There is little available for Chief Minister Hemant Soren to count upon as for his Cabinet colleagues and coalition partners when the Government on Thursday reviewed his stay in the office. leave apart the progress made; the partners are not even looking convinced the way the things have gone through.
When asked about the progress made during the initial 100 days, Pradesh Congress Committee president Sukhdeo Bhagat sounded defensive. “This is not 100 days in my mind. As there have been three expansions it would fall sometime in December! Anyway, I would say that direction (of Government) is right but speed is slow. It is a cause of concern as we have less time in our hand to deliver,” he said.
Indicating to the reasons behind Bhagat added that still non-existent coordination committee was the root cause. “Coordination Committee has not been formed yet. I have talked to the Chief Minister yesterday also. The sense I am getting that we would sit together regularly after Dewali as there is some progress in this direction,” said the PCC chief.
Though, the Congress has named its members for the Committee it is said that nominees from Rastriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) have not come. Cabinet Minister Annapurna Devi however refuted the claim. “I agree that delay has taken place in the formation of Coordination Committee and in implementing the Common Minimum Programme formulated during the Government formation. I would also put up the matter before the CM in today’s review meeting as I have done 2-3 times earlier as well. The matter should be taken on priority. It is also no true that the RJD has not forwarded the names,” Annapurna told
The Pioneer.
It is leant that the party has named State president Girinath Singh and of two MlAs Janardan Paswan and Sanjay Yadav. Yadav is said to have upper hand. When asked about performance so far of the coalition Government, the Minister from RJD quota said that her Department largely had long duration projects related to irrigation but named few such as Surangi Reservoir Scheme that has been reached near completion stage.
Another Minister from Congress quota Chandrashekhar Dubey bunked the CM’s review meeting and instead chose to travel his constituency. “I have come to Palamau thus could not attend the meeting. But I would say that my Department is leading in implementing the schemes. I am also going to announce something big for Mukhias and other rural elected representatives on November 25,” said Dubey over phone. The Rural Development Minister hinted that remuneration of Rs 1000 given to them was less and it would be raised considerably. It would be showcased as one of the major achievements for the Government in the days to come.
Inputs are that the meeting also saw discussions taken place on controversial issues particularly raised by Human Resource Development Minister Geetashree Oraon. “There are some issues. We all agreed that divisive matters should not be raised in public domain. The CM has given instructions about this,” said a Minister.