Amid talk of the looming expansion-cum-reshuffle of the Manmohan Singh-led UPA-2 government, Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav met Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday, leading to some speculation on a possible realignment of forces within the ruling coalition. Talk is also doing the rounds that Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia might be inducted into the ministry, and possibly given one of the economic portfolios, perhaps commerce.
Sources claimed that Mrs Gandhi and Mr Lalu Yadav had discussed the possibility of the RJD entering the government, in a move by the UPA to create a buffer in the ruling coalition given the current strained relationship between the Congress and the DMK.
Interestingly, the Congress is also already engaged in talks with Rashtriya Lok Dal chief Ajit Singh, who has five Lok Sabha MPs, for a possible tieup ahead of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections next year. Revealing this at a recent meeting with reporters, AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh had said: “The stage is set to rope in the RLD. Only discussions are to take place. Hopefully we will get Ajit Singh on board.”
Now if the RJD, with its four MPs in the Lok Sabha, is also roped in, it would give Mrs Gandhi and the Prime Minister ample elbow room to effectively deal with the DMK while they rejig ministerial berths.
Congress sources said that if the RJD, which already gives outside support, agrees to join the government, the leadership would prefer to accommodate former rural development minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, who spearheaded the successful launch of the UPA’s flagship National Rural Employment Guarantee Act.
It is learnt, however, that Mr Lalu Yadav has LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan’s formula in UPA-1 — where he had two ministries — steel and chemical and fertilisers — with only four Lok Sabha MPs. But the Congress is unlikely to agree to more than one portfolio for the RJD, the sources said.
Speculation is rife about Mr Ahluwalia getting a ministerial assignment (possibly commerce) as he entered the race to get nominated by the Congress for the vacant Rajya Sabha seat from Maharashtra. The sources said that if the party does not object to his candidature, the PM wants to field him from Maharashtra, from the seat vacated by chief minister Prithviraj Chavan. But two other names — former home minister Shivraj Patil and former MPCC chief Suresh Pachauri — are also doing the rounds for the party nomination from the state.