Patronage 038; its perils

The appointment of N.D. Tiwaris successor will be keenly tracked

At a time when the Telangana issue threatens to blaze out of control,the last thing the Congress needed was an inconvenient sex comedy on its hands. Whatever the truth about Congress veteran and Andhra Pradesh governor N.D. Tiwaris personal life,this lurid drama has hurt the party plenty with its spokespersons having to field questions on the issue. Now that Tiwari has sent in his resignation,the Centre should be hard-pressed to find a replacement soon. And that choice will be revealing because this scandal has turned the glare on the manner in which critical constitutional bodies like the governors office have been hijacked by political favour-mongering.

Unfortunately,there has been established a long tradition of

ensconcing battle-scarred Congress politicians and favoured civil servants into Raj Bhavans if their record does not qualify them for the office,they can undermine the partys own credible authority by their presence in the state. Through the decades,governments at the Centre have eroded the office of governor through blatant partisanship sometimes as reward for services rendered,other times to safely remove someone from the political fray. Decades ago,the Sarkaria report on Centre-state relations had strongly cautioned against appointing politicians as governors,and recommended choosing persons who were seen to be

minimally involved in the political skirmish.

This destructive Congress tradition has,of course,been enthusiastically taken up by other dispensations,even those professedly committed to federalism. Now,as it hunts for Tiwaris successor,the Congress would do well to remember that trust and credibility are supremely important in politics the X factor that decides how political actions will be interpreted. No matter how sound their policy record or organisational skill,politicians are publicly evaluated through this gut-level trust. At this delicate juncture in Andhra Pradeshs politics,the Congress cant afford to squander any more of that credibility by falling back on the bad old ways. With Andhra Pradeshs legislature and state government continuing to be divided down the line on regional considerations,and with the chief minister unable to assert himself as an impartial and authoritative broker,this is one time when the presence of a constitutional functionary seen to be outside of the fray as the governor is is critical. Tiwaris successor must be someone who can establish herself or himself as an honest broker.