Devi Prasad Tripathi, chief spokesman of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) spoke to Kavita Chowdhury on the Congress’ relationship with its alliance partners and the Lok Pal Bill. Edited excerpts:
Several things have happened in the last few weeks where you have disagreed with the government on its handling, but had to keep quiet either out of political correctness or politeness…
The Congress and we are different political parties. We are nationally recognised, but are a small party. Yet, our president is a very seasoned and an important political leader of the country.
We have tried to play a positive role in government and have given suggestions where necessary. But we have consistently, in UPA-I and in UPA-II, demanded a coordination committee between the Congress and other UPA allies so that there can be regular administrative and political consultation. Political consultations are extremely important. We were the first after the UPA was constituted to seek such a committee. In UPA-I, in response to our demand, a Left-UPA coordination committee was set up.
In UPA-II, there was more cohesion in the government but political coordination was lacking. We suggested: ‘Give consultation an institutional basis’. NDA used to have a convener in addition to a chairman. The United Front used to hold regular consultations…why do I emphasise this? So that there is no misunderstanding, confusion or as Salman Khurshid put it, errors of judgement.
For instance?
Since the beginning, there has been confusion, mishandling and errors in the handling of the Lok Pal issue. The government in its wisdom set up a joint drafting committee. At that stage itself, we suggested, let us include the leader of the Opposition from the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha and one leader from the Left, preferably Sitaram Yechury, so that the panel is representative of the entire Parliament. But, it did not do so.
The Ramdev issue was completely mishandled. What was the need to send five senior ministers and the Cabinet secretary to meet Ramdev at the airport. Even a senior minister is understandable. Why the Cabinet Secretary ? We (the NCP ) also did not endorse the police action on Ramdev and his supporters at midnight at Ramlila Maidan. Although, we too, are opposed to the basic idea of the Ramdev movement, the police action was uncalled for.
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There was no need to arrest Anna Hazare. The government should have let him fast where he wanted to. Ultimately, he went where he wanted to. Before this issue flared up, Pranab Mukherjee wrote letters to all parties and we suggested that an all-party meeting should be called. Sharad Pawar was the first to suggest an all-party meeting. The suggestion was accepted by the prime minister and the UPA chairperson and an all-party meet was called July 3.
Our view on the Lok Pal Bill is centred around three themes. Firstly, it needs to be a strong decisive deterrent against corruption and misuse of authority. However, it should be under the constitution and the Lok Pal should not act as a super governor.
The office of the Prime minister should not be under the ambit of the Lok Pal because it concerns issues of national security. After all, the dignity of the prime minister’s office has to be maintained.
In drafting the Bill, we cannot violate the federal principle of the government. There cannot be one act for all states. We have to ask the states have to form their own Bills, based on the outlines of the Central Act.
Thirdly, Sharad Pawar, quoting the father of the constitution, B R Ambedkar, has said on record that MPs cannot be questioned for their actions within the House. Only the House has authority to take action against them and it has done so on several occasions.
We, the NCP, have no substantive difference with the Congress on the Lok Pal Bill, only in their handling of the issue.
The fact of the matter is that the Congress at the Centre has not as yet internalised the coalition culture. They are still functioning under a single party dominant syndrome. They do not realise that it doesn’t exist any more and is not likely to come back in the future.
The Congress party and the government seem to be pulling in different directions. What is the NCP’s view on this ?
Dualism has not taken place. There has been congenial coordination between the prime minister and the UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi. The PM is running the government, the UPA chairperson has the National Advisory Council (NAC). These are two different institutions. They aren’t parallel institutions. There have been no big differences between the functioning of the two as yet.
But the confusion like that emerged over the Anna Hazare issue, the Ramdev issue or even that over the appointment of the Gujarat Lok Ayukta was completely avoidable.
It was the decision of the Gujarat governor that has created the crisis. It is against all constitutional proprietary. What was wrong in consulting the chief minister?
The Congress claims the Gujarat government had failed to fill the Lok Ayukta’s post for seven and a half years thus forcing the governor to make the appointment. But, was there any letter written?
There are conventions, there are modalities. Several state governments have appointed Lok Ayuktas. The chief minister and the council of ministers have been consulted in all cases. If there had been a Congress chief minister in Gujarat, this would not have happened. We (the NCP) too are opposed to (Narendra ) Modi but that doesn’t mean you can throw the constitution into the Arabian Sea.
Would the Congress have allowed a governor to foist a Lokayukta on their government without the concurrence of the state government? This is a self-inflicted wound. This could have been avoided. The Governor could have directed the chief minister to send the state government’s opinion on appointment of Lokayukta.
As far as inflation is concerned, it seems that the NCP has little responsibility in controlling it but is blamed for the effects of it?
Under our minister Sharad Pawar there has been record agricultural production last year. He has guided it, but substantive steps should have been taken by the government itself to contain inflation. Rise in international commodity and oil prices have exerted pressure, but, certain internal policies could have been taken such as implementing laws to contain black marketing, proper marketing of foodgrain to contain inflation. We (all political parties) should sit together. There is no substitute for the political process.
The Food and Public Distribution ministry has been taken away from the NCP, is that a matter of concern?
No. Sharad Pawar had himself requested the PM to reduce his work load. What’s important is that Sharad Pawar has increased support prices for the farmers and he is often alleged to have, in a way, contributed to inflationary trends but Pawar is ready to happily accept that allegation.