Other States - Rajasthan   

Committee ‘too little, too late’

JAIPUR: The announcement of the much awaited coordination committee in Rajasthan to bring about better liaison between the Government and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party the other day has not helped lift the low spirits of the party men here. Coming too late -- just 15 months before the next elections in the State -- and almost appearing as if it is an extension of the ruling set-up in the State, the committee, headed by party president Mahesh Sharma, brings too little, according to political observers here.

The seven-member committee, announced by Gopinath Munde, the party general secretary in charge of Rajasthan, has Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje as member along with Ramdas Agarwal, national treasurer of the party, State Home Minister Gulab Chand Kataria, general secretaries Prakash Chand and Srikishen Songara, and PWD Minister Rajendra Singh Rathore.

None of the critics of Ms. Raje from both the organisation and the Cabinet has found a place in the committee.

More interestingly, none of the critics of Dr. Sharma -- barring perhaps Prakash Chand -- is there in the committee either. At the recent two-day State Committee meeting in Kishengarh, there were complaints galore from party workers about the functioning of the Ministers and their lack of response to the party men.

“A formality has been completed as there is a provision for such a coordination committee in the party Constitution. It would have been better if they had held prior consultations with everyone,” said Harishanker Bhabhra, former Deputy Chief Minister and senior BJP leader. And Mr. Bhabhra, who is the Chairman of the State Finance Commission, is not even a dissident.

“There has been a delay in constituting the committee,” Mr. Munde confessed to the journalists while announcing the members. “This does not mean that there was no coordination in the past. This is a platform for a still better dialogue,” he noted.

Perhaps the State leaders of the BJP, both in the Government and in the party, should be appreciated for the fact that this is the first time that a coordination committee has been set up by the BJP when the party is in power in the State.

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

Stories in this Section

Jaipur Foot travels to Pakistan
130 crore sanctioned
Committee ‘too little, too late’

Copyright © 2007, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu