Is UPA still in 'power'? Govt is now in court receivership

Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav has asked his party to be prepared for Lok Sabha polls a year ahead of schedule. He may, of course, have to wait a bit longer, but no matter when the elections are held, the UPA’s effective tenure is already over. In fact, it got over two years ago – as soon as the Commonwealth Games got over, the 2G s*** hit the fan. The UPA is now a government in slow liquidation. It has passed into court receivership. It cannot make policy on its own; almost everything it does will now pass through the courts for confirmation or rejection – whether it is policy or anything else. Consider Monday’s headlines. A report in Business Standard says that Coal India’s biggest non-government shareholder, The Children’s Investment Fund (TCI), is planning to sue the company’s management – which means the government – for failing to protect the interests of minority shareholders. If this issue lands up in court, a whole host of other investors – from ONGC to oil marketing companies – could seek similar recompense (read here). Decisions on corporate governance will now move to court. [caption id=“attachment_255381” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“PTI”]  [/caption] Team Anna plans to start a jail bharo andolan by August if 14 central ministers named by him – P Chidambaram, Kapil Sibal, Sharad Pawar and Praful Patel, among them – do not have FIRs filed against them for various alleged scandals and irregularities (See list of 14 ministers here). Corruption cases will find themselves in court – when the Supreme Court is already monitoring cases on 2G and many other things. BusinessLine reports that banks which lent money to telecom companies will now move the Supreme Court if the loans they gave to new 2G players – whose licences were cancelled – are not secured. They want the regulator to allow spectrum to be mortgaged to them. Reason: since spectrum is going to be auctioned again, there is a possibility that those who were given loans may not win the spectrum back, leaving banks – State Bank alone has Rs 23,000 crore outstanding to telecom companies – holding the sack. The Comptroller and Auditor General’s next report on the non-auctioning of coal blocks is likely to be finally decided in court. The Times of India says that a meeting on 14 October 2004 with Manmohan Singh in the chair decided to allocate coal blocks only by auction. He was not only PM but also temporarily holding the coal portfolio then. But this order is still to be implemented. In short, the PM’s writ did not run even in a ministry he himself headed – as far back as 2004. Earlier, the government’s decision to clear Vedanta’s investment in Cairn India was challenged through a public interest litigation filed by Prashant Bhushan. So even decisions on foreign investment will now be decided in court (Read this ). The government’s decision to retrospectively tax overseas transactions will now bring back a settled case involving Vodafone’s purchase of Hutchison Essar back to court. Ministers in UPA are busy trying to mess things up . As if the telecom sector is not already in a serious tangle, Communications Minister Kapil Sibal and Law Minister Salman Khurshid want the Supreme Court to decide whether licences and spectrum issued between 2001 and 2007 should also not be cancelled. Instead of trying to quickly re-auction the 122 licences cancelled by the Supreme Court, Sibal & Co want to completely muddy the waters. So much so, that Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia wonders what purpose will be served by this, reports The Hindu.  With allies hauling it over the coals on issues relating to federalism, and with almost every policy issue landing up in court, the UPA’s room for political or policy manoeuvre is almost zero. Political analysts believe that the UPA will still hang on to power, since calling an election does not help it much now – and the main opposition alliance, the BJP-led NDA – is not ready. However, this overturns the entire meaning of what staying in “power” means. What “power” is left with the UPA that it needs to stay on and continue the nation’s water-torture for another two years? As Santosh Desai remarks in his Times of India column, “the question that arises is if there is any point at which power becomes dysfunctional. The implicit legitimacy of hanging on to power by successive acts of compromise must surely reach a stage where any more accommodation of the other side makes the very idea of being in power redundant. Worse, the compulsions of staying in power might push the government not only towards inaction, of which India has a long and glorious history, but of action with long-term and potentially far-reaching consequences.” His conclusion is clear: “The longer it stays in power, the more damage it (the UPA) can do, both to itself and to the larger national interest.” Intellectuals now think the UPA is a joke. Pratap Bhanu Mehta, writing in The Indian Express, believes – half in jest – that the whole meaning of government has changed under the UPA. His definition of PM: The guy who still does not get to pick his cabinet. As for coalition, it means an ally is never a friend, and friend need not be an ally. A PM without power, a coalition without dharma. The best thing the UPA can do for the country is to go.