NEW DELHI, 10 March 2003 — Union Minister for Rural Development Shanta Kumar may have to pay the price for his role during the recent assembly elections in his home state Himachal Pradesh. The Bharatiya Janata Party bit the dust and Shanta Kumar was blamed for the party’s debacle as he was alleged to have worked against former Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal’s interests.
Shanta Kumar is likely to be dropped in the next Cabinet reshuffle scheduled to take place any day after March 13 when Parliament adjourns for a month-long recess. His place is likely to be given to firebrand Bengal leader and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, who is believed to have agreed to accept this portfolio, reliable sources said.
But some BJP leaders have objected to Mamata being given the Rural Development Ministry. Though she is still insisting on the railway portfolio, she has no choice but to go by the wishes of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee. Also likely to join the Cabinet is Samata Party leader Raghunath Jha, who was removed as Bihar state president by Railway Minister Nitish Kumar. Jha is being inducted into the Cabinet only to pacify him, the sources said.
Another surprise could be the BSP joining the NDA and also probably the government. UP Chief Minister Mayawati, who is feeling insecure due to the tape controversy, wants to forge closer relations with the BJP leadership as well as the NDA alliance. To give a cover to her real intentions, she yesterday met Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani and said she discussed the strategy to be adopted for contesting jointly the Lok Sabha polls in 2004.
The BJP leadership is under pressure from a section of the party leaders from UP to sever ties with the BSP as it could cost them dearly. Ms. Mayawati wants the two parties to have a tie-up only in UP for the next Lok Sabha elections while Advani prefers a long-term relationship and an electoral tie-up all over the country in order to unite the Dalit and upper caste votes.
Meanwhile, in another development, industrialist-turned MP Vijay Mallaya is suddenly much in demand in the Parliament. His frequent flights to South Africa on his private plane have encouraged other MPs to try and hitch a ride on his plane.
“At least 50 MPs have asked to come on the flight. But we don’t have enough tickets so we are giving tickets to people like Farooq Abdullah, Laloo Yadav and Sharad Pawar who are heads of state cricket associations,” said Rajiv Shukla, MP and a member of Indian cricket board.
Laloo Yadav in fact claims that he is sartorially preparing for the big event. “I may go but now they are saying that I will have to wear a sherwani or a bandh gala. If I go, I will wear a kurta-pajama,” said Laloo.
