Bihar may be poorly represented at Centre

Bihar, with just 40 MPs, had 11 ministers in the previous Union Cabinet. Out of this, five were of Cabinet rank (Lalu Prasad, Ram Vilas Paswan, Meira Kumar, Raghuvansh Prasad Singh and Prem Gupta), while the rest six were ministers of state.

However, the poor performance in the state by “secular” parties may see an equally poor representation in the Union Cabinet. Meira Kumar, daughter of the former  Dy PM Jagjivan Ram, qualifies to be inducted again into the ministry on account of her seniority (fifth term as MP), besides being a Dalit and an ex-IFS officer. With just two Congress MPs (the other being Asrarul Haq from Kishanganj) winning from Bihar, this will be first time since Independence when the state will be virtually unrepresented.

The other two estranged partners of the UPA—the RJD and the LJP—had dissociated themselves with the Congress on poll-eve. While the LJP could not win even a single seat, the RJD managed to scrape through in four seats, including Lalu Prasad’s Saran seat and Raghuvansh Prasad Singh’s  Vaishali seat. While Lalu still remains high on loyalty quotient, his induction into the ministry remains uncertain after AICC secretary  Iqbal Singh urged Sonia Gandhi not to induct Lalu in the new Manmohan team.  BPCC chief Anil Sharma too expressed similar sentiments.

High-level Congress sources told Deccan Herald on Tuesday that the party high command was quite impressed with Raghuvansh’s performance as Rural Development Minister in the previous regime as the Bharat Nirman projects, including Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna and National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme helped Congress connect with the rural masses, and eventually fetched rich electoral dividends. “But inducting Raghuvansh at the expense of Lalu will not be politically prudent. Either both of them will have to join, or none. It’s up to PM and Sonia,” said the source.

The other name from Bihar to find a place in the Cabinet could be  JD (U) rebel Digvijay Singh who, after being denied party ticket, contested from Banka as an Independent, and emerged victorious. Digvijay was earlier Minister of State, Railways and MoS, External Affairs, in the Vajpayee ministry. The firebrand Rajput leader, who was also a minister during Chandrashekhar’s short-lived regime in 1990-91, has reportedly pledged his unconditional support to the UPA.
DH News Service