Rabri govt ‘crime’: Congress plays the willing accomplice

Putting any pressure on ally Laloo Yadav and the Rabri Devi government in Bihar will mean strengthening the BJP and this can’t be allow...

Putting any pressure on ally Laloo Yadav and the Rabri Devi government in Bihar will mean strengthening the BJP and this can’t be allowed to happen. This is what the Congress says when asked what it’s doing to put pressure on the Bihar government over the tragic plight of countless families in the state who haven’t seen a salary slip in years.

Ironically, the only reason the Congress offered while extending support to the Rabri government was that it would serve as a watchdog for better governance. Now, when confronted by The Indian Express series on the sorry state of families, it washes its hands of.

» Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Priya Ranjan Das Munshi is among the few who admits that his party may be becoming ‘‘politically embarrassed by the alliance.’’ Given that revelations about mis-governance were coming out in the open, the Congress should address this issue, he says.

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As for the suffering of government employees and their families, he says this isn’t just a Bihar problem. ‘‘Wherever state PSUs have not been funded because of lack of Centre’s funds, the situation is similar. You have such cases in UP, and to some extent in West Bengal too. Also, Bihar is in such a mess for a long time now. it’s not a recent phenomenon,’’ he claims.

For Munshi, all’s not lost in Bihar. Not yet at least. The Fiscal Management Bill pending in Parliament, he said, would come to the aid of such financially weak states.

» When asked about her view, Ambika Soni, Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s trusted lieutenant and AICC general secretatry in-charge of political affairs, told this reporter that party spokesperson S Jaipal Reddy should be contacted for an official comment. Reddy was not available.

» Most aggressively defending the Rabri regime is Oscar Fernandes, the AICC general secretary in charge of Bihar. And in an echo of what the BJP leaders say about the petrol-pump scam, he blames the media. ‘‘There are sick PSUs in UP, Assam, even in Kerala where employees have not got their salaries for long. Why pick on Bihar alone? It’s the media which has created this distorted picture of the state. There is a design behind it.’’

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Then he’s quick to add: ‘‘I am not saying everything in Bihar is rosy. Things are in bad shape there, but the Central Government is to be equally blamed for the people’s unending miseries.’’

» Senior party leader Anil Shastri minces few words: ‘‘There is no alternative to Laloo. Ditching him would amount to calling in the BJP on the scene; how can this be allowed to happen?’’ He claims that his party is concerned but can do little owing to its weak organisation in the state. ‘‘Maybe when we are more in numbers, we can have a greater say in governance,’’ he says.

» Citing health reasons, party leader Arjun Singh said he hadn’t given the matter much thought. On the issue of support to the RJD, he said: ‘‘It’s not a question of my perception alone. It is a party matter and we decided to suport the RJD at a proper forum. It was a political decision of the Congress Working Committee.’’

» Vyalar Ravi, a senior Congressman who is currently busy with Maharashtra, took a middle path when asked to comment on Bihar: ‘‘There was one section of the party which felt the need to extend support to Laloo, and the other which opposed it. But the need for an alliance swept everything else under the carpet.’’