Congress Undemocratic Ideology - 4

[ramana]

Is MMS doing a counter coup on INC?

Montek push mirrors divide



SANJAY K. JHA

New Delhi, Jan. 11: The Prime Minister has again expressed a desire to bring Montek Singh Ahluwalia into the cabinet, a Congress insider said. The proposal reflects the differences between the government and the party, which so far has had the support of Sonia Gandhi.



Several Congress leaders see the Planning Commission deputy chairman as “pro-US and pro-reforms” and feel that he is indifferent to the Congress’s left-of-centre ideology.



They think Ahluwalia’s inclusion in the cabinet will not send the right signal at a time the government and the party are trying to make their pro-poor agenda their signature tune.



Congress sources claimed that Sonia appreciated the reasons for the opposition to Montek, whom Manmohan Singh had tried to bring into the cabinet in the past, too.



That Montek is not a politician is seen as an added disqualification by many veteran Congress leaders, who conveniently overlook that Singh, too, had been a bureaucrat before he became finance minister.



If the party agrees to have Montek in the government, he is likely to be considered for the finance ministry, now held by Pranab Mukherjee.



Party sources said the Prime Minister was planning to shift Mukherjee to home affairs. Both the party and Singh favour P. Chidambaram’s exit from the home ministry.



However, no consensus seems to have emerged yet on the rejig, expected anytime after January 14. Sonia and Singh have met once to formally discuss the changes, and a few more meetings will take place soon.



While one party lobby feels Singh should be given a free hand to pick his cabinet, another wants Sonia to make a “meaningful intervention”.



Some Sonia loyalists also want Rahul Gandhi to join the government. They contend that only such a “decisive step” can bring about the “drastic makeover needed in this hour of crisis”.



“If Rahulji joins the cabinet, he will automatically become the centre of attraction and the focus will shift from Manmohan. Besides, he should start learning the intricacies of governance instead of wasting his time with the (party student wing) NSUI and Youth Congress,” a senior leader said. He suggested that the rural development ministry was ideal for Rahul at this stage.



However, some others in the party believe that Rahul should keep away from the government at a time it is enmeshed in controversies.



But after the poll setback in Bihar, and with the prospects looking grim in Uttar Pradesh, the number of leaders who want Rahul in the government has increased.



The Prime Minister’s plan to overhaul the infrastructure-related ministries, too, could emerge as a point of conflict because that would entail shuffling senior Congress leaders around.



The country may get a new human resource development minister with Kapil Sibal transferred to telecom, and efforts are on to bring a more dynamic minister into the foreign office.