MoS for just Jena an insult, says Orissa Cong

Indian Express, May 28, 2009

Bhubaneswar: Having sent six MPs to the Lok Sabha “in the face of the Naveen Patnaik wave”, Congressmen in Orissa are peeved and “deeply hurt” that only one of them has found representation in the Manmohan Singh Government.

Even the Minister of State rank for Srikant Jena, 59, who earlier served as a Cabinet minister in the United Front government between 1996 and 1998, is causing a lot of heartburn. Though he remained tightlipped, sources close to Jena said he expected either a Cabinet rank or a Minister of State (Independent charge) at least.

Apart from Jena, who is a former Union parliamentary minister, ex-chief minister and tribal leader Hemananda Biswal and former Union railway minister of state Bhakta Charan Das were in the race. If Biswal’s tribal leader stature put him in contention, Das is credited with reviving the Congress in Kalahandi and western Orissa, once considered the party’s pocket boroughs. What perhaps set Jena apart was that he was the only Congressman to have withstood the pro-Naveen surge in coastal Orissa, winning from Balasore.

A senior leader of the party admitted that taking in just one minister of state from Orissa may send a wrong signal to the state. “This amounts to humiliation. Could the high command not have given Jena a Cabinet rank at least?” he said.

Nabrangpur MP Pradeep Majhi said he expected at least two of the six MPs to be made ministers. “We were very sure that Orissa would get at least one Cabinet and one minister of state (independent). We are feeling very sad,” Majhi told The Indian Express.

According to political commentator Rabi Das, the Congress has always neglected Orissa when it comes to representation in the Union Cabinet, while non-Congress governments have treated the state better. “In the last 50 years, except J B Patnaik’s ministership in the Indira Gandhi regime, Orissa has not got a Cabinet-rank minister. But in non-Congress governments, including the NDA regime between 1999 and 2004, there were two Cabinet ministers and two ministers of State. If the Congress continues to neglect Orissa like this, then why would the people of Orissa vote for the Congress?” he asked.