04-30-2006, 06:28 AM
Congress ministers out of PMâs control
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- By Seema Mustafa and Venkatesh Kesari
New Delhi, April 29: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is finding it difficult to control the Congress ministers in his Cabinet who are publicly airing their differences on crucial issues with the support of several party leaders. Congress president Sonia Gandhiâs silence is encouraging the Congressmen to target the Prime Minister in a sustained attack that is acquiring the dimension of a new offensive.
The criticism is no longer muted but a topic of open conversation with Union human resources development minister Arjun Singhâs reservation policy and former external affairs minister Natwar Singhâs interviews to the media being central to the dissent. Many MPs who had maintained a grim silence when Mr Natwar Singh had to resign from the party in the wake of the Volcker report are now openly shaking their heads and saying, "Poor man, he was such a loyalist and look at the way he is being treated." Mr Natwar Singh himself was surprised at the number of telephone calls he received congratulating him for his strong views against the governmentâs current foreign policy.
Mr Arjun Singhâs comments on reservation have been more controversial, although several MPs told this newspaper that minister Kapil Sibal "had no business" contradicting the senior leaderâs proposal once this had been made public. The Prime Minister is being held responsible for Mr Sibalâs open contradiction of a government policy announced by a Cabinet colleague as both were, at the time, travelling together on a visit to Germany and Uzbekistan. The anti-Arjun Singh section of the Congress party, which was also very active last week, had been maintaining that the minister was eyeing the top post by positioning himself as the new voice for the backwards in the Manmohan Singh government.
Officially, the Congress party has decided to keep out of the reservations policy even though it cannot contradict Mr Arjun Singh on the issue either. The Congress presidentâs son, Mr Rahul Gandhi, summed up the non-reaction on Saturday when he told reporters at Rae Bareli that "it is a very complex issue, both sides have valid points". Mr Arjun Singh and Mr Natwar Singh met recently on the formerâs invitation. Sources said the silence from 10, Janpath is seen by the party as a "green signal" to continue with Dr Manmohan Singh finding it impossible to influence the senior Congress ministers, who insist on independent functioning.
The latest to come out against the Prime Minister is permanent invitee to the Congress Working Committee M.L. Fotedar. In characteristic style, Mr Fotedar used the book on written by the late Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao on Ayodhya to strongly censure Dr Manmohan Singh. He said in a recent interview that at a Cabinet meeting on December 4, 1992 he had raised the issue of the Babri mosque and had then said, "Nothing has been done there, anything can happen." Mr Rao, he said, had responded to this by saying he was looking into it. Dr Manmohan Singh, finance minister at the time, supported Mr Rao, according to Mr Fotedar. "I told him (Dr Manmohan Singh), âKindly keep quiet, it is our duty to protect the disputed structure,â" he said.
In the same interview, to a Hindi magazine, Mr Fotedar spoke of the Cabinet meeting of December 6, 1992, when, he claimed, he had suggested that Mr Rao should take responsibility for the demolition of the mosque as this would ensure the emergence of a new Congress party. He said all the Cabinet ministers remained silent, "no one supported me". Mr Fotedar went on to speak of Mr Raoâs "chamchas", saying that while some sycophants retain some basic status, in this case the "chamchas" forgot all their principles. "I do not want to take the names of such persons," he said. Congress leaders are openly reading these remarks as a reference to the Prime Minister.
It might be recalled that the Tiwari Congress, formed just ahead of the 1996 Lok Sabha elections against then Prime Minister Narasimha Rao, was spearheaded, amongst others, by Mr Arjun Singh, Mr Natwar Singh and Mr M.L. Fotedar. The then UPCC president, Mr N.D. Tiwari, had broken away from the official Congress party to head the new formation that was named after him. Mr Tiwari, currently chief minister of Uttaranchal, is extremely unhappy in the current setup and has submitted his resignation on more than one occasion to Mrs Sonia Gandhi. The last resignation, a few weeks ago, was neither accepted nor rejected.
Sources said Congress MPs will now not hesitate to voice differences over policy decisions. Panchayati raj minister Mani Shankar Aiyar is reportedly very unhappy with the governmentâs silence over US ambassador David C. Mulfordâs remarks while speaking at the American Enterprise Institute at Washington earlier this week on the India-US civilian nuclear energy initiative. Ambassador Mulford was quoted by a news agency as having said in response to a question on the Iran pipeline project that "the Indians have made a change recently in their ministry of petroleum, which is read, in India at least, as the removal of the person who was very much keen on that project, out of that department." This was a clear reference to Mr Aiyar. The envoy then went on to say about the current petroleum minister, Mr Murli Deora: "There is a new person in there. He has a much broader knowledge of the energy problem and so on. So I donât see why that really should be a problem."
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<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Congress ministers out of PMâs control
- By Seema Mustafa and Venkatesh Kesari
New Delhi, April 29: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is finding it difficult to control the Congress ministers in his Cabinet who are publicly airing their differences on crucial issues with the support of several party leaders. Congress president Sonia Gandhiâs silence is encouraging the Congressmen to target the Prime Minister in a sustained attack that is acquiring the dimension of a new offensive.
The criticism is no longer muted but a topic of open conversation with Union human resources development minister Arjun Singhâs reservation policy and former external affairs minister Natwar Singhâs interviews to the media being central to the dissent. Many MPs who had maintained a grim silence when Mr Natwar Singh had to resign from the party in the wake of the Volcker report are now openly shaking their heads and saying, "Poor man, he was such a loyalist and look at the way he is being treated." Mr Natwar Singh himself was surprised at the number of telephone calls he received congratulating him for his strong views against the governmentâs current foreign policy.
Mr Arjun Singhâs comments on reservation have been more controversial, although several MPs told this newspaper that minister Kapil Sibal "had no business" contradicting the senior leaderâs proposal once this had been made public. The Prime Minister is being held responsible for Mr Sibalâs open contradiction of a government policy announced by a Cabinet colleague as both were, at the time, travelling together on a visit to Germany and Uzbekistan. The anti-Arjun Singh section of the Congress party, which was also very active last week, had been maintaining that the minister was eyeing the top post by positioning himself as the new voice for the backwards in the Manmohan Singh government.
Officially, the Congress party has decided to keep out of the reservations policy even though it cannot contradict Mr Arjun Singh on the issue either. The Congress presidentâs son, Mr Rahul Gandhi, summed up the non-reaction on Saturday when he told reporters at Rae Bareli that "it is a very complex issue, both sides have valid points". Mr Arjun Singh and Mr Natwar Singh met recently on the formerâs invitation. Sources said the silence from 10, Janpath is seen by the party as a "green signal" to continue with Dr Manmohan Singh finding it impossible to influence the senior Congress ministers, who insist on independent functioning.
The latest to come out against the Prime Minister is permanent invitee to the Congress Working Committee M.L. Fotedar. In characteristic style, Mr Fotedar used the book on written by the late Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao on Ayodhya to strongly censure Dr Manmohan Singh. He said in a recent interview that at a Cabinet meeting on December 4, 1992 he had raised the issue of the Babri mosque and had then said, "Nothing has been done there, anything can happen." Mr Rao, he said, had responded to this by saying he was looking into it. Dr Manmohan Singh, finance minister at the time, supported Mr Rao, according to Mr Fotedar. "I told him (Dr Manmohan Singh), âKindly keep quiet, it is our duty to protect the disputed structure,â" he said.
In the same interview, to a Hindi magazine, Mr Fotedar spoke of the Cabinet meeting of December 6, 1992, when, he claimed, he had suggested that Mr Rao should take responsibility for the demolition of the mosque as this would ensure the emergence of a new Congress party. He said all the Cabinet ministers remained silent, "no one supported me". Mr Fotedar went on to speak of Mr Raoâs "chamchas", saying that while some sycophants retain some basic status, in this case the "chamchas" forgot all their principles. "I do not want to take the names of such persons," he said. Congress leaders are openly reading these remarks as a reference to the Prime Minister.
It might be recalled that the Tiwari Congress, formed just ahead of the 1996 Lok Sabha elections against then Prime Minister Narasimha Rao, was spearheaded, amongst others, by Mr Arjun Singh, Mr Natwar Singh and Mr M.L. Fotedar. The then UPCC president, Mr N.D. Tiwari, had broken away from the official Congress party to head the new formation that was named after him. Mr Tiwari, currently chief minister of Uttaranchal, is extremely unhappy in the current setup and has submitted his resignation on more than one occasion to Mrs Sonia Gandhi. The last resignation, a few weeks ago, was neither accepted nor rejected.
Sources said Congress MPs will now not hesitate to voice differences over policy decisions. Panchayati raj minister Mani Shankar Aiyar is reportedly very unhappy with the governmentâs silence over US ambassador David C. Mulfordâs remarks while speaking at the American Enterprise Institute at Washington earlier this week on the India-US civilian nuclear energy initiative. Ambassador Mulford was quoted by a news agency as having said in response to a question on the Iran pipeline project that "the Indians have made a change recently in their ministry of petroleum, which is read, in India at least, as the removal of the person who was very much keen on that project, out of that department." This was a clear reference to Mr Aiyar. The envoy then went on to say about the current petroleum minister, Mr Murli Deora: "There is a new person in there. He has a much broader knowledge of the energy problem and so on. So I donât see why that really should be a problem."
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