Will Centre defend ally leaders in LS?
Thousands of devotees circumambulate the Goverdhan temple on the occasion of Guru Purnima near Mathura on Sunday. Photo: PTI
Will the government and the Congress defend its ally leaders —- Mr Sharad Pawar, Ms Mamata Banerjee and Mr A. Raja — on the floor during the month-long session of Parliament beginning Monday? This is the question doing rounds in the political circles.
Privately, the Congress leaders are holding Mr Pawar responsible for the price, but they are virtually scared of speaking on the performance of Ms Banerjee as she has emerged restored power in West Bengal civic polls, and is expected to create a history in the coming state Assembly polls. The Congress does not want to hurt her directly or indirectly after its poor performance in the recently-held civic polls in West Bengal. Therefore, the party and the government will definitely defend Ms Banerjee in the two Houses when the Opposition will raise the issue of a record number of accidents that took place in last one year — since the Trinamul Congress chief became the railway minister. Besides, they will come down heavily on her practice to run the ministry from West Bengal. This trend will escalate to Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and many other states if the Union ministers decide to run their ministries from their home states, viewed insiders.
The Leader of the Lok Sabha and finance minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, had earlier defended Ms Banerjee by rejecting the comments like absence from her ministry was the reason for recurrence of train accidents. He has also rejected the idea that this is the time to have a full-time rail minister, according to the reports.
He was also quoted as saying, “Accidents are accidents. Nobody can predict them and that’s why it is an accident.” On the other hand, the DMK supremo and Tamil Nadu chief minister M. Karunanidhi openly opposed any move to sack A. Raja as the telecom minister, saying the minister was being targeted because he was a dalit. He said in New Delhi recently that “Raja is a dalit, that is why dominant forces are levelling malicious charges against him.” He was answering to a question by reporters about the Opposition’s demand for Mr Raja’s dismissal.
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