New Delhi, May 18: Paving the way for government
formation, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday submitted the
resignation of the Council of Ministers headed by him to
President Pratibha Patil, who asked him to continue till a new
ministry is formed.
Soon after the meeting of the Union Cabinet which
decided to recommend to the President dissolution of the 14th
Lok Sabha, the Prime Minister drove to Rashtrapati Bhavan to
submit the resignation of his Council of Ministers to the
President.
"The Prime Minister has submitted the resignation to
the President who asked him and his Council of Ministers to
continue in office till an alternative arrangement is made,"
a Rashtrapati Bhavan spokesperson said.
The meeting between the President and the Prime
Minister lasted for about 35 minutes.
Earlier, the Cabinet passed a resolution on
dissolution of Lok Sabha.
The resolution was moved by External Affairs Minister
Pranab Mukherjee, who is also Leader of the House, and
seconded by Singh.
The Council of Ministers also met during which the
Prime Minister thanked the allies for their support to the
government in the last five years.
Govt formation exercise
Congress will begin its
government formation exercise tomorrow with the election of
Manmohan Singh as the leader of the Congress Parliamentary
Party (CPP).
The CPP meeting has been slated tomorrow at 11 am.
"The chairperson of the parliamentary party would be
elected first and then the leader of the parliamentary party
will be elected in the CPP meeting," AICC general secretary
Janardan Dwivedi told reporters here.
Congress had already decided that Sonia Gandhi would be
elected as the Chairperson and Singh as the leader of the
Parliamentary Party.
Dwivedi said both the chairperson and the leader of the
CPP will address the newly elected MPs in the Central Hall of
Parliament during the CPP meeting.
He said the meeting of the UPA will be held on May 20 in
which all pre-poll alliance partners have been invited.
"The discussion about the next step (government
formation) will be taken after the UPA meeting," Dwivedi
said adding that after the CPP meeting, the party will stake
claim to form the government.
SP, RJD may not to get place in Cabinet
The Congress appears reluctant
to include Samajwadi Party and Lalu Prasad's RJD in the new
Union Cabinet despite their overtures, but the party may
receive outside support from an unlikely quarter--Mayawati's
BSP.
Sensing the ruling party's reluctance, Samajwadi chief
Mulayam Singh Yadav said in Etawah that his party was ready to
sit in the Opposition if its offer of "constructive support"
was not accepted by the UPA.
Both SP and RJD, who parted company with the Congress
on the eve of the elections, have not been invited to a
meeting of the UPA on Wednesday.
Political circles were abuzz with reports that the
BSP, which has 20 members in the new Lok Sabha, may offer
outside support, to the government. There was no word from
BSP on this but Congress sources indicated that the two sides
were in touch.
Tomorrow, the process of government formation will be
set in motion with the election of Manmohan Singh as leader of
the Congress Parliamentary Party in the Central Hall of
Parliament.
Sonia Gandhi will be chosen Chairperson of the CPP
while Pranab Mukherjee is expected to continue as Leader of
the Lok Sabha because Singh belongs to Rajya Sabha.
Congress leaders say they are not desperate about
mustering numbers for the magic figure of 272 in the
543-member Lok Sabha as the UPA coalition has won in 261 seats
and is confident of getting the support of most of the 10
Independents.
Besides, Ajit Singh's RLD, which has 5 MPs, and JD(S),
which has three MPs from Karnataka, are also expected back the
government without conditions.
Speculation over new Cabinet
Meanwhile, speculation mounted on the names of those
who are likely to be inducted into the new Cabinet and on
their portfolios.
The names of Pranab Mukherjee and Montek Singh
Ahluwalia are doing the rounds for Finance, a charge now
being handled by Mukherjee in addition to External Affairs.
If Ahluwalia steps into the Cabinet, then Mukherjee may
continue in External Affairs while status quo may prevail in
the other crucial ministries of Home (P Chidambaram), Defence
(A K Antony) and Commerce and Industry (Kamal Nath).
Many of the existing ministers including Kapil Sibal,
Meira Kumar, Sushil Kumar Shinde and those from allies
including Sharad Pawar and Praful Patel may be retained in the
new government.
Some new entrants in the Lok Sabha like Mallikarjun
Kharge (Karnataka), Manicka Tagore (Tamil Nadu), while other Congress probables include those comprising
the 'young brigade' of Milind Deora, Sachin Pilot, Naveen
Jindal, Jyotiraditya Scindia and Jitin Prasada.
Former Ministers Salman Khursheed, Saleem Sherwani and Beni Prasad Verma (all from Uttar Pradesh) also doing the rounds for
ministerial berths.
From DMK, which had a heavy representation in the
outgoing Cabinet, the names of debutant M K Azhagiri and
Dayanidhi Maran are being mentioned among the probables along
with A Raja and Kanimozhi. DMK chief M Karunanidhi is arriving
here tomorrow and the names may be finalised during meetings
he will have with Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh.
UPA sources said the formula being mentioned for
ministerial allocations would be one Cabinet minister and one
Minister of State for seven MPs.
While DMK has 18 MPs, Trinamool Congress, the largest
constituent of UPA after the Congress, has won 19 MPs.
Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee has said the
party would not bargain for posts. She herself is said to
be not keen on becoming a minister at the Centre but would
like to concentrate on state politics where Assembly elections
are due in two years.
National Conference, an ally which has won 3 seats,
may find a berth with its leader Farooq Abdullah tipped set to
make a debut at the Centre.
The names of senior Congress leaders S Jaipal Reddy
and V Kishore Chandra Deo, both elected from Andhra Pradesh,
are mentioned for Speaker's post.
Bureau Report
First Published: Monday, May 18, 2009, 11:43