Bareilly:
With what is billed as its last cabinet reshuffle in this term, the Congress sought on Sunday to send out a strong signal that it is the boss in the ruling UPA. But allies like Mulayam Singh Yadav have sent along a none too gentle reminder that it depends heavily on them to make up numbers in Parliament, slamming yesterday's exercise as a "promotion of the corrupt."
The elevation of Salman Khurshid as Foreign Minister in particular has irked the Samajwadi Party, which says the minister should have been dropped instead. Senior leader and party chief Mulayam Singh's brother Ram Gopal Yadav said, "In a sense Salman Kurshid has been elevated, he has been made a foreign minister. If a minister is accused of graft, he should be taken out."
The UPA, said the SP leader, "stands exposed after the expansion." Not comforting words from a party that provides the crucial external support of 22 Lok Sabha MPs to the government, which has been in a minority ever since Mamata Banerjee and her 19 MPs quit the UPA coalition in September in protest against the move to allow foreign stores like Walmart to set up shop in India and other reform measures.
After the Mamata walkout, Mulayam Singh Yadav affirmed he would continue to support the Manmohan Singh government from outside, but had also made it clear that the support should not be taken for granted.
Mr Khurshid's promotion to one of the big four ministries yesterday has also come in for sharp criticism from activist turned politician Arvind Kejriwal, who had been demanding that he be sacked over
allegations that his NGO embezzled lakhs meant to empower the differently abled. The NGO accused of financial irregularities is named the Dr Zakir Hussain Memorial Trust, after Mr Khurshid's maternal grandfather and India's third president. The charges against the non-profit organization, headed by Mr Khurshid and run by his wife, Louise, were broadcast first by a Hindi news channel and appropriated soon by Mr Kejriwal, who has launched a new anti-graft political party.
Mr Kejriwal tweeted, "Jaipal Reddy - known to be honest - kicked out. Salman Khurshid - corrupt - promoted. That's UPA."
Mr Khurshid, who has sued the TV channel for defamation in multiple courts, told NDTV he refused to debate the matter anymore. His defamation suits, he said, were in various courts and the law would take its own course. Mr Kejriwal has vowed to lead a rally against the minister in his constituency of Farrukhabad in Uttar Pradesh, which is ruled by uphappy ally Samajwadi Party.
The other appointment yesterday that has been controversial is that of M Veerappa Moily as Petroleum Minister. He replaced J Jaipal Reddy, who has been handed that rare certificate of integrity by Mr Kejriwal.
Mr Kejriwal also tweeted, "Why did Jaipal Reddy lose his job? For resisting Reliance?" and "Moily will now work as per Reliance? So, LPG and power prices set to rise?"
Jaipal Reddy's transfer from the Oil Ministry to Science and Technology has been attributed by critics to his run-in with Reliance Industries, owned by Mukesh Ambani. Mr Reddy had taken over as Oil Minister last year, replacing Murli Deora. He took on Reliance on multiple fronts over its DG gas fields in the Krishna Godavari (KG) basin off India's east coast. Once India's second-biggest producer of natural gas, the DG fields have been under-performing.
The Reliance-led consortium has said the problems are related to geological complexities. But Mr Reddy had asked arbitrators to look at the matter.
The appointment of Mr Moily in Mr Reddy's stead was questioned yesterday by former Infosys Director Mohandas Pai, who said, "As far as the Petroleum Minister is concerned, I do think that the fact that Jaipal Reddy took a tough stand against a few corporate interests and he has been shifted out is a negative. Prima facie it shows that corporate lobbies work in India, large corporate houses can bend the government to their interest. And if the new minister doesn't stand firm and caves in and doesn't protect the country's interest and consumer interest then I think this government will stand accused of being capable of being manipulated by corporate interests. I think it is a big negative."