Click to play videoNew Delhi: It’s been exactly 10 days since the UPA government got a decisive mandate but it’s been dithering ever since on Government formation.
First trouble with the allies and now the Congress's own senior leaders are squabbling over key positions.
Sources indicate the Congress has finalised more than 50 per cent of the portfolios but is still to reach the perfect formula that represents all states and caste. Round 2 of the swearing-in now on Thursday.
Sources say Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh have decided that while choosing ministers and portfolios, attention will be paid to regional and caste representation. State like UP, Bihar, Gujarat - where the Congress hopes to gain ground - will be given priority. But hitting upon the right formula has been difficult.
“Congress does not allow ambitions to be aired publicly but buoyed by a huge tally, it’s difficult for many to control feelings,” says Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee.
But ambitious politicians like former CM of Himachal Pradesh Vir Bhadra Singh and former Maharashtra CM Vilasrao Deshmukh are among those in the race for Round 2 along with several other Maharashtra leaders.
Congress' man in Karnataka, leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, Malikarjuna Kharge, wants a Cabinet berth. He is upset that two senior Karnataka politicians, Veerappa Moily and SM Krishna were in the first Cabinet list.
Not to be left out, senior Congress MP from UP - formerly of the SP - Beni Prasad Verma wants a post too. So the bigger problem now is within the party and not the allies.
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