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Journalism of Courage
Forced to rollback the divestment decision with his own party watching from the sidelines, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has let his “anguish” known to Congress president Sonia Gandhi and other leaders forcing the party to officially dismiss speculation that he may quit.
Rejecting rumours right through the day that the PM, in an enough-is-enough outburst, had threatened to quit, both an aide of the PM and Congress spokesperson Jayanti Natarajan called it “undiluted rumour-mongering.”
However, Singh’s unhappiness over being forced to roll back the decision on disinvestment in NALCO and NLC, a decision to which the Congress and the DMK had been party to, has been confirmed by several sources in the party and government. “The PM is unhappy and frustrated,” a senior Cabinet member told The Indian Express.
These issues came up in the core committee of the Congress which met for nearly two hours at the PM’s residence. The meeting was preceded by a one-on-one meeting between Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi at 10 Janpath which lasted 15 minutes.
There was no official word from the party about the meeting—Pranab Mukherjee called it “routine”—but a senior functionary said disinvestment and the AIIMS row were part of the discussions. There was a sense of relief that the High Court had stepped in, sources said.
At the meeting, the PM, sources said, underlined that reforms and disinvestment policies were linked to the UPA’s flagship social sector programmes and were not at odds with it.
The funds acquired through disinvestment of profit-making PSUs were aimed at fuelling social sector projects, he stressed. “Fresh consultations with all allies’’ on this policy was also proposed.
For several months now, the Prime Minister has been the target of attack not just from the Left but even from within the Congress ranks and a ‘‘government versus party’’ sentiment has vitiated an increasingly tense atmosphere in the top echelons of power.
The DMK threat and the PM’s reaction has served to act as ‘‘a wake-up call,’’ a CWC member said. It has also made it urgent that the Congress and the government act in concert and put up a united face to deal with the allies on one hand and the renewed aggression of the BJP on the other. Today’s meetings were nascent efforts in that direction.
In fact, shaken by signals from the PM, the party today put up a spirited defence of Singh. Spokesperson Natarajan rubbished BJP allegations that the PM was “weak,” saying he “is fully supported by the party.”
Sources said the PM is agitated over a series of recent incidents where he has been shown as being isolated: the debate over reservations, the on-off-on petroleum price hike, price rise and finally the DMK forcing him to suspend the Cabinet decision on disinvesting 10% in NALCO and Neyveli.
Party sources said that the PM expects the party to do its bit in “political management of the allies” rather than make him appear as weak.
But overtures from the party have been hardly comforting for the Prime Minister. Egged on by the Left, a section has been discrediting any reforms as being “anti-aam admi.”
In fact, a month ago, PMO officials had briefed the media about the PM’s determination to push ahead with reforms, starting with disinvestment.
But it was the party itself which first demanded a rollback on petroleum price hike, distancing itself from its own government. At the Congress deliberations on price rise, government policies were made a target.
