National

Congress keen on regaining Jat sympathy in Rajasthan

By Our Special Correspondent

JAIPUR MAY 18. Jats continue to be the main players of Rajasthan Congress politics. The recent expansion of the Council of Ministers in the State and the change of portfolios which took place simultaneously had an eye on the Jat votebank.The party managers in Delhi and here feel that the issue of Jat apathy to the Congress has to be addressed prior to the next Assembly elections slated for November 2003.

The much-awaited expansion, finally taking place over 42 months after the Gehlot Government was sworn in the State, could be termed as a bold step on the part of the Chief Minister but obviously he had his own compulsions. Mr. Gehlot made the best use of a bad situation in which he had to induct a few MLAs not of his choice and take away the portfolios of his favourites in the Council of Ministers for the sake of equity and fair play.

Perhaps the unfortunate part was that there was no valid reason to deprive some of the Ministers portfolios in which they were doing very well. Again, curiously there was no specific reason for allowing some others to retain their portfolios. Then there was also no valid motive in dropping some of the four Ministers when others with a similar track record were allowed to stay on.

The Congress preoccupation with the Jat community's so-called alienation with the party — which, they say, got reflected in the State during the previous Lok Sabha elections — was evident in the induction of two more Ministers from the community, Ramnarain Chowdhury and Hemaram Chowdhury. Between them Mr. Ramnarain Chowdhury has been entrusted with the most performing portfolio in the State at present — Energy.

Not that all the Jats who are Ministers had the same kind of treatment at the time of the reshuffle. Two of the Ministers — Chandra Bhan, holding the twin portfolios of Energy and Industry and Rajendra Chowdhury, the Minister of State for Health — who are supposedly close to the Chief Minister, Mr. Gehlot, were made to give up their choices.

Dr. Bhan was stripped off his Energy portfolio — which in turn went to another Jat — while Rajendra Chowdhury was moved out to a comparatively less important portfolio of Labour. Dr. Bhan was doing extremely well as the Energy Minister. If he had to be deprived of one major portfolio, it could have been Industry, not Energy. Yet the portfolio went to another Jat and that too a person who has not been so much inclined towards the power reforms.

Mr. Gehlot on his part played his role dexterously as Jats are the most vocal critics of the power reforms in the State as in the rural areas the farm sector consumes maximum power — which till now used to be heavily subsidised. Mr. Ram Narain Chowdhury, who hails from the district of the senior Jat politician, Sheesram Ola, has indeed taken upon himself a stupendous task.

Harendra Mirdha, another Jat Minister who is having fairly good relations with Mr. Gehlot did not share the same predicament of his fellowmen from the community. Mr. Mirdha, the son of senior leader Ramniwas Mirdha and son-in-law of the Assembly Speaker, Parasram Maderna, could retain his PWD portfolio perhaps due to the fact that he is the tenuous link between Mr. Gehlot and the Jat groups which are not so friendly to him.

Of course, Harendra Mirdha is worthy of his position on his own and now there are talks about his being offered the post of the PCC (I) president. The seniormost Minister from the community, Kamla too could retain all her portfolios of Revenue, Irrigation and Sanskrit Department even without asking.

On his part, Mr. Gehlot has never missed any chance to placate the Jat community — whether it is the appointment of Shantanu Kumar as the Director-General of Police or C.R. Chowdhury as the member of the Rajasthan Public Service Commission.

The present expansion and shake-up in portfolios found favour with the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. The only two Ministers of State to get promoted to the Cabinet rank this time were Heeralal Indora and Prasadilal Meena, from SC and ST respectively.

The veteran Tribal member, Bhikha Bhai, was retained as a Cabinet Minister — though without any portfolio — out of sheer compassion for his age. Among the new Ministers inducted also there were two members each from the SC and ST. The backwards (OBCs) too have gained in the current expansion after the induction of Govind Singh Gujjar, a protege of the late Rajesh Pilot. The other backwards who could make it were Madho Singh Dewan and Janardhan Singh Gehlot.

The Yadavs who are unrepresented in the Council of Ministers should be happy with the appointment of Karan Singh Yadav the other day as the vice chairman of the 20 Point Implementation Committee. The Minorities did not gain or lose in numbers as in the place of two removed — Zakia Inam and Abdul Aziz — two others, Habibur Rehman and Taquiuddhin Ahmed, have been inducted. Mr. Rehman is from Nagaur district to which Mr. Aziz too belongs while Mr. Ahmed is from proper Jaipur.

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