Vajpayee separates warring Ministers

NEW DELHI, Mar 1: Embarrassed by the row between Human Resource Development Minister Murli Manohar Joshi and his deputy Uma Bharati, Prim...

NEW DELHI, Mar 1: Embarrassed by the row between Human Resource Development Minister Murli Manohar Joshi and his deputy Uma Bharati, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee today allocated independent charge to Bharati.“The President of India, as advised by the Prime Minister, has been pleased to direct that Sushri Uma Bharati, Minister of State, shall hold independent charge of the Department of Youth Affairs and Sports and the Department of Women and Child Development in the HRD Ministry,” a communique issued this afternoon said.

The Joshi-Bharati feud began in the early 1990s during the former’s tenure as Bharatiya Janata Party president. Since then, the two leaders have been known to be hostile to each other. Eyebrows were raised when Joshi and Bharati were clubbed in the same ministry after Vajpayee was sworn in as Prime Minister last March.

Not surprisingly, matters took a turn for the worse soon. Within weeks, Bharati started complaining that files sent by her to the Cabinet minister were eitherbeing returned or not being approved at all. She even went to the extent of threatening to resign if her grievances were not redressed.Having failed to elicit any response, she ultimately stopped attending her ministerial work. For over four months now, officers in the HRD Ministry say, she has not attended office.

Story continues below this ad

Bharati is also learnt to have incurred Vajpayee’s wrath with her views on the Patents and Insurance Regulatory Authority bills. In the course of a BJP parliamentary party meeting during the winter session of Parliament, she had even lashed out at the Prime Minister for pushing forward the two Bills and going back on the `swadeshi’ agenda.

After the session, it was rumoured that she would be moved from the HRD Ministry soon in order to put an end to the embarrassment suffered by the Government. But with the Cabinet expansion put off indefinitely, there was perhaps no way out for the Government but to put her under independent charge of the departments she held.

Mallojula Venugopal Rao alias Sonu and Thippiri Tirupathi alias Devuji

Spate of surrenders later, Maoists get new public liaison who vouches for ‘armed struggle’

India3 hr ago

The banned Communist Party of India (Maoist) has found a new public voice after its ideological head Mallojula Venugopal Rao alias Sonu surrendered along with 60 cadres in Maharashtra earlier this month. According to Telangana intelligence sources, Thippiri Tirupathi alias Devuji, believed to be the current General Secretary of the party, has doubled up as its public face under the pseudonym Abhay

View all shorts

Live Blog

PHOTOS