01-15-2006, 09:27 AM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>PM, Sonia in 'Q' huddle </b>
Pioneer News Service/ New Delhi
Bharadwaj's fate hangs fire ---- Rattled by the snowballing Quattrochi controversy, the Congress party's core group met on Saturday night to take stock of the situation.
Though Congress leaders described the meeting as routine political interaction, it triggered fierce speculation as an impression was created by party sources themselves that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was extremely upset at the turn of events.
There were reports in a section of the media that the Prime Minister had even sought the resignations of Law Minister H R Bharadwaj and Minister of Personnel Suresh Pachauri. Congress leaders did not rule out the fate of these Ministers being discussed at the core group meeting. Apart from the Prime Minister and Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Home Minister Shivraj Patil, HRD Minister Arjun Singh and Ms Gandhi's political secretary Ahmed Patel were present.
Congress spokespersons insisted that the top leadership examined the different resolutions prepared for the AICC plenary to be held in Hyderabad. Though this could have been the official agenda of the meeting, party leaders admit the Quattrochi issue might have dominated the proceedings. It is unlikely that the Prime Minister would cancel all his appointments to see the AICC resolutions.
Though what transpired at the meeting was not known, sources said the party would not like to be seen as acting under pressure and any decision on the fate of these two Ministers would be taken while the reshuffle-cum-expansion takes place later this month. But there's another opinion that dropping these Ministers in the reshuffle won't send a strong signal that the Prime Minister and the Congress president did not approve of the initiatives taken in the Quattrochi case. Sources said while the Law Minister's role had angered party leaders, Mr Pachauri's fault is that he did not properly brief the PM.
<b>Mr Pachauri works under the Prime Minister, who oversees the CBI's functioning, and he was supposed to have given the correct picture to Dr Singh about the mission of the Additional Solicitor-General. Senior leaders in the party are also alarmed by the impression in the media that the Prime Minister's authority could be compromised so easily. </b>The party has taken a grim view of the situation and the dominant view is that such an act would cause irreparable damage to the Government's image.
<b>There is worry that Ms Gandhi's image would also suffer if such controversies keep cropping up one after another.</b> <!--emo&
--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo-->Â There is a section in the Congress which has now started talking about the competence of certain persons in key ministries. They are planning to mount pressure on the Prime Minister to address these issues when he undertakes the much awaited Cabinet reshuffle.
These leaders feel the PM has suffered enough embarrassment because of the wrong or motivated decisions of his Ministers in the last six months.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Corrupt, Corrupt and shameless.
Pioneer News Service/ New Delhi
Bharadwaj's fate hangs fire ---- Rattled by the snowballing Quattrochi controversy, the Congress party's core group met on Saturday night to take stock of the situation.
Though Congress leaders described the meeting as routine political interaction, it triggered fierce speculation as an impression was created by party sources themselves that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was extremely upset at the turn of events.
There were reports in a section of the media that the Prime Minister had even sought the resignations of Law Minister H R Bharadwaj and Minister of Personnel Suresh Pachauri. Congress leaders did not rule out the fate of these Ministers being discussed at the core group meeting. Apart from the Prime Minister and Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Home Minister Shivraj Patil, HRD Minister Arjun Singh and Ms Gandhi's political secretary Ahmed Patel were present.
Congress spokespersons insisted that the top leadership examined the different resolutions prepared for the AICC plenary to be held in Hyderabad. Though this could have been the official agenda of the meeting, party leaders admit the Quattrochi issue might have dominated the proceedings. It is unlikely that the Prime Minister would cancel all his appointments to see the AICC resolutions.
Though what transpired at the meeting was not known, sources said the party would not like to be seen as acting under pressure and any decision on the fate of these two Ministers would be taken while the reshuffle-cum-expansion takes place later this month. But there's another opinion that dropping these Ministers in the reshuffle won't send a strong signal that the Prime Minister and the Congress president did not approve of the initiatives taken in the Quattrochi case. Sources said while the Law Minister's role had angered party leaders, Mr Pachauri's fault is that he did not properly brief the PM.
<b>Mr Pachauri works under the Prime Minister, who oversees the CBI's functioning, and he was supposed to have given the correct picture to Dr Singh about the mission of the Additional Solicitor-General. Senior leaders in the party are also alarmed by the impression in the media that the Prime Minister's authority could be compromised so easily. </b>The party has taken a grim view of the situation and the dominant view is that such an act would cause irreparable damage to the Government's image.
<b>There is worry that Ms Gandhi's image would also suffer if such controversies keep cropping up one after another.</b> <!--emo&
--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo-->Â There is a section in the Congress which has now started talking about the competence of certain persons in key ministries. They are planning to mount pressure on the Prime Minister to address these issues when he undertakes the much awaited Cabinet reshuffle. These leaders feel the PM has suffered enough embarrassment because of the wrong or motivated decisions of his Ministers in the last six months.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Corrupt, Corrupt and shameless.