Centre to send ministers’ team

Almost a month after a stormy Union Cabinet session over the anti-Christian violence in Orissa...

Almost a month after a stormy Union Cabinet session over the anti-Christian violence in Orissa, the Centre has decided to send a four-member ministerial team to assess the situation in the violence-hit Kandhamal district.

The team, headed by NCP leader Sharad Pawar, will also comprise Social Justice Minister Meira Kumar, Tribal Affairs Minister P R Kyndiah and Transport Minister T R Baalu. The Group of Ministers (GoM) is likely to be in Kandhamal within a fortnight.

The ministerial team, during its visit, would inspect the relief camps and also discuss the situation with the state Government.

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Sources said the team was likely to apprise the Centre of its observation before the beginning of the Parliament session, which is scheduled to reconvene on December 10.

The announcement of the GoM visit is an outcome of the October 9 Cabinet meeting when UPA allies Ram Vilas Paswan and Lalu Prasad had demanded a ban on the Bajrang Dal-VHP and also sought the dismissal of the Orissa Government over the anti-Christian violence in Orissa. The Cabinet meeting at that time had witnessed heated arguments among ministers

While some Congress ministers like Arjun Singh, Jaipal Reddy and A R Antulay were learnt to have backed Paswan and Lalu’s demand for cracking down on Hindu fundamentalist outfits, others like Home Minister Shivraj Patil, Law Minister H R Bhardwaj and Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath had expressed caution against such steps citing lack of sufficient ground.

Leaders from other UPA allies, T R Baalu (DMK) and Praful Patel (NCP), had expressed strong objections to the demand for invoking Article 356 on the issue. Interestingly, two of the four members of the ministerial team, Sharad Pawar (NCP) and T R Baalu (DMK), are from allies opposed to invoking Article 356. It, therefore, seems unlikely that the ministerial team would make any observation suggesting breakdown of constitutional machinery in the violence-hit districts as was suggested by other allies.