Impasse ends, Maharashtra, Haryana cabinets to be sworn on Saturday

Mumbai/Chandigarh, Nov 6 : The stalemate over government formation in Maharashtra and cabinet expansion in Haryana will finally end when the Congress-NCP alliance government headed by Ashok Chavan and Council of Ministers of the Hooda government take their oath of office tomorrow in their respective states tomorrow.

Maharashtra Governor S C Jamir today invited Chief Minister designate Ashok Chavan to form a government after the latter called upon him and staked the claim stating that he had the support of 170 members of the 288-member new State Assembly after the October 13 elections.

The Governor will administer the oath of office and secrecy to the new Congress-NCP alliance government at the Raj Bhavan at 1730 hrs tomorrow, extending the decade-old partnership in office for another five years.

The Congress-NCP alliance formed the government in 1999 and was voted back to power in 2004.

According to a Raj Bhawan communique tonight, the Governor noted that Mr Chavan has the support of 170 elected members of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly and also accepted Mr Chavan's recommendation for Mr Bhujbal's appointment as the Deputy Chief Minister in the council of Ministers.

Mr Chavan, who was in New Delhi to finalise the berth sharing formula after a fortnight-long hard bargaining, arrived this evening and drove to the Raj Bhavan to stake claim. He was accompanied by NCP leader and deputy Chief Minsiter designate Chhagan Bhujbal.

According to the agreement arrived at by both the parties, the Congress would have 23 berths in the ministry, including Chief Minister, while the NCP 20.

Even in the past two occasions in 1999 and 2004, the alliance formed a ministry after two weeks of intense deliberations on berth sharing.

Mr Chavan after meeting the governor told newsmen that the Congress ministers would be sworn-in in two instalments. He said the list of ministers would be known tomorrow. He said besides the 82 members of the congress and 62 members of the NCP, the alliance had the support of 26 independents, who included winning rebel candidates from both the Congress and the NCP. He said a decision on the Speaker's post was yet to taken Mr Chavan was accompanied by 13 independent members and Parliamentary affairs minister in the outgoing ministry, Harshwardhan Patil.

Earlier in the day, Mr Chavan met Congress president Sonia Gandhi. A K Antony, who is in-charge of Maharashtra party affairs and Ahmed Patel, political advisor to Ms Gandhi, were also present.

Last evening too, the same leaders had a round of discussions on the portfolio allocation.

The delay was also caused by a initial hiccup in the NCP camp with senior leader and water conservation minister Ajit Pawar reportedly raising a banner of revolt following re-election of Mr Bhujbal as the leader of the NCP and deputy chief minister.

The Shiv Sena, attempting to swim in troubled waters of NCP-Congress, had offered to join hands with Pawar extending the Pune Municipal Corporation alliance. However, Mr Pawar ruled out any defiance and abided by the party's decision.

The Congress failed to wrest the home, energy and finance from the NCP as the latter was not keen in parting with them, despite finishing 20 seats below the Congress.

There will not be much change in the list of ministers of NCP.

However, Mr R R Patil, is expected to make a comeback as home minister.

Congress is expected to induct around 15 ministers in the first round, while remaining will be accommodated later.

Haryana Governor Jagannath Pahadia would administer the oath of office and secrecy to the Council of Ministers of the Hooda government in Haryana tomorrow, after an overnight postponement of the Cabinet expansion, earliers scheduled for today. The sewaring-in ceremony will be held at 1100 hrs at the Haryana Raj Bhawan.

The last-minute postponement of the Cabinet expansion of the Hooda government had not only caused embarrassment to the ruling Congress, but given rise to speculation over the problems in the Cabinet formation.

The Chief Minister today had consultations with the Congress high command in New Delhi to sort out the hitches and glitches in the way of the Cabinet formation.

Though the Congress leadership did not reveal the reason behind the sudden postponement of the Cabinet expansion, there was speculation that some former ministers were unhappy over their exclusion from the Council of Ministers or were not ready to accept the slot of the minister of state.

The last-minute intervention of these former ministers in the matter reportedly prompted the Congress high comand to postpone the swearing-in ceremony which was scheduled for today.

There were reports about strong protests by Kiran Chaudhary, daughter-in-law of former chief minister Bansi Lal, over her being made a minister of state instead of a Cabinet Minister.

Ms Chaudhary, who was Minister of State for Tourism in the previous Hooda government, was reportedly insistent upon becoming a Cabinet Minister this time, citing her senior position in the party.

Former Parliamentary Affairs and Power Minister Randeep Singh Surjewala was also being counted among those who were behind the postponement of the cabinet formation.

Mr Surjewala had reportedly been excluded in the list of ministers which were to be sworn in today as per the original schedule.

The formation of Council of Ministers was a tough challenge for Mr Hooda who was sworn in as the state Chief Minister for a second consecutive term on October 25.

He proved his majority on the floor of the Assembly on October 28 with the support of seven Independents and one BSP MLA, besides 39 Congress MLAs. A total of 47 MLAs voted in favour of the confidence motion in the 90-member House.

Ever since, the Chief Minister had been making rounds to Delhi to have consultations with the Congress high command to pick and choose his Ministers from a long list of aspirants from among 38 Congress MLAs, seven Independents and a BSP legislator.

The Congress, which could win only 40 seats in the just-concluded assembly elections and failed to secure a simple majority of 46 in the 90-member House, would be entirely dependent on the support of the seven Independents and the BSP MLA for its survival.

Knowing their own significance, most of the Independents were lobbying for a slot in the Council of Ministers and to keep them in good humour, the party would have to accomodate a couple of them in the government while adjusting others as Parliametary Secretaries or chairmen of various boards and corporations.

Mr Hooda's hands were tied by the Supreme Court ruling putting a ceiling on the number of Ministers to 15 per cent of the strength of a state Assembly. Accordingly, there could be a maximum of 13 Ministers in Haryana with a 90-member Assembly.

As far as the Congress itself is concerned, there are as many as 38 party MLAs, leaving out Mr Hooda and newly elected Speaker Harmohinder Singh Chatha.

--UNI

(c) 2009 Published with permission from United News of India.
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