The Hindu : National : UPA allies must share coveted offices, says NCP

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Sep 17, 2006
ePaper

National

National

UPA allies must share coveted offices, says NCP

Anita Joshua

`Congress must show greater accommodation to smaller players'

DEHRA DUN: The Nationalist Congress Party on Saturday sought greater involvement of all United Progressive Alliance constituents in coordination meetings with the Left parties, besides a share of coveted public offices commensurate with the numerical strength of each ally.

The demands were articulated by the senior leadership at the party's extended working committee meeting here.

As spelt out by NCP president Sharad Pawar at his press conference ahead of the meeting and laid down in the political resolution — to be adopted at the national executive on Sunday — the working committee called for "better treatment based on mutual respect and proper consultation among all coalition partners."

Questioning the logic of having a Congress-Left coordination committee, the NCP said instead there should be a UPA-Left coordination committee with representation to all constituents. Also, it favoured frequent UPA meetings and did not find much merit in the Congress argument that Cabinet meetings provided such a forum. The NCP view was that Cabinet meetings did not provide much scope for discussing politics and addressing irritants that crept into coalition politics.

The party made a strong pitch for allies sharing coveted public offices — Ambassadors, Governors and chairpersons of corporations, to name a few. Instead of the present arrangement, where the Congress was walking away with the lion's share, some of these posts should go to allies. The point was articulated in the political resolution, which also called for greater accommodation by the Congress of the aspirations of smaller players. "Sharing of power in [the] coalition context means sharing of public offices of higher responsibilities among the coalition partners."

No third front for now

Earlier, Mr. Pawar ruled out the possibility of a third front emerging in the immediate future but the political resolution made out a case for providing a viable alternative to the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party in time to come.

"It may be noted that the NDA [National Democratic Alliance], especially the BJP, is facing a very serious crisis. But they are making an all-out attempt for a comeback. At the same time, the Congress with its capitalistic policies and open internal fights is fast losing ground. Under the circumstances, it is obligatory on the part of the secular democratic and progressive forces to join hands to stop the communal reactionary forces from gaining ground and to fulfil the aspirations of the people...," the resolution said.

Mr. Pawar was categorical that his rejection of the third front concept was for the immediate future and not for 2009 — when the next Lok Sabha elections are due in the normal course. At the same time, he said bipolar coalition politics of the day was here to stay for a while.

Though Mr. Pawar refused to spell out his plans for the Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh early next year, general secretary D.P. Tripathi said all like-minded parties should come together and project Rashtriya Lok Dal leader Ajit Singh as Chief Minister. The Mulayam Singh Yadav dispensation was in its twilight days, the NCP felt, and the Congress, the Jan Morcha, the RLD and the Left parties should provide an alternative to the people of the State.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

National