Click to play videoThe ransacking of a newspaper office in Tamil Nadu started it all. Soon the chink in the armour of one of India’s most politically influential families was out in the open.
Such was the impact of the sibling rivalry between DMK supremo Muthuvel Karunanidhi’s two sons M K Azagiri and M K Stalin that former IT and telecom minister Dayanidhi Maran was forced into resigning from the Union Cabinet.
While the move proved beyond doubts that the DMK empire was cracking up, Maran on Monday reiterated his loyalty to his party and maintained he would always remain a “party man”.
In a hastily convened press conference, Maran also clarified he put in his papers to satisfy his leader Karunanidhi.
DMK – a crucial ally of the UPA government at the Centre – now wants to retain the ministry vacated by Maran.
Considering the ease with which the DMK supremo has managed to get his way around the Maran issue, many wonder if it was he, and not Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who is responsible for constituting the Union Cabinet of India,
As a family feud threatens to dominate national politics, CNN-IBN debates if Manmohan Singh has lost the freedom to choose his Cabinet on the show Face the Nation.
On the panel to discuss the issue were Editor-in-Chief of The Pioneer and Rajya Sabha MP Chandan Mitra and National Spokesperson of the Congress Abhishek Manu Singhvi.
Who’s the boss?
Known for his strong-arm tactics as a partner in the ruling coalition, DMK chief Karunanidhi has got his way around a number of issues. And now a family feud within the DMK has forced the resignation of a Cabinet minister.
So, who has greater power in the Cabinet – PM or Karunanidhi?
In a characteristic manner Singhvi smirked and retorted, “That’s a very clever way of framing a question but I think this is a non-issue.”
Singhvi explained that UPA is the largest coalition after the Independence and the fact that a group of parties has a nominee in the Cabinet is a matter, which has to be taken into consideration.
“But despite that the fact that Mr Maran resigned and the PM accepted his resignation it shows that the constitutional convention remains as it is,” Singhvi said.
Karunanidhi decides that Maran has to resign and the Prime Minister doesn’t say a word. In fact, an extra constitutional authority is dictating the Union Cabinet but the Centre has decided to call it a non-issue.
“There is constitutional convention, which has to be observed in form. The minister resigns, PM accepts it and forwards it to the President. There is in fact de-facto political power, which is but naturally exercised by a member of the coalition. And this is true of every government that a person who is a nominee of his party and so the wishes of the party have to be taken into account,” Singhvi argued.
It’s not as if the NDA was not susceptible to these kind of pressures.
In the past, former prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s hands were tied when he wanted to appoint Jaswant Singh as finance minister and the RSS objected to it.
The Shiv Sena, too, withdrew Suresh Prabhu from the power portfolio and Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee has also played revolving doors with the Cabinet in the past.
So, are we then looking at a situation where we effectively do not have a Prime Minister?
To which Mitra said, “I must concede that the way Indian politics is shaping and because of these large unwieldy coalitions with so many regional parties headed by supremos whose writ runs completely in their parties, the PM has become a prisoner in the hands of some of these chieftains.”
Mitra then explained that the worrying part is that certain Cabinet portfolios get earmarked.
“A portfolio can never belong to a particular party. At least the PM should have the choice to appoint the best person for a particular portfolio,” Mitra said.
So, instead of ministers, it seems as if we now have warlords to run the country. The Union Cabinet of the UPA Government seems like a bunch of landlords who do their own thing and run their ministries as fiefdoms.
“We make it sound like the Wild West. If the reverse of what we are saying happens then the coalition will function like a dictatorship. Is that good?” Singhvi said.
But this is a constitutional question. Doesn’t the office of Prime Minister get devalued when he cannot have the freedom to choose his Cabinet?
Reacting sharply Singhvi said, “There is nothing to do with constitutional morality or propriety. If Karunanidhi was to say tomorrow that he wants to appoint a convicted murderer and the PM accepted it then that would have been a warlord situation. Unless somebody is perversely appointed or the minister is so skilled that only he can fulfill the task, there should be no problem.”
However, it seems to be clear that coalition politics is leading to a sacrifice of constitutional integrity of the Union Cabinet.
Agreeing with the argument, Mitra concluded the discussion by saying that things are in a bad shape with this Government.
“This is because one particular political party named a set of ministers with serious criminal charges and the PM had to quietly accede. And now in a bizarre situation the IT and telecom portfolio has been appropriated by the DMK. In fact in this government, a party like the CPI-M, which is outside the coalition with no responsibility for running the Government dictates almost every policy of the Government,” Mitra said.
Final results of the SMS poll: Has Manmohan Singh lost the freedom to choose his Cabinet?
93 per cent – Yes
7 per cent – No
(For updates you can share with your friends, follow IBNLive on Facebook, Twitter and Google+)
displayed with permission. Use of the CNN name and/or logo on or as part of CNN-IBN does not derogate from the intellectual property rights of Cable News Network in respect of them.