Nitish clips Digvijay's wings?

By Sandeep Dikshit

NEW DELHI, SEPT. 6. The cold war between the Railway Minister, Mr. Nitish Kumar, and the National Democratic Alliance convener, Mr. George Fernandes, appears to have taken a chilling turn.

Mr. Kumar has clipped the wings of Mr. Fernandes' protege, Mr. Digvijay Singh, while re-allocating him work in the Railway Ministry. The tasks delegated to Mr. Singh are considerably less consequential compared to his earlier stint in the Ministry when Mr. Kumar and Mr. Fernandes got along well.

The seeds of the conflict sown after Mr. Fernandes' ouster from the Cabinet germinated on August 1, the day the Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, took umbrage at the behaviour of the NDA partners and even suggested a code of conduct for the members. The same evening, after a telephonic talk with Mr. Fernandes, Mr. Vajpayee restored Mr. Singh's Railway portfolio, while keeping Mr. Kumar and the other Minister of State for Railways, Mr. O. Rajagopal, completely uninformed.

The NDA convener had phoned the Prime Minister after Mr. Singh, who had been made the Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, refused to take up the new charge till his earlier portfolio in the Railway Ministry was restored. After the telephonic conversation, Mr. Vajpayee allowed Mr. Singh to straddle both Ministerial boats.

Mr. Singh, designated Minister of State for Railways, Industry and Commerce, was allowed to function freely by Mr. Kumar but his position in the Rail Bhavan was nebulous. Neither did he have adequate staff nor was he aware of his exact responsibilities.

Mr. Kumar got the opportunity to get even a month later when in the latest Cabinet re-shuffle, Mr. Singh was divested of the Commerce and Industry portfolio and asked to concentrate only on the Railways.

The redistribution of work that took place on Wednesday last stripped Mr. Singh of all the functions that earlier gave him elbow-room to act as a potentate in the Railway Ministry. No longer can Mr. Singh (along with Mr. Kumar) address issues such as the performance of Railways and the safety and security of trains. Nor can he monitor the performance of the cash-flush PSU, IRCON.

Mr. Singh has also been left out of one principal centre of state patronage for out-of-work party supporters - approval of items for inclusion in the works programme (basically track maintenance) between Rs. 50 lakhs and Rs. 5 crores. He has also been stripped of the high-profile assignment of replying to questions posed in Parliament.

All these tasks were handled by Mr. Singh when he had shared the tasks of the Minister of State for Railways with Mr. Bangaru Laxman, and before the equations between the two Samata Party leaders had soured. The ball is now in Mr. Fernandes' court to square the score with Mr. Kumar.

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