The Left Homes In

It took over a fortnight for H.D. Deve Gowda to expand the United Front Cabinet. But given the balancing act he had to perform—getting the Congress consent to the list, appeasing 13 coalition partners and displeasing none—indeed it involved an art the Prime Minister was not known to be in possession of. Besides balancing the regional, state, caste and other 'social' factors in the Front's motley base, Deve Gowda also had to take into account the aspirations of regional satraps from all coalition partners. Contradictions were bound to emerge and disgruntlement was inevitable. Mercifully for Gowda, these remained within manageable levels.

The inclusion of CPI General Secretary Indrajit Gupta as the Home Minister, despite initial objections from the Congress, was a triumph of sorts for Gowda. Given the Home Ministry's near-autonomous status and its control over law enforcing agencies as well as Gupta's uncompromising stance on corruption, it was only natural for the Congress to oppose him.

An equally crucial decision was the allocation of the Agriculture portfolio to another comrade, Chaturanan Mishra. For, the CPI has long been a votary of radical land reforms and the earmarking of 50 per cent of the Budget allocation to agriculture, besides restricting foreign investment in certain areas—commitments the Front as a whole may not accept on a priority. But while the first-ever Communist participation in the Centre gives a pro-people image to the Gowda Government, it has the potential to strain UF-Congress ties.

Gowda's fire-fighting abilities were called for when his Janata Dal colleague from Karnataka, R.L. Jalappa, threatened to resign. He was mollified with independent charge of the Textiles portfolio as minister of state. Similarly, Gowda had to consent when Biju Patnaik insisted that if his antagonist Srikant Jena was to be included (he got Tourism and Parliamentary Affairs), so should his protege Dilip Ray.

The induction of 14 ministers—five of Cabinet rank, and nine ministers of state, six of them with independent charge—takes the strength of the Gowda ministry to 35. The second phase of expansion enhances the South's share—the Telugu Desam and Tamil Maanila Congress have got more berths—and also accommodates the Eastern, North-eastern and Western states, left out earlier. With the inclusion of Birendra Prasad Baisya (Cabinet rank) and Muhiram Saikia (minister of state), the Asom Gana Parishad has got more than a fair deal: two of its five MPs are now ministers.

The expansion also gives berths to four forward caste members: Baisya (Assam), Janeshwar Mishra (UP), and the two CPI nominees who represent West Bengal and Bihar. As for the West, Ramakant Khalap of the Maharashtravadi Gomantak Party (Goa), Shish Ram Ola of Congress-T (Rajasthan), and former Jawaharlal Nehru University vice chancellor Y.K. Alagh, who hails from Gujarat, have got minister-of-state berths.

Alagh, a Rajiv Gandhi nominee in the Planning Commission earlier, had become close to Deve Gowda this January when he was appointed by P.V. Narasimha Rao to head an experts' team on the Cauvery dispute involving Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. In addition to the Planning and Programme Implementation Ministry, he will look after Science and Technology independently. Alagh's inclusion two days after Gowda promised a review of the Tehri dam project has also left environment leaders in shock, as Alagh is a votary of big dams.

Those who have been chargesheeted in the hawala case have been left out again. But it was not Gowda's fault that he could not include more women in the Cabinet. "I did whatever was possible to rectify the regional and social imbalances. But there are few women members in the UF," he explained after the swearing-in. He promised that the proposed legislation for 33 per cent reservation to women members in Parliament would contribute to a solution in the future

. There are inherent fault lines in the Cabinet: the presence of heavyweights like Gupta and Mishra may trigger off a fight for supremacy. However, if Gowda is able to channelise their experience, efficiency and clean image in a time-bound implementation of the Common Minimum Programme, he would have accomplished the ultimate.