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Gujral calls meeting to placate Mishra
Syed Firdaus Ashraf
After his quick climbdown on the Chaturanan Mishra controversy -- the agriculture minister withdrew his resignation from the Union Cabinet less than 24 hours after it was submitted on Friday -- Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral seems to be making some quiet moves to defuse the tension in the United Front.
Besides clarifying that his criticism had not specifically targeted Mishra, Gujral has called a meeting to patch up the differences between the agriculture minister and his bete noire, Finance Minister Palaniappan
Chidambaram. Gujral also met Mishra on his return from Punjab on Saturday.
Withdrawing his resignation, Mishra told the media on Saturday that the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs's minutes showed that Gujral was not to be blamed for the controversy. ''The mishief lay elsewhere,'' he said amidst reports that his Communist Party of India was still unhappy with the step-motherly treatment given to agriculture.
Confirming this is Mishra's statement that he has written to the prime minister on 12 issues pertaining to the farmers. As the issues would not involve any major financial burden, he said they should be settled before Gujral leaves on his European tour next week.
Among the issues raised by Mishra are the crop insurance scheme, provision of at least Rs 1.5 billion for establishing soil testing laboratories and Krishi Vigyan Kendras and investing Rs 2.5 billion for rainfed states.
Speaking to Rediff On The NeT, Communist Party of India national secretary D Raja said, ''Though the Common Minimum
Programme lays more stress on agriculture, no concrete steps have
been taken to improve the sector. We hope the meeting
will solve the problem and speed up investment in agriculture as suggested by the Ninth Plan.''
Interestingly, this is not the first time the CPI has raised serious doubts about the functioning of the ruling United Front.
During H D Deve Gowda's tenure as prime minister, senior CPI leader and Home Minister Indrajit Gupta drew flak when he told Parliament that Governor Romesh Bhandari was plunging Uttar Pradesh into chaos, anarchy and destruction.
Responding to the criticism, Deve Gowda had then said he could not
take action against the governor. The CPI saw this as an affront to the party's leadership. ''Why does not Deve Gowda defend Gupta and pull up Bhandari? Is he trying to isolate the CPI in the ruling alliance?'' the party leadership asked.
As for the party's differences with the finance minister, they stem from the CPI's opposition of the insurance sector reforms. So strident was the criticism -- not only from the CPI but also other Left parties -- that Chidambaram had to withdraw the Insurance Authority Regulatory Bill in Parliament two months ago.
Another source of friction was the Fifth Pay Commission report. As the Left-supported trade unions demanded higher pay, a group of Union ministers -- including Gupta -- even negotiated on the government staff's behalf.
EARLIER REPORTS:
Jolt for Gujral
Hefty pay hike for govt staff
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