The Congress has constituted a committee comprising several party chief ministers and senior leaders to monitor the implementation of the UPA governments flagship schemes. It is the first time since the UPA came to power over six years ago that the Congress has set up a party mechanism to oversee governments schemes,which incidentally are being implemented by ministries headed by Congress leaders. The seven-member committee includes Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan,Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot and Andhra Pradesh CM Kiran Kumar Reddy. Sources said there will be another chief minister on the committee,which will hold regular meetings in the partys war room at 15,Rakabganj Road,in the Capital. The objective is to monitor the implementation of our flagship schemes like the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme,Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission and Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. We have to ensure that these are run effectively and reach the targeted beneficiaries, a senior Congress leader told The Indian Express,stressing that it was an informal committee and not much should be read into it. The move comes in the wake of the drubbing received by the party in the Bihar Assembly elections. During campaigning,Prime Minister Manmohan Singh,Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi had sought to steal CM Nitish Kumars thunder claiming that his development plank rested on huge funds allocated by the Centre for pro-poor schemes. They had also accused the JD(U)-BJP regime of not utilising the money. There were obviously few takers for the Congress leaders claims,which also put a question mark on the electoral potency of the flagship schemes that have been projected by the UPA government as its USP. States are either not implementing the schemes,or the Opposition-ruled ones are cornering credit for the same, a senior Congress leader said,adding that Sonia has often expressed concern over this.
