Laloo, Deve Gowda battle for supremacy

The battle between former prime minister H D Deve Gowda and Janata Dal president Laloo Prasad Yadav is expected to climax during Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral's proposed expansion of the Union ministry.

Senior United Front officials said Laloo Prasad Yadav, who is also the Bihar chief minister, has asked that two of Deve Gowda's men -- C M Ibrahim and Srikant Jena -- get short shrift in the resulting arrangement.

They said Laloo Yadav wants Ibrahim either dropped from the Cabinet or divested of the information and broadcasting portfolio. Ibrahim is also minister of civil aviation. But Gujral may not agree to the plan to oust Jena from the Cabinet since, after the death of Biju Patnaik, he is the only JD leader of any consequence from Orissa.

Gujral has already reserved ministries Tamil Maanila Congress MPs held earlier under Deve Gowda's prime ministership. Gujral is expected to induct five TMC ministers, two from the JD, one from the Communist Party of India, one from the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and two eminent personalities of his choice.

Deve Gowda too is mobilising support from the Bihar chief minister's critics, especially the Left parties. These parties have reportedly assured him that they would not permit the JD president to go unchallenged.

Meanwhile, both the Congress and Front are finalising their lists of members of the co-ordination committee that is to ensure the smooth functioning of Gujral's government. Apart from Gujral, those likely to figure in the UF list are Home Minister Indrajit Gupta, Defence Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav, Railways Minister Ram Vilas Paswan, Finance Minister P Chidambaram and Industries Minister Murasoli Maran. The Congress list is expected to contain, besides Sitaram Kesri, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Tariq Anwar, Dr Manmohan Singh, Sharad Pawar and G Venkataswamy. Two standbys are K Karunakaran and Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi.

Meanwhile, both Kesri and Pawar are seeking their own kind of arrangement in the committee, with Kesri opting for three Rajya Sabha members and two Lok Sabha members and Pawar arguing that three Lok Sabha and two Rajya Sabha members would be better.