Current Events Shukla (left I Prime Minister lndira Claims a pro-Shukla MLA: "Arjun Singh forums. Last fortnight in an ofensive against Gandhi's 20-Point Pro- has started a vilification campaign against the dissidents. Singh sacked Health Minister gramme. which was aimed Vidya bhaiya to divert public attention from Srinivas Tiwari and divested Deputy Chief at boosting the party's image the non-implementation of the programme. Minister Shivabhanu Solanki of the two during the Emergency, is The chief minister's group has not taken important portfolios of medium and minor doing just the opposite for kindly to our Zila Vikas Sammelans which irrigation. He has also sought M rs Gandhi's her Congress(1) in Madhya highlight the failures of implementation." approval to drop from his Cabinet ministers Pradesh. The ruling group and the dissidents Shukla. encouraged by the recent court he considers troublesome. within the party have seized upon it to get at decree -the Supreme Court last fortnight Singh has been stuck with some men of each other. Chief Minister A jun Singh's upheld his election from Mahasamund after Shukla's group in his ministry since June group has been accusing the dissidents- the Madhya Pradesh High Court set it aside - when they were included during the Cabinet led by Vidya Charan Shukla. Union Minister has now launched a frontal assault on Singh. formation as the outcome of a package for Civil Supplies-of hindering its exe- Said Shukla at his New Delhi press con- deal. Although Shukla's group. which was cution. Shukla's followers. on the other hand, ference : "These upstarts and pseudo-pro- backing Solanki for chief ministership. was are quite insistent that the programme is not gressives who have attained power in Madhya humiliated. it revivedits dissident activities being implemented satisfactorily. They are Pradesh by maniplulation and intrigues are soon after Sanjay's death. But his men were also peeved at their deliberate exclusion from raising a false bogey to hide their true faces." demoralised by the appointment of Munder the 450-odd 20-Point Programme Implement- The dissidents have now submitted a Shanna. a protkge of Singh. as the MPCC(I) ation Committees (PICs) which have been detailed memorandum to Mrs Gandhi listing chief. This sealed the fate of Shyama Charan constituted by the state Government in the lapses of the state Government with Shukla-also an aspirant for the chief minis- various development blocks. regard to the 20-Point Programme. Accord- tership -whose formal admission to the Complains Munder Sharma. 64. the ing to Shukla's men, people with dubious Congress(1) is yet to be announced. soft-spoken Madhya Pradesh Congress records have been included in the district Political Base: Another matter which Committee(1) (MPCC-I) president: "Some level PICs and 'genuine' Congressmen have has upset the Shuklas is that the chief Congress(1) leaders of the state are doing the been kept out deliberately. Answers Singh: minister has started making inroads in the same kind of harm to Arjun Singh as opposi- "I have received complaints against some Chattisgarh region sofar considered to be tion leader: are doing to Mrs Gandhi. I am people and I have ordered the scrutiny of all the exclusive preserve of the Shukla family. sure they are doing so at the instigation of members of the various committees. Munder Singh has not only made over two dozen Central leaders from the state." Concurs Sharma is also looking into the matter. visits to Chattisgarh -which reiurns over Industry Minister Jhumuk La1 Bhedia: Everything is being done in consultation 90 ML.As to the Assembly -but has also "Since the chief minister has started doing with the party organisation." started supporting those pro-Congress(]) something for the poor of Chattisgarh, the Setback: The programme is merely an Bralhmins who are opposed to the Shukla 'brothers (Vidya Charan and his excuse for both groups to hit each other with. Shuklas. brother Shyama Charan) are annoyed with Shukla's public offensive against Singh On January 6, for example. he attended him. That V.C. Shukla has joined hands with follows the sacking and demotion of pro- the birth anniversary celebrations of Pandit anti-social elements to defame his own party's Shukla men in the state ministry and the Sunder Lal-Shanna. a well-known freedom government is unfortunate." launching of vigilance inquiries against some tighter of Raipur. and announced a pension Frontal Attack: Shukla's supporters of them. Moreover Shukla's followers have of Rs 500 per month for all of Sharma's predictably shrug off these allegations. been kept out of several important party dependents. Ravi' Shankar Shukla. Vidya 46 INDIA TODAY, FEBRUARY 1-1 5. 1981 Charan's father and former chief mrn~sterof KARNATAKA Chief Minister Gundu Rao struck the Madhya Pradesh. was opposed to Sharma right chord in the hearts of true-blue who was s~delined from state polltlcs Hi gh Rise Wars Bangaloreans when he recently denounced "Though Sharma was jailed over a dozen - the rash of high-rise buildings. They were, times with Gandhiji he IS not listed among Will the building boom in he declared, marring the beauty and peace of freedom fighters because he was opposed to Bangalore collapse like the the city. Coming from the top, Rao's str~c- the Shukla family." complained a Congress(1) proverbial house of cards? tures gave teeth to the city's protest. The leader of Raipur The answer depends on the creaking wheels of the clty corporation Besides. the state Government is con- outcome of a tug of war spun Into motlon, and on the charge that templating bifurcat~on of Ralpur d~str~ct. being waged between the several of the builders had Routed ~tsby- the largest in the country into at least@wo city's inhabitants. its cor- . laws, the corporation revoked all building to break the Shuklas' grlp over the dlstnct. the Urban Arts Commission licences and imposed a temporary freeze on All ministers opposed to Shukla have been on the one hand, and on the other the the construction of multi-storeyed buildings directed to organise special mass meetings hordes of real estate developers who have (above five floors). To unabashed popular, inthedistrict and takeup specialdevelopment been drawn to the vast open spaces of the acclaim-and nobody's surprise-the cor- " plans and the 20-Point Programme. Singh one-time army cantonment town. The fierce poration said it detected 82 cases of by-law has also strengthened his hand by getting battle IS a clash of cultures between the v~olationsand cancelled 42 hcences among the support of Prakash Chand Sethi. Un~on native sons of a sprawling, salubrious city the 182 skyscrapers being bullt. Petroleum Minister, who w~eldsconsiderable and a phalanx of real estate developers with Ban: Corporation admin~stratorZafar influence in the state. So far, the factions ' cash register eyes. Sa~fullahsaid that several of these bulldlngs have limited their activities to secret meetings and press statements And both are woolng the party high command Last fortnight Singh and Shukla met Mrs Gandhi to state their point of view. Meeting Cancelled: Apparently assured of the prime minister's support. Singh scored another political victory and improved h~s image by convening a meeting of seven important Congress(1) chief ministers He successfully pushed through his Idea of organ~sing a milhon-strong government- sponsored kisan rally in the capital on Febru- ary 12 This has been planned to convlnce Mrs Gandhi that the peasantry is backing her. While Singh is tourlng the vlllages In the state Government's four-seater plane to collect farmers for the rally and to publiclse the vigorous implementation of the 20-Point Programme. Laxml Narain Indurlya. MPCC(I) general secretary and a staunch follower of Shukla, is moving from dlstnct to district to That, principally, has meant taking on prepare a dossier on the admin~stration's a strong group of teachers of the nearby failures. On the intervention of the high King George Medical College (KGMC), who command, Induriya has now shelved the fear that their college and the new institute idea of convening a meeting of all the current and ex-Congress (I) MPs, MLAs and MPCC(I) office bearers. The intention was to pass a resolution expressing concern over the tardy lmplementation of the 20-Point Programme. lndurlya has, however. gathered %natures of leading Congress(1) leaders on the petltlon which he intends to submit to Mrs Gandhi on behalf of the dissidents. And to boost the sagging morale of his supporters, Shukla has been amdashing to Madhya Pradesh almost every week during the last two months. Says an MLA of the ruling group: "The Shuklas have not been able to reconcile to the sltu- ation In which they are not the rulers of the state. They are a frustrated lot " And while the leaders are involved m their petty plots, the same fate which ~t met soon after the Emergency. seems to ayait the 20-Point Programme. aklng every effort to so healing touch of the medical stude -PRABHU CHAWLA in Bhopal INDIA TODAY. FEBRUARY 1-1 5. 1981 . I 47 .