By M Rama Rao, India Editor, Asian Tribune
New Delhi, 18 May (Asiantribune.com): The Congress and its pre-poll allies are getting ready to form the new government in India. The exercise will formally be set in motion on Monday after the Election Commission presents to President Pratibha Patil a copy of elected candidates to the 543 –member Parliament along with their party affiliations.
Among the winners are three cricketers – Navjot Singh Siddhu, Kirti Azad and Md Azharuddin, and four Gandhis – Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul Gandhi on the treasury benches and Maneka Gandhi and her son Varun Gandhi on the opposition BJP benches.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi, her son and general secretary Rahul Gandhi and the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will decide the composition of the ministry and the berths that can be spared to the allies. Indications are Lalu Prasad Yadav, the Railway Minister, who heads the Bihar centric RJD party and Mulayam Singh Yadav, whose Samajwadi party literally bailed out the Manmohan government over the N-deal are unlikely to find a place. Both spurned the Congress in the run up to the ballot.
Nationalist Congress party of Sharad Pawar and DMK therefore enjoy a better position. But it is doubtful to what extent Sharad Pawar will be able extract plumb posts for his party. This doubt remains as he also flirted with the Third Front and did not hide his own prime ministerial ambitions while his aides spoke of favoring an alliance with secular parties after the elections which was a polite way of signaling a readiness to jump out of Congress camp.
The DMK, on the other hand, remained the most non-troublesome ally of the Congress; it expects to be rewarded suitably. ‘The wish will be fulfilled’.
Sonia Gandhi on Sunday night held the first formal thanks giving session with the Congress seniors. She told party men ‘the election is now behind us and hard work must begin’. She asked them to start work on restoring to the Congress party its former historical role as the natural party of governance in India.
‘We have been appointed the guardians of the hopes and aspirations of our people, most of all the poor and disadvantaged. It is our sacred task to take up this responsibility with sincerity, honesty and diligence’, Sonia Gandhi told the Congressmen by way reminding them of the tasks ahead.
The Congress Working Committee passed two separate resolutions - one to thank the people of the country for the mandate and another to appreciate the role played by Sonia Gandhi, Manmohan Singh and Rahul. Gandhi
Expressing sincere gratitude to the people for the mandate, the resolution said, the CWC is conscious of the new responsibilities that have been placed on the Indian National Congress (INC) and of the new hopes and aspirations that have been aroused by the mandate. It (CWC) pledges to fulfill the promises that have been included in our party's manifesto. It also pledges to fulfill the promises made during our campaign’.
It described the verdict as ‘a mandate for a national party with a national outlook to tackle the challenges at the national level while at the same time being sensitive to regional and local aspirations’.
Election results show that only six of the many sportspersons in the fray have entered the new Lok Sabha. Former Indian cricket captain, Mohammad Azharuddin registered his maiden victory in the brass town of Moradabad. He made his political debut on the Congress ticket.
Azharuddin said his priority now would be to complete the tasks which he had promised during the hectic campaigning along with his actor-wife Bijlani.
For Cricketer –commentator Navjot Singh Sidhu, it was a third consecutive victory in Amritsar. Fielded by the BJP, he managed to win with a margin of just 7,332 votes over his Congress rival Om Prakash Soni. His victory margin on his maiden electoral foray in 2004 was nearly 110,000 votes.
Kirti Azad won on the BJP ticket from Bihar's Darbhanga defeating RJD candidate and Union Minister Mohammad Ali Ashraf Fatim.
Another former cricketer who is entering Parliament is Anurag Thakur, also on BJP ticket. Secretary of Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association, Anurag registered impressive victory from Hamirpur seat.
Other sports persons to win include shooter Navin Jindal (Congress) from Kurukshetra.
As many as 226 new law makers of India are less than 50 –years of age. Of them, around 77 are from the Congress fold. The grand old party of India also boasts of giving the youngest member to the 15th Lok Sabha. He is 26-year-old Muhammed Sayeed.
The honor of oldest member may go to Ramsunder Das of the JD (U). He is 88. Das is also the giant killer. He defeated Federal Minister and LJP President Ram Vilas Paswan. Paswan, who was hoping for a seventh win from his home constituency in Bihar.
- Asian Tribune -
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