The Congress party leadership sent a strong signal to the National Congress Party in yesterday’s ministerial reshuffle about who was in the driver’s seat.
The NCP, a key ally in the Congress-led UPA government, wasn’t told about Praful Patel being shifted from civil aviation to heavy industries till the announcement.
An NCP leader who did not want to be named told Business Standard: “We were together with our chief, Sharad Pawar, before leaving for Rashtrapati Bhavan. We were all under the impression that Praful will be elevated to Cabinet rank in the civil aviation ministry but the Congress gave us a rude shock.”
The leader admitted allocation of portfolios was the Prime Minister’s prerogative. However, he said discussions take place about the allocation before the swearing-in, as had been done during the government’s first term. “Congress should have hinted (about the change). Keeping the party in the dark is not in the larger interest of coalition politics,” he said.
Patel declined to comment on the issue and said he would make all efforts to do justice to his new job. “I have taken the charge today. I will take a comprehensive review of the ministry for a week or so and decide the future road map,” he told this correspondent.
An NCP working committee member said the trigger for the development was the recent statement by party general secretary D P Tripathi, asking the Congress party to learn the art of running coalitions from Italy. Tripathi had reacted sharply against Rahul Gandhi's purported remark in Lucknow last week, where he’d blamed the government's inability to check food prices on coalition constraints. Subsequently, the NCP retracted its stand, when it was clarified that Gandhi had not referred to any individual or a party.
Moreover, the Congress has been irked over the NCP on various political and government issues in Maharashtra. A Congress minister said: “NCP has to fall in line with Congress policies or UPA policies in general to survive the alliance both at the Centre and in the state.”