cm’s being ultra careful!
The Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Prithviraj Chavan, is being wary to the point of diffidence. Like Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, he is toeing the compulsions of coalitions! Chavan has been facing major problems with Ajit Pawar, the Deputy Chief Minister and leader of coalition partner Nationalist Congress Party. Pawar is rash, rustic and a man in a hurry. He proposes bluntly, issues threats and is intolerant of opponents.
But Chavan is in a difficult position because he does not have his supporters in the State legislature as he has been appointed by the Congress high command. As a result, even tainted politicians of Maharashtra such as Narayan Rane, Chhagan Bhujbal, Ashok Chavan and Vilasrao Deshmukh care little for him. Bureaucrats flout authority openly. Murli Deora, Kripashankar Singh and Gurudas Kamat are forever giving him unsolicited advice. Worst of all, Chavan is not easily accessible to the most important tribe in the state – “amdar”. If its members land up at Mantralaya, they are met with a routine reply from Chavan’s staff to make an appointment first. The CM’s extreme caution has his bosses in Delhi rather worried!
Games Nitish plays
eye on pm’s post
Nitish Kumar is trying to play hard to read. For one, he keeps telling the media that he is not a prime ministerial candidate. For another, he shrugs off the suggestion that he should come forward and give a boost to the disenchanted masses to revolt. I have been elected Chief Minister of Bihar for five years, is his terse reply.
Yet, behind the scenes, a politically strong group is working – with his tacit consent – to have him at centrestage as and when the opportune moment comes. A clutch of politicians in Mumbai and Delhi is working towards this goal. Their line of thought goes: it’s either Nitish or Manmohan, the nation does not trust anyone else.
The BJP is aware of this and has alerted its leaders. The Nitish camp’s only contribution is to make Opposition circles in Delhi understand that, under the circumstances, the Bihar politician is the best bet to get rid of the Congress.
From the Congress’ point of view, time is running out for installing Rahul Gandhi as the Gen Next PM.
Housing and scheming
Worries over flats for poor
The UPA is worried no end. The BJP and BSP are distributing free housing to the poor in the States ruled by them. To counter this, the Congress is planning a Rs 90,000-crore bonanza, bigger than NREGA, that will provide free housing for the poorest. The scheme will be funded by the Centre and States will only have to implement it, though it is unsure if the States will provide the land and clearances as fast as the UPA would like it.
However, the officials in Nirman Bhavan who have been burning the midnight oil to plan and execute the scheme are even more worried than their political masters. What if the scheme fails to benefit those it is intended for? This is a possibility, going by an incident in UP last month. A set of UP officials was shocked to learn that Chief Minister Mayawati was going to visit a colony where the flats had been allotted to the poorest of the poor. Intended for the destitute, the flats had actually been handed to middle class people by the officials. As soon as word of the CM’s impending visit spread, the TV sets, airconditioners and cars were removed by the officials. Mayawati completed her tour and left. But the truth was conveyed to her and all the unscrupulous officials were transferred.
2G probe: Dubious history
jpc member’s unsavoury past
Ask Mani Shankar Aiyar about the JPC on the Harshad Mehta scam and he will narrate how two prominent members of the committee had vociferously stated, “You will not name the industrialist house in the JPC.” And no mention was made. One of those two august gentlemen is again there in the newly-constituted JPC on the 2G spectrum scam.
Since this is the state of JPCs, everybody is sceptical of the findings and action thereafter. Will the MPs dig out the truth in the 2G spectrum scam or will the affair be finally hushed up a la the Harshad Mehta and Ketan Parekh scams? There are industrialists involved and they have long tentacles to reach the MPs. Meanwhile, this is the second time that Dr Manmohan Singh will be questioned by a JPC. He was Finance Minister when the Harshad Mehta scam was unearthed and was questioned then.
