The Pioneer, May 28, 2009
PNS | Bhubaneswar
The Congress high command has once again given a rude shock to the State by proposing to include only one MP Srikant Jena in the Manmohan Singh Ministry which is to be expanded on Thursday. The State sent six Congress MPs to the Lok Sabha in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections and it was expected that the high command would at least include two members in the Union Ministry.
The humiliating part was that, during Thursday's scheduled Cabinet expansion, Jena a former Cabinet Minister in the HD Deva Gowda Government in 1996-97, would be included as Minister of State and not in the rank of Cabinet Minister. It would be a relegation for him as during that period Jena served as Cabinet Minister with important portfolios like Parliamentary Affairs and Department of Tourism. Earlier, he also served as Minister of State during the tenure of former Prime Minister IK Gujral in 1989-91.
After being constantly neglected by the Congress, the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) has made inroads in State politics and has become stronger day by day. opposing the Congress's apathetic attitude towards the cause of Orissa, the BJD was formed in 1997 and within a span of 12-years, it has managed to push the Congress to the brink of disaster. The strength of the Congress in the Assembly has also been marginally reduced to 26. However, it improved its Lok Sabha seat tally from two to six. Now, it has been rumoured that Jena might not accept the post of Minister of State as it would be a humiliation both to him and to the State. All attempts to contact him have failed.
Besides downgrading the status of Jena, no steps were taken to include either former Railway Minister Bhakta Charan Das or Hemananda Biswal. However, political sources maintained that as pressure has been mounted on the Congress, it might think of changing its strategy to include one more MP from Orissa at the last moment to save its skin. All sorts of humiliation would backfire in the future and the BJD would benefit from it, political observers pointed out.
2 comments:
It is absolutely inability of the congress members in Orissa to put pressure on central government for ministry. This is the clear example of the Central Governments attitude towards orissa as per their past records. If you see the ministry quota table Orissa is on the bottom, only 11% (Percent) of its Congress M.P.s got the ministry that is only one State Minister.
It is a great mistake by the people of Orissa to give unnecessary 6 Loksabha seats in favour of Congress instead of BJD. So, I think people of Orissa have taken the right decision to give a comfortable majority to BJD in both Assembly and Loksobha in Orissa.
It is not only shocking but sense of humiliation to Congress MP in particular and Orissa in general by Sonia Gandhi & Manmohan Singh. Due to this continued apathy towards Orissa, Congress Govt has lost its credibility and its a big let down.
I sincerely believe Naveen Pattnaik Govt & BJD MP will continue to fight for just rights of Orissa on their own rather rely on Centre.
It will be fun to wait and watch how our beloved Bhakta Das takes this humiliation of rejection. Will he fight for his just right or he will vent his frustration on Naveen Pattnaik Govt in Orissa.
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