CHANDIGARH: Of late, more and more ministers and Congress (I) legislators in Haryana are becoming critical of the style of functioning of the Chief Minister, Bhajan Lal. So far, the criticism has been voiced within the confines of the party for a. But the situation is in stark contrast to the state of affairs until some time ago when few other than Shamsher Singh Surjewala, who was Animal Husbandry Minister and has since been elected to the Rajya Sabha, and the Planning Minister, Birender Singh, dared criticize the Chief Minister,
The immediate cause of the nascent discontent is a ban on transfer of government employees without the permission of the Chief Minister. The ban was ordered when it was felt that frequent transfers were having an unsettling effect on the administration, Of course, the government employees also did not like being pushed around too often.
But ministers and legislators complain that transfers were still being ordered in spite of the ban. Al recent party meetings, it was alleged that while the Chief Minister had been turning down the requests of ministers and MLAs for posting particular employees in their area, the employees themselves were managing to obtain transfer orders through certain channels. This caused embarrassment to ministers and legislators, the Chief Minister was told.
The ministers are unhappy for another reason. They complain that they have to wait on officers in the Chief Minister’s secretariat even to get small jobs done. In fact, the officers often treat them as supplicants. Not to talk of welcoming the ministers, the officers do not care to reciprocate the ministers’ greetings, it is alleged.
A major irritant with some of the legislators is the Chief Minister’s failure to carry out changes in his Council of Ministers, after raising hope in their hearts. The case that immediately comes to mind is that of Anand Singh Dangi of the Meham came.
After two months were over, Bhajan Lal announced that Dangi would unfurl the national flag on Independence Day as a minister. The Independence Day has come and gone, but Dangi is still waiting for the call from the Raj Bhawan. In the process, the talk of induction of Dangi in the Cabinet has become a joke and an embarrassment for Dangi.
There is a common feeling among aspirants for ministerial berths that Bhajan Lal is keeping alive the talk of changes in the Council of Ministers only to maintain his hold on the party, If that is the case, the tactic seems to be proving counterproductive. For, while the fear of being dropped is no longer sufficient to silence the ministers, the hope of induction in the ministry is no longer sufficient to deter the legislators from speaking out.
Curiously, every time there is talk of a reshuffle, the name of Sher Singh emerges as a strong contender for a Cabinet berth. Sher Singhs leader of the group of five independents who Support the Bhajan Lal government,
Article extracted from this publication >> October 16, 1992
