Red light

The CPM brass seems to be in no mood to rein in V S Achuthanandan any longer

Red light

The CPM brass seems to be in no mood to rein in V S Achuthanandan any longer. The veteran had created quite a stir in the CPM circles a fortnight ago by openly criticising the Politburos neutral stand on the Mullaperiyar row. He felt the partys stand did not reflect the sentiments of the people of Kerala. The Politburo,which met Tuesday,took note of his criticism and recorded its disappointment which would be conveyed to lower levels. But that is all. There will no disciplinary action. Perhaps,the party does not want to go against the popular mood in Kerala. More than that,VS has emerged stronger after the last Assembly polls which saw the CPM almost reaching the halfway mark under his leadership.

No Accomodation

Hearing a PIL on the lack of accommodation for judicial members of tribunals,especially the newly-formed Green Tribunal,Justice G S Singhvi gave an ultimatum to the government to either provide accommodation to the tribunal members or the court would ask them to quit. He said,Even drivers of Supreme Court and High Court judges get two-room accommodations. Without naming the member of a tribunal,the bench pointed out that one of the former judges is residing in Andhra Bhavan for the last six months and another in a guesthouse as they were not given accommodation by the Centre.

Monopoly Game

While Congress strategists are upset with their UPA allies for throwing a spanner in many of the governments reforms initiatives,the latter point out the composition of Group of Ministers GoMs to argue how they are kept out of the decision-making process. The latest was the addition of 11 young ministers to assist the seven-member GoM on Media; all of them are Congress members. Out of 29 GoMs as of today,including the one on Media,15 have no representation of allies; the proportion is 4 out of 12 Empowered GoMs. Incidentally,38 out of 41 GoMs and EGoMs are headed by Congress ministers; NCP chief Sharad Pawar heads 3 GoMs. Among Congress ministers,Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee heads all 12 EGoMs and 13 GoMs,Home Minister P Chidambaram 10 GoMs,and A K Antony,Sushil Kumar Shinde and Ghulam Nabi Azad one each.

Role Models

Reflecting on the plight of certain ministers not being able to get their Bills passed,a senior parliamentarian from the Opposition felt they should take lessons from some of their other colleagues. Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar,the leader pointed out,never has problems in passing his Bills because of his personal equation with members of the Opposition. More recently,Urban Development Minister Kamal Nath,he added,displayed similar skills to get the NCT of Delhi Laws special provisions Second Bill in the Lok Sabha. It now transpires that Nath had met both Leaders of Opposition Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley as well as other leaders a month in advance and secured their support on the Bill. On Monday,he met them in the morning once again,even getting an assurance that the Bill would sail through by 1 pm,only because Nath had to be present at another meeting after that.