Bansi Lal tries to buy peace with better portfolios

While his supporters are interpreting the sacking of two ministers as a “move to discipline the party”, Bansi Lal’s decision to reward Jagannath, Brij Mohan Singla, Raj Kumar and other dissidents clearly reveals that he does not intend to confront the dissidents right now. The induction of four new ministers — Azad Mohammad (MLA from Ferozepur Jhirka), Jagdish Nayar (Hassanpur) and Vijendar Singh Kadian (MLA from Naultha) from the HVP — only buttresses this view. Of these, the first two are perceived to be perennial fence-sitters.

“In a nutshell, the Chief Minister is trying to buy out disgruntled members by giving sops to them to remain in power,” said Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) president Om Parkash Chautala. The expansion has raised the strength of the HVP-BJP Cabinet to 35, making a mockery of Bansi Lal’s promise to run the state administration with a small team. Of these, 26 ministers belong to the HVP, which has 35 MLAs. While another HVP MLA, Chhattar Singh Chauhan, is Speaker of Haryana Vidhan Sabha, two MLAs — Nripender Singh and Rambhaj are chairmen of corporations.

The BJP, which has 11 members in the state assembly, isn’t any better, with seven ministers. While Fakir Chand Aggarwal, another BJP MLA, is the Deputy Speaker, Ramesh Kashyap, MLA from Gharaunda, is chairman of Haryana School Education Board. The remaining two — Chander Bhatia and Anand Bhatia — are disgruntled. While two independents — Om Parkash Mahajan (Hisar) and Bhimsen Mehta (Indri) — are also ministers in the state Cabinet, three independent MLAs are heading boards/corporations.

In fact, most of these were roped in by Bansi Lal in early 1997 when he had faced an almost similar situation. Many MLAs who had aspired to ministerial offices became restless, forcing the induction of 17 of them in the Council of Ministers. Later, he inducted another eight, leaving only a few without office.

But the expansion did not provide relief for long, as half-a-dozen disgruntled MLAs — including Public Works Department Minister Dharamvir Yadav — went to the people venting their ire against the performance of the government last year. The Chief Minister seems to have made yet another attempt to placate his MLAs, but only the coming months will tell if the strategy works.