Sonia Gandhi takes exception to DMK brinkmanship

NEW DELHI/CHENNAI: Congress chief Sonia Gandhi on Monday expressed displeasure over DMK's brinkmanship, telling M Karunanidhi's emissaries that the party's behaviour had been discourteous. 

The plainspeak came even as the sides appeared to be clawing towards a pact, though hurdles remain on Congress's demand to pick the constituencies it wants to contest. 

Sources said Sonia expressed her peeve when Union ministers M K Alagiri and Dayanidhi Maran visited her late on Monday evening as part of efforts to wrap up the seat-sharing talks which tensed the ties to the point of break-up. 

Sources said the Congress president, while being polite, told her visitors that the talks being held now could have been held earlier. Instead, DMK people chose to go public on the differences, sources quoted Sonia as telling the DMK ministers in a clear reference to DMK's threat to pull out its ministers from the Manmohan Singh government. She underlined to her visitors that Congress had been accommodating DMK's political demands all the while. 

DMK's top decision-making body had on Saturday passed a resolution to pull out of the central government, blaming its decision what it called Congress's desire to push it out of the ruling coalition. 

DMK sources said the Congress chief did not get into the details of seat-sharing, stressing that she was more concerned about coalition courtesies. 

Sonia's decision to meet the two DMK ministers, particularly Alagiri who has been playing hardball, was interpreted as signalling a breakthrough. Although she is not the last word on alliances, she does not get into the nitty-gritties of seats 

Congress likely to scale down seat demand 

That she chose to focus on coalition manners and not on Congress's claims in her meeting with the DMK duo kept the issue hanging. Sources said differences between the two sides had come down to 6 seats. Congress is still sticking to its demand for 63 seats, but indications are that it may agree to scale down the demand. Congress has been insisting to chose the dozen seats that it will contest over and above its share of 48 in 2006 polls.DMK has offered that Congress could choose six of those. 

The evening meeting followed day-long confabulations between the two sides. The ice was broken on Sunday night itself when Congress's troubleshooter Pranab Mukherjee established contact with DMK leadership, giving Karunanidhi room to re-engage with Congress. 

Mukherjee contacted Karunanidhi on Monday morning, leading the DMK ministers to put off their plans to pull out of the government. 

The ministers who to visit PMO at 6.30 pm were told by leadership to put off the plan by a day because, Karunanidhi's son M K Stalin claimed in Chennai, Congress had sought more time. 

The six DMK ministers in Manmohan Singh government met in the capital at the residence of Madurai strongman MK Alagiri to hammer out strategy. It was felt that Congress could take six constituencies of its choice while DMK could make that choice for ally in remaining six. Congress too sought one seat more than the tally of 60 to keep its pride intact in the bare knuckle bargaining. 

The DMK patriarch, controlling manoeuvres from Chennai, found his son Alagiri take the hardline of dumping the Congress but preferred the discretion of his younger son MK Stalin. He nominated textiles minister Dayanidhi Maran as the interlocutor with Congress heads in clear signals that he was keen to salvage the alliance after the Saturday night brinkmanship. 

DMK retained its pride because it was Pranab Mukherjee who reestablished the communication with a latenight call to DMK leadership and followed it up with another on Monday. Karunanidhi tried to impress upon Congress his predicament after delimitation because many of DMK's strong constituencies have got split.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Sonia-Gandhi-takes-exception-to-DMK-brinkmanship/articleshow/7651517.cms

PMO favours joint mining by NTPC, RPower in Jharkhand

THE prime minister’s office has recommended that NTPC and Reliance Power should jointly mine adjacent coal blocks in Jharkhand to help them extract about 200 million tonnes of additional coal that would have been lost if the mines were delineated and drilled independently, government and company officials said. The proposal also has the backing of Parliament’s standing committee on coal. 

NTPC chairman and managing director Arup Roy Choudhury told ET that the company has found merit in the proposal. “It is a good proposal. But we have to examine it closely since we would start production much ahead of them. These evaluations would take some time,” he said. 

As per statutory norms, companies owning different blocks are required to maintain a “safety angle” between the blocks, reducing the amount of coal they can extract. 

A Reliance Power spokesperson confirmed the development and said: “This is the optimum way to mine coal for promoting coal conservation. We look forward to discussing with NTPC on how to co-ordinate mining operations.” 

Reliance Power had sought government’s approval for joint exploration of coal mines attached with Tilaiya ultra mega power project and NTPC’s Kerandari Aand Pakri Barwadih blocks. Tilaiya blocks – Kerandari B and Kerandari C – lie in between NTPC’s Kerandari A and Pakri Barwadih blocks. 

“The proposal has been recommended by PMO and the standing committee on coal. We have written to the power ministry seeking directions to NTPC for the same. The two companies should now be working toward a strategy to extract coal blocked in barriers and batters in their respective coalfields. They will have to get the strategy approved by the government,” a coal ministry official said.

Source: Article Window

Cabinet rejig with eye on polls

NEW DELHI: Congress seized the reshuffle window to rev up its election machine in Uttar Pradesh and Kerala by broadbasing participation from these states in the Union ministry.

The elevation of Salman Khurshid and Sriprakash Jaiswal and induction of Beni Prasad Verma as steel minister have upped the share of UP in the Cabinet to put it on a par with its political heft. (Read: PM inducts 3 new ministers, drops none )

K V Thomas's surprise elevation as food and consumer affairs minister and the filling of Shashi Tharoor's slot is another leg-up for the party in Kerala which takes on the Left Front in May polls. Giving temporary charge of civil aviation to Vyalar Ravi and making K C Venugopal junior minister for power fits the 'K C Venugopal' pattern.

Sources said the focus on short-term political battles in the reshuffle, which was expected to be a performance appraisal of UPA-2, underlined the importance of the coming polls in the party matrix.

Congress is banking heavily on victories in Kerala and Assam where it is the main player to turn the tide after the negativity of scams.

Victories on ally turfs such as West Bengal and Tamil Nadu would supplement party strategy. UP polls would also decide the fate of the party's revival attempt in the 80-seat state and give a peep into the possibilities of 2014 Lok Sabha battle.

The rejig seeks to broadbase Congress's UP outreach. A position to Verma can renew the party's appeal among OBCs. Verma's entry in the power echelons is a snub to Samajwadi Party, his home before the high-voltage rebellion against Mulayam Singh Yadav in 2007.

Verma's gain compounds Mulayam's woes because he too is eyeing a power perch at the Centre to rival the clout of an imperious Mayawati. His PMO visit on Monday evening had set tongues wagging in the Congress camp.

A cabinet rank for Khurshid aims to neutralise SP's bid to dent Congress among Muslims. SP's Azam Khan has accused Congress of denying the community its due share in power with only Kashmir's Congress among Muslimshaving Cabinet status. Khurshid's elevation sets right the balance.

Congress has lent weight of key portfolios to Kerala leaders to add to its momentum in the Left-held state. Autonomous charge of food and consumer affairs to Thomas and civil aviation to Ravi are steps in that direction.

The criticality of Kerala in Congress matrix stems from the prospect of double whammy for Left in Bengal and Kerala. A defeat-induced disarray in Left camp can soften the Red resistance in Delhi which will be big relief for the cornered Congress.

The political subtext of the rejig in UP follows a realisation in Congress that the waning of post-2009 mood after scams and price rise will test its bare cupboard of leaders and appeal among caste groups. Though Rahul Gandhi leads a campaign among dalits who are loyal to Mayawati, the key to party success in the state lies with Muslims, OBCs and upper castes.

Also read: PM will now keep a sharper eye on key economic ministries

Source:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Cabinet-rejig-with-eye-on-polls/articleshow/7323296.cms