By L.S. Herdenia
BHOPAL: Political happenings in Karnataka and Goa have found their echo in Madhya Pradesh. Narottam Mishra, former senior BJP minister has warned the Congress government that the storm from Goa is coming to MP via Karnataka. This has sensatinalised political arena.
In Goa 10 Congress MLAs have joined BJP while in Karnataka 16 MLAs of Congress and JDS have resigned. Mishra said it is difficult to understand why Congress leaders in MP are saying that they are one and their government would run for 5 years.
Speculations over the fate of Congress government in MP have become rife again with this statement. Mishra’s comment has given a signal that Madhya Pradesh may also witness some after-effects of the on-goings in other states. Meanwhile, Congress has become alert after the episodes in Goa and Karnataka.
Perhaps to refute Mishra’s claim, several political activities were held in the ruling party. First and foremost among them was the arrival of Jyotiraditya Scindia, former MP and till recently General Secretary of the All India Congress Committee to Bhopal. Through his visit and participation in various events he tried to demonstrate that he was totally with the Chief Minister. This became necessary because in the past few days ministers loyal to him by their acts conveyed the message that they are not happy with Chief Minister’s style of functioning. Some of them publicly said that they are not getting official’s cooperation. They met many times to consider future strategy.
This gave clear-cut indication that all is not well in the party. Perhaps to clear this impression he reached Bhopal. It was claimed that this was his first visit after the Lok Sabha elections.
During his day long stay he attended a lunch hosted by chief minister Kamal Nath. He visited Vidhan Sabha and interacted with Congress legislators. He also addressed a press conference in the Assembly premises. He told media that “there is no threat to the Kamal Nath Government in Madhya Pradesh and it will complete its five year term.” “BJP has a tendency for back-door entry to grab power by disrespecting democratic values. For the last six months BJP has been trying to grab power (in MP) but its ‘Mungerilal Ke Hasene Sapne’ will never be fulfilled, Congress has emerged stronger in the last six months in MP”, he said
Talking about the crisis in the All India Congress Committee he said “the party is presently passing through a critical situation. Congress needs to revive and reinvent itself before going back to people again for winning their confidence. I think that moment has arrived”, he said.
He also attended a dinner party hosted by minister Tulsi Silawat who is loyal to him. By attending dinner at Silawat’s residence he indicated that he patronises his followers. Significantly Digvijaya Singh was not in Bhopal during Scindia’s visit. Various interpretations were given regarding his absence.
Scindia said “The bureaucracy and ministers need to work in tandem rather than trying to dominate each other. Bureaucracy can give ideas and innovate, but final decision has to be taken by ministers. Let me be clear that no one (bureaucracy or ministers) even including the Chief Minister is above anyone, but need to work with a team spirit”.
The Vidhan Sabha also initiated discussions on budget. Leader of opposition Gopal Bhargava said “Ek mantri ko 3-3 Vidhayak sambhale ka, unko khilane ka, pilane ka, unko sulane ka dayitva mila hai (each minister has been assigned responsibility to luxuriate 3 MLAs).
Though the words used by LoP were not negative but it sensed negative to members of the treasury bench. Objecting to the statement, panchayat minister Kamleshwar Patel demanded that such comment should be removed from the proceedings.
Other Congress MLAs too stood up and started objecting to LoPs remarks saying that it was insult of MLAs. Bhargava also said that it was strange that all ministers in this government have been accorded Cabinet status. This is perhaps for the first time in history that such decision has been taken.
After a brief chaos, Kamal Nath stood up and replied that if all his ministers were worthy of Cabinet status, then is the any reason that he should seek others advice.
Nath said that ‘Khilane, Pilane’ term is a insult to MLAs but admitted that ministers were given responsibility of 3 MLAs each but to train them about the House proceedings.
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