Pranab Mukherjee ..... wait for real President to stand up during crisis

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Govt now set to hit the gas on reforms

Vishwa Mohan |TNN | Jul 23, 2012, 02.47AM IST 

NEW DELHI: The conclusion of the presidential election and the expected smooth sailing in Vice-President Hamid Ansari's re-election is set to clear the way for some energetic action on the governance front with the PM focusing on some much-needed reforms. Some tough decisions — including a marginal rise in diesel prices — are also on the cards.

The Congress has its work cut out: it must first placate sulking NCP chief Sharad Pawar, who is upset over alleged slights meted out by the senior partner in Delhi as well as in Maharashtra.

The party must then stare down threats by the Samajwadi Party and the Trinamool to block opening FDI in retail while pressing ahead with insurance and pension reform. The tasks seem a tall order and progress might actually be incremental.

A change in the finance ministry, with home minister P Chidambaram returning to his original charge, is expected to be accompanied by some changes in portfolios. Rahul Gandhi is expected to assume greater responsibility and his inclusion in the Cabinet with a portfolio like HRD or rural development is not ruled out.

There will be a rearrangement of the pecking order in the Cabinet as well. The workload in terms of GoMs is expected to be shared between defence minister A K Antony, Chidambaram and Pawar.

 The successful presidential poll, however, is a major success for the Congress that has been grappling with rough weather over a slowing economy and trouble from allies. After the result on Sunday, Mukherjee spoke to TMC chief Mamata Banerjee who agreed to come to Delhi for his swearing-in.

In an effort to mend fences, Mukherjee is understood to have insisted on Banerjee's presence, saying the ceremony would be incomplete without her. In the final ananysis, Mukherjee defeated Sangma by a margin of 3.97 lakh vote value.

The 81 invalid votes included that of SP leader Mulayam Singh Yadav. Sangma got his votes mainly from MPs belonging to the BJP, BJD, SAD and AIADMK. Among MLAs, he got votes mostly from BJP-ruled states. A total of 748 MPs voted on July 19. Of the total votes of MPs, Mukherjee got 527 while Sangma got 206.

The icing on the cake for the UPA was the cracks in the NDA, evident in Karnataka and Jharkhand. The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha supported the UPA candidate on expected lines, although two independents voted for Sangma.

Congress leaders sought to rub in cross-voting in the opposition ranks while BJP spokesman Ravishankar Prasad admitted that the Karnataka vote did not reflect the party strength. But he added that the opposition tally was a record with BJP joining forces with parties such as Naveen Patnaik's BJD and J Jayalalithaa's AIADMK.

There were as many as 15 invalid votes cast by MPs, with nine favouring Mukherjee. These would entail a loss of a significant 6,372 votes for the UPA camp. Overall, there were 81 invalid votes and although Sangma suffered due to cross-voting, his tally exceeded the committed opposition vote value by around 5,000........http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=Q0FQLzIwMTIvMDcvMjMjQXIwMDgwMA==&Mode=Gif&Locale=english-skin-custom