Commentary/ T V R Shenoy

At least all of Rabri Devi's ministers come from her own party...

I think I have finally understood why H D Deve Gowda dislikes Laloo Prasad Yadav so bitterly. It is jealousy pure and simple -- the overpowering hatred that one feels for a rival who has just pulled off a stupendous coup.

What, after all, was Sitaram Kesri's minimum demand in April? He wanted a ministry headed by anyone other than Deve Gowda. But did the poor 'humble farmer' ever think of anything half as brilliant as making Chenamma Gowda the prime minister?

What I don't understand is why the former prime minister, Harkishen Singh Surjeet, and Mulayam Singh Yadav are panting in outrage. After all, satisfying the strict wording of the law while breaking its spirit with impunity is a tactic that they themselves perfected. If Rabri Devi lacks any mandate to rule, does anyone believe that Inder Kumar Gujral is really India's choice?

Nor do I understand why sections of the United Front are making such a song and dance about the presence of three Rashtriya Janata Dal MPs in the Gujral ministry. That isn't a unique situation. There are as many as six Union ministers whose partners are not in the UF.

Let me begin with Jayanthi Natrajan, minister of state for civil aviation. She is one of the women whom Gujral inducted as tit-for-tat for his humiliation at Sharad Yadav's hands in the Lok Sabha on the women's reservation issue.

That is fine, but couldn't Gujral find some who one is not a Congress MP?

That's right, the same party whose president is Sitaram Kesri includes Jayanthi Natrajan. Of course, the lady herself insists she is a founding member of the Tamil Maanila Congress. But the records of the Rajya Sabha expose this as a shabby lie.

Natrajan was elected to the Rajya Sabha as a Congress MP from Tamil Nadu. If she possessed the slightest sense of honour she should have quit the Congress officially when she joined the TMC. But that would have meant losing her precious Rajya Sabha seat. Like a true UF member, Natrajan prefers power to principles. So a Congresswoman is now a UF minister.

(Natrajan isn't unique. TMC president Karuppiah Moopanar is also listed as a Congress MP in the Rajya Sabha records. Which means the Congress has infiltrated not just the Gujral ministry, but even the UF steering committee!)

If Natrajan is a minister with two parties, there are two ministers who belong to no party whatsoever -- Ola and Satpal Maharaj. Both men were elected on the Congress (Tiwari) ticket, two of the four MPs to enter the Lok Sabha under that symbol.

But then Narasimha Rao quit the Congress presidency and Kesri took over. So N D Tewari, who had left the Congress after arguing with Rao, merged his breakaway party into the parent body.

But Ola and Maharaj continue to fly the Congress-T flag. Who says UF MPs don't understand the meaning of the word 'loyalty'? Here are two hardy souls who are unwilling to give up when even the party's founder himself has quit!

Ah, but what is it that Messrs Ola and Maharaj are unwilling to give up? Is it their attachment to the Congress-T ticket on which they were elected? Or is it the lucrative offices that they might be asked to surrender if they become Congressmen again?

And, finally, there is the RJD contingent. The UF has repeatedly confirmed that they don't have anything to do with the RJD. And Laloo Prasad Yadav has repeatedly stated he isn't a beggar asking for favours. Sheer decency seems to indicate, then, that the three RJD ministers should quit.

But they have done nothing of the sort. And our hypocritical prime minister sees no need to enforce the 'norms' that he is so fond of talking about.

"But there aren't any charges against any of the three," Gujral brays. Well, A K Antony and Manmohan Singh are also clean men. Why aren't they too in the Gujral ministry?

Ministers whose parties aren't in the UF (the six referred to above). Ministers whose party consist of one MP (such as Law Minister Ramakant Khalap). Ministers whose parties don't have a single MP in the Lok Sabha (the National Conference's Saifuddin Soz). These are the 'norms' that Gujral adores.

Rabri Devi's jumbo ministry will undoubtedly be criticised for the farce that it is. But at least all her ministers come from her own party. Let us not become so preoccupied with Patna that we forget the greater farce in Delhi.

Tell us what you think of this column