Expansion Expediency Cabinet
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CURRENT EVENTS HIMACHAL PRADESH ter Singh also deliberately chose newcomers like Chandresh Kumari who might serve to check the pro-Ram Lai elements in his Expansion Expediency Cabinet. The expanded Cabinet obviously pleases the various pressure groups in the SINCE he replaced Ram Lai records. This is not likely to help Singh's at- party. Himachal Pradesh Congress Com- as Himachal Pradesh's chief tempts to refurbish the party image. At least mittee(I) (HPCC-I) General Secretary Harbha- minister last April, Vir- four of the new ministers—prominent am- jan Singh says: "We have now got a cohesive bhadra Singh has made a ong them, Jai Behari Lai Kachi—are staun- ministry. All our differences have been brave effort to hold his own ch supporters of the ex-chief minister who sorted out, we can face elections unitedly." despite a slender majority of left a trail of suspicion and doubt when he fi- But if Singh's new ministry pleases most three in the 68-member Ass- nally quit (INDIA TODAY, February 15, 1983). people, it does not please all of them. embly. And unusually, he managed to keep Another feature of the Cabinet is that a Though all districts—except Kulu which his Cabinet down to a modest seven mi- majority of the independent MLA'S who does not have a member in the Assem- nisters, not giving in to the demands of va- joined the party—it was with their support bly—have been represented, the 10 MLA'S rious cliques in the party. But last fortnight, that the Congress(I) Government was instal- who were left out are unhappy. Four of them Singh went the way of all chief ministers led in 1982—have been accommodated in it. have been made chairmen of various public under pressure—he expanded his Cabinet by 12—proving once again that it is political expediency rather than administrative com- pulsions that decides such matters. Said Singh, with an air of resignation: "Nume- rically my ministry seems to be very large. But one has to keep in mind various regional and social interests, one has to ignore the fi- gures and face reality." This crucial political lesson came last month when the chief minister was summo- ned to New Delhi and given an approved list of MLA'S to be sworn in the Cabinet within 24 hours. The deadline sent Singh scampering back to Simla. Some prospective ministers who had fanned out into their constituencies had to be contacted through district magi- strates. Eventually they were all rounded up in Simla in time for the swearing-in ceremo- ny on April 15. One triumphant hour later, every other Congress(I) MLA in the state had successfully become a minister—which allows each of them a five-member personal Virbhadra Singh with state governor and new cabinet members: facing political reality staff and perquisites that will together cost the exchequer an additional Rs 1 crore for Of the five independents who defected, sector organisations, but that is obviously the 12 new inductees. three: Mansa Ram, local self-government cold comfort. Hans Raj Akrot, chairman of When party General Secretary Rajiv minister; Gulab Singh, food and civil sup- the Mineral and Industrial Development Gandhi sent him over to Simla to replace plies minister; and Gangu Ram, deputy edu- Corporation resigned in protest because he Ram Lai and provide the state with a cation minister have been rewarded for their was not made minister. "Talent has certainly "clean" government, Singh found that he loyalty. Others who were similarly favoured been ignored," he complains. was forced to retain six of his predecessor's include those who had aligned themselves The major casualty of the cabinet ex- 17 ministers. Since his own nominees were against the Congress(I) during the Janata pansion however is Singh's efforts to clean not in, he requested the party high command Party rule in the Centre, but defected either the state administration. He had instituted not to insist on a large-scale expansion. But before the 1980 parliamentary elections or over 100 criminal cases against timber smug- in the process, districts like Hamirpur and immediately after it. Defending the inclusion glers, appointed T.V.R Tatachari, former Una went unrepresented in the Cabinet, as of newcomers and defectors, Singh says: chief justice of Delhi High Court as lok did the Scheduled Castes. Consequently "Once someone joins the party under the pri- ayukta to deal with corruption in high places Singh's Cabinet was accused of being pro- me minister's leadership, he should be trea- and introduced many administrative innova- Thakur and upper caste. ted on par with others. Individual merit and tions. All this certainly needed to be done, Adding to Singh's problems, Ram Lai not his past should be the main criterion." because in the 1982 Assembly elections the continued to wield influence over both the In the process, however, the chief minis- party received a pretty serious drubbing at state administration and the 36-member ter managed to get five of his own candidates the hands of the electorate on account of the Congress(I) Legislature Party, all the way with relatively clean images into his ministry, unsavoury reputation of some of its mi- from Andhra Pradesh where he had been giving them independent charge of some key nisters. Although Singh's own reputation re- sent as governor. The composition of the portfolios. In a calculated move, he stripped mains unbesmirched, his latest attempt to new Cabinet suggests that the Congress(I) Sat Mahajan of the tourism portfolio, giving come to terms with "political reality" might leadership has thought it fit to rehabilitate it to Vidya Stokes, a strong critic of the pro- tarnish that image considerably. pro-Ram Lai MLA'S with controversial track Ram Lai Jai Behari Lai Kachi. Chief Minis- —PRABHU CHAWLA with GOBIND THUKRAL in Simla- INDIA TODAY, MAY 15, 1984 31.