Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s first priority after the Parliament session ends tomorrow is appointing the deputy chairman of the Planning Commission. Political knowledge, administrative experience and understanding of Centre-State relations, especially in the area of finance, are learnt to be the pre-requisite conditions.Given these criteria, there are greater chances of former chief ministers, rather than economists or bureaucrats, getting the post. The Congress has a number of former chief ministers in its ranks — Janardhan Reddy (who is unhappy at being left out of the Union Cabinet), Digvijay Singh, K. Karunakaran, Ashok Gehlot and S.M. Krishna among others. Krishna, who did badly in the Karnataka elections but is regarded highly for his administrative skills, is a front-runner. With the government embarking on budget-making exercise once the Parliament session ends, the need to appoint the deputy chairman will become all the more important, sources state.The big challenge before the Planning Commission is to convince state governments to cut down on excess expenditure, given the sorry state of state finances. A political leader, experienced in the field, is therefore a preference, say sources.In view of the Prime Minister’s own stints, as both deputy chairman of the commission and the Finance Minister, he is likely to choose a person with whom he shares a good rapport, and whose economic acumen he respects, sources state.
