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Journalism of Courage
Chief Minister Shibu Soren will not be tied down by portfolios. A day after he was sworn in, Soren, at a closed-door meeting with his political partners, decided to give away all portfolios, keeping himself free for the grind ahead of moving the confidence motion.
And nothing, not even Home or Finance, will hold him back. Even former Bengal CM Jyoti Basu held on to Home till his last term. At the meeting last afternoon, Congress leaders Union Minister Subodh Kant Sahay, R.P.N. Singh and Imran Kidwai, together with Deputy CM Stephen Marandi and Cabinet ministers Bandhu Tirkey and Joba Manjhi (United Goans Democratic Party), Girinath Singh and Annapurna Devi (RJD) and Independent Kamlesh Singh drafted a proposal for allocation of portfolios at the earliest. The government is now waiting for Governor Syed Sibtey Razi to return from Delhi to notify their proposal.
Marandi is set to get Home and Personnel, Parliamentary Affairs to Girinath, Road and Building to Tirkey, Human Resource Development to Annapurna, Social Welfare, Tourism and Rural Development to Manjhi and Irrigation and National Rural Employment Programme to Kamlesh. That left Soren empty-handed but the squabbles have just begun. ‘‘Kamleshji had not got his due,’’ fumed Balendu Singh, a relative. ‘‘Kamlesh wanted Rural Development which was given to Manjhi.’’ Forward Bloc MLAs Bhanu Pratap and Aparna Sen Gupta, on the other hand, were furious because they did not land berths as were a few RJD MLAs.
As per the Assembly strength, Soren cannot accommodate more than 12 ministers. With six of them already slicing away 12 of 18 portfolios, Soren is unlikely to have work on his hands. He does, however, have to create posts for others.
The state government had created two posts of advisors to CM, with the rank of Cabinet minister. These posts are likely to go to Ranjit Sinha, a Patna-based Congress ex-minister, and Pradeep Dixit, staffer of a Mumbai-based private TV channel and former Personnel Secretary to Soren. U.K.Sangma, an IAS officer who was principal secretary to Soren’s predecessor Arjun Munda, has relinquished the post. In a letter to chief secretary P.P. Sharma, Sangma had sought a transfer. Soren, who took a chopper to Giridih today to attend the JMM establishment function, is yet to find a replacement for Sangma.
Meanwhile, the CM has already set a few plans going. The two files he cleared after taking over anticipate a troublesome summer ahead. The projects underway are: hand pumps in rural and urban areas within a week, two in each Panchayat; uninterrupted power and tap water; new ration cards within a week and preventive measures to check spread of malaria. The CM also called for implementation of mid-day meals for schoolchildren and food for lactating women.
