By Nora Chopra
Manmohan wants finance under his thumb
The Congress will go to polls in 2014 under the leadership of no one else but Manmohan Singh. Whoever might be the Congress nominee for Rashtrapati Bhawan, one thing is clear: it is certainly not Manmohan Singh. Despite Mamata Banerjee and Mulayam Singh Yadav naming the PM as one of their choice of candidate for the post of the President, Congress is unlikely to agree on his name. Manmohan Singh has already refused to move out of 7 RCR. The Congress leadership has now assured him a full term till 2014 on the condition that he puts the economy on the track. It was after this that Sonia defended the PM in her speech at the CWC. Additionally, it is in view of this that the Prime Minister now wants total control of the finance ministry. The perception in the party is that this can only happen if Pranab Mukherjee is sent to Rashtrapati Bhawan, because unless he is moved out of North Block, it would not be possible for the PM to control the economy. There is already a blame game on. At the CWC, when the majority of the members attacked the government on economic issues, questions were being raised at the rank and file level as to who, between the two — PM and FM — was responsible for the situation. Many in the CWC blamed the FM without naming him; the others blamed the economy guru, the PM, again without naming him. In any case, one more thing is clear: whether Dada goes to Rashtrapati Bhawan or not, he will not be the Finance Minister in the next reshuffle. The Prime Minister wants it back with him.
No consensus on next finance minister
Even before Pranab Mukherjee has moved to Rashtrapati Bhawan, lobbying has begun for the post of the next Finance Minister. While the Prime Minister wants his economic adviser C Rangarajan or Montek Singh Ahluwalia, they are unlikely to get clearance from the party high command. The others in the queue are Kamalnath, Sushil Kumar Shinde, Anand Sharma, Kapil Sibal and Jairam Ramesh. As there is little chance of consensus between the party and the PM on a name, Manmohan Singh is likely to keep the portfolio with him for the time being.
Rajiv Shukla is the ‘New Amar Singh’
Rajiv Shukla has slipped into the shoes of the man he loves to hate. His party men, these days, are calling Shukla the ‘Amar Singh of the Congress’. After getting Sachin Tendulkar and Rekha into the Congress fold as Rajya Sabha MPs, he is now brokering a deal with the Samajwadi Party on the Presidential poll issue. It was Shukla who has engineered Mulayam Singh Yadav’s support for the Congress. To begin with, it was on Shukla’s efforts that Congress did not put up a candidate against Dimple Yadav in the Kannauj Parliamentary by poll. Another condition part of the deal is that Mulayam should get a Vice President of his choice, who, he thinks should be an OBC. His candidate is his cousin Ram Gopal Yadav. Yadav was the only one present from Mulayam’s side when Shukla brought Sachin to take his oath as an MP in the Vice President’s room. It then became clear that Yadav may well be Hamid Ansari’s successor once he moves out of the VP office.
Is Diggy eyeing Finmin?
It looks like the Congress is readying itself for a Kamraj plan and some of the AICC office bearers are getting ready to become ministers. The indications are that the AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh is also dreaming of becoming a minister. Diggy, who is an accused of the Congress debacle in UP, has been rewarded with a huge bungalow. Last month, Digvijay moved from his humble accommodation in South Avenue to 64 Lodhi Estate, allotted in the name of union minister Kishore Chand Deo. The government has spent a fortune on renovating the bungalow for the wily Thakur from Madhya Pradesh. His staff in AICC has been heard telling people, “Sahab mantri ban rahe hain.” The speculation is that he may even be the next finance minister, if Dada moves to Rashtrapati Bhavan. And, last but not the least, KC Deo is also a strong contender for the Vice President.
Mamata unkind to Pranab’s pet projects
Pranab Mukherjee may be the most powerful minister in the UPA but he has been rendered powerless in his own district Murshidabad, which has sent him to Parliament. It seems no project is going smoothly in Murshidabad. After the Aligarh Muslim University VC sent a written complaint to Mukherjee that illegal encroachment has almost stalled the construction work, the proposed Megha Food Park has now run into trouble. The food park was planned to host a number of food processing industries and, of course, boost employment and agriculture in North Bengal. The construction company has shot off a letter to Mukherjee directly last week alleging that ‘dacoits’ have taken away a lot of construction material and are now threatening the local contractors. The food park authorities have told Mukherjee the local police is not cooperating in the construction of the ambitious project that has almost come to a standstill. Ironically, both these projects — the food park and the Aligarh University campus — are facing law and order problems, when the ministry is with no other but with Mamata Banerjee. Her administration, it looks like, is not very keen to ensure smooth sailing of these big ticket projects in Dada’s political turf.
No election means no interest in muslims
After the Congress defeat in Uttar Pradesh, the UPA bosses, including the Prime Minister, is least concerned about the Muslim issues. A delegation from Darul Ulum Deoband, led by its rector Abul Qasim, called upon the PM to give him a memorandum on Muslim education issue. When they reached the PM, they found that the Prime Minister was not interested in their problems. When they tried to give Manmohan Singh their memorandum, the PM refused even to glance over it. He told them to read it out to him. Now these poor Madrasa educated Deoband bosses are not proficient in English language and they had got somebody else to write the memorandum. They were totally stumped at the disinterest and disrespect shown to them by the PM. Then Mehmood Madani, who was also accompanying them, came forward to try his hand. When Mehmood started reading out, faltering on every word, the PM looked most disinterested and before he could read even half the memorandum, they were asked to leave as the PM had to meet some other people. The shocked members of Deoband came out sulking. (IPA)