decision. The claim that Mr Natwar Singh spoke to the Prime Minister and conveyed his decision to quit before his meeting with Ms Gandhi has a twist. <b>If Mr Singh had indeed followed protocol and informed the Prime Minister of his decision to put in his papers hours before his meeting with Ms Gandhi, why was the matter not disclosed either by the party or the Government till the parley at Ms Gandhi's residence was over. Was there a deliberate attempt to create an impression that the buck stops at 10 Janpath?</b>
It was Ms Gandhi who set the stage for Mr Natwar Singh's removal from the Cabinet on Monady night when she threw him out of the all-powerful Congress Steering Committee. By her one act, she scored many political points besides exposing the PMO's feeble-handed approach in dealing with Mr Natwar Singh and underlining her own firm handling of the situation. <b>There was a clear message that a minister could defy the Prime Minister but not 10 Janpath.</b>
<b>On the other hand, the Prime Minister's decision to leave it to Mr Natwar Singh
to decide whether he want to opt for VRS or not, will be seen as an abdication of his responsibility to decide who should be a part of his Cabinet.</b>
<i>Weakest, spineless prime minister anyone???</i>
In similar situations in the past, the PMO had acted firmly and conveyed to JMM (S) leader Sibu Soren and RJD's Jay Prakash Narian Yadav in clear terms that their continuation in the Council of Ministers had become untenable.
The development will clearly provide more armoury to the Opposition, which is clamouring for Ms Gandhi resignation from the post of chairperson of the National Advisory Council on the allegation of influencing Government policies and on-going probe on the Volcker Report.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
For Natwar, the buck stopped at 10 Janpath
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Navin Upadhyay/ New Delhi
The drama revolving around Natwar Singh's midnight visit to Congress president Sonia Gandhi and the subsequent announcement by Congress spokesperson Anand Sharma that he was willing to quit the Union Cabinet has reinforced the impression that 10 Janpath calls the shots not only in running the party but also the UPA Government.
While Natwar Singh carried on being defiant after meeting the Prime Minister on Saturday and shouted from the rooftops that he refused to become the sacrificial lamb, he nevertheless surrendered to the dictate of Ms Sonia Gandhi like a lamb.
<b>Sources said that Ms Gandhi had agreed to grant him a hearing only after Mr Singh promised to resign from the Cabinet.</b> Sources said in his meeting with Ms Gandhi on Tuesday, Mr Natwar Singh discussed with her the draft of the resignation later, which he is to submit to Mr Manmohan Singh when the latter returns from Moscow on Wednesday. Clearly for him, the real boss was not the Prime Minister but the all-powerful party president.
The message was rammed home when Congress spokesman Anand Sharma and not the Prime Minister's media advisor Sanjaya Baru briefed the media about Mr Natwar Singh's decision. The claim that Mr Natwar Singh spoke to the Prime Minister and conveyed his decision to quit before his meeting with Ms Gandhi has a twist. <b>If Mr Singh had indeed followed protocol and informed the Prime Minister of his decision to put in his papers hours before his meeting with Ms Gandhi, why was the matter not disclosed either by the party or the Government till the parley at Ms Gandhi's residence was over. Was there a deliberate attempt to create an impression that the buck stops at 10 Janpath?</b>
It was Ms Gandhi who set the stage for Mr Natwar Singh's removal from the Cabinet on Monady night when she threw him out of the all-powerful Congress Steering Committee. By her one act, she scored many political points besides exposing the PMO's feeble-handed approach in dealing with Mr Natwar Singh and underlining her own firm handling of the situation. <b>There was a clear message that a minister could defy the Prime Minister but not 10 Janpath.</b>
<b>On the other hand, the Prime Minister's decision to leave it to Mr Natwar Singh
to decide whether he want to opt for VRS or not, will be seen as an abdication of his responsibility to decide who should be a part of his Cabinet.</b>
<i>Weakest, spineless prime minister anyone???</i>
In similar situations in the past, the PMO had acted firmly and conveyed to JMM (S) leader Sibu Soren and RJD's Jay Prakash Narian Yadav in clear terms that their continuation in the Council of Ministers had become untenable.
The development will clearly provide more armoury to the Opposition, which is clamouring for Ms Gandhi resignation from the post of chairperson of the National Advisory Council on the allegation of influencing Government policies and on-going probe on the Volcker Report.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->