A first in Madhya Pradesh: Congress forms shadow ministry

Bhopal: If Ramkishore Dogne had continued with his job in Madhya Pradesh police, he would have stood in attention and salute at the sight of Babulal Gaur, the home minister. Dogne’s new assignment, however, expects him to raise questions over the performance of the crime-infested department Gaur heads. That’s the glorious uncertainty of democracy. The Congress Legislature Party (CLP), reduced to just 55 members in a House of 230, scored a first in the history of state by forming a shadow ministry and Dogne, the 47-year-old former inspector of police, was assigned Home. [caption id=“attachment_1540973” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. AFP[/caption] Shadow home minister Dogne has his task cut out as Madhya Pradesh continues to hold the dubious record of crime against women. Rarely does a day pass when rape cases fail to dominate the news pages. The police have just no clue to growing incidents of chain-snatching and burglaries. In some cases the burglars have not spared even the police staff. The climax was when the police and Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s family preferred to deny an incident involving the latter’s mother. The controversy was over a chain-snatching incident involving Chouhan’s mother Kashi Devi on Thursday. The neighbours in Saket Nagar, where Chouhan’s parents stay were quick to rush to her help when Kashidevi fell down after bike-borne criminals snatched a golden chain she wore. Kashi Devi who received minor injuries was kept out of the media glare. The police said there was no report about the incident to warrant investigation. However, the Chief Minister gave a dressing down to the cops in the area. By refusing to acknowledge crime the government has dented people’s faith. Dogne, of course, gets enough ammunition to attack the government. The Leader of the Opposition, Satyadev Katare, who has incidentally been the home minister of the state, has finally implemented the plan one of his predecessors late Arjun Singh had proposed, but could not put into effect. Arjun Singh who headed the opposition from 1977 to 1980 often talked of the shadow ministry but could not give shape to it. Katare is reported to have submitted a list of 14 young legislators to the Speaker, Seetasaran Sharma, with departments earmarked for them. The other important “portfolios” are: Jaiwardhan Singh (Education), Neelesh Awasthi (general administration), Jitu Patwari (Commerce, industries and finance), Vikram Singh Natiraja (Urban Administration), Yadavendra Singh (Public Works), Phundelal Marko (Forests), Ramsingh Yadav(Agriculture) Imarti Devi (Energy), Mahendra Singh Sisodia (Panchayat and rural development) Sukhendra Singh Bana( Water Resources) and Rajneesh Singh (Public Health Engineering). While senior legislators would be free to scrutinise the performance of any ministry the younger ones are assigned specific departments to channelise their energies and corner the ministers. Most MLAs were asked to opt for the departments as per their areas of interest. They have been asked to study the annual reports of departments presented over past three years, the budget allocations, the CAG’s observations on their spending and also the commissions appointed to inquire into the lapses of any departments. The exercise would help the MLAs learn legislative procedures and the party would benefit by having trained a young band of leaders who approach their task methodically. Besides, the legislators would not be confined to their portfolios. They would free to pick holes in the administration in the departments outside their domain. This is a welcome departure from the chaotic past where the junior legislators just formed the shouting brigade and earned their share of publicity through “negative virtues”. For years now the Congress has hardly been able to pin down the treasury benches on any issue, though there were many that arose during the decade of the BJP rule. The party has also done well by not replacing the PCC chief who was appointed on the eve of the Lok Sabha elections after the party’s disastrous performance in the assembly elections. The state Congress has had a history of changing PCC chiefs before or after the elections. Apart from being hands on with the organisational activity he was expected to contest the elections from Khandwa. There are very few states where so many faction leaders have collectively sunk the Congress as in Madhya Pradesh. The state Congress is presents the picture of a bunch of political heavyweights rather than a cohesive unit. Ten days after being flattened in the elections the losing candidates of the party have been busy blaming rival factions for sabotage. Even winners like Jyotiraditya Scindia have demanded an overhaul of party at the national and state level.