Harish Gupta / DNA Wednesday, July 7, 2010 1:19 IST Email
New Delhi: After Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar, it is the turn of minister for civil aviation Praful Patel to request change.
Before flying off to Johannesburg, South Africa, Patel is learnt to have conveyed to the prime minister (PM) that he be shifted to some other ministry. Though no reasons are known for Patel’s desire to be relieved of the civil aviation portfolio, he is said to have conveyed to Manmohan Singh that it has been over six years that he has been in the ministry and he feels it is time to move on.
“Please do not ask me what transpired between me and the PM. Let me come back on July 10,” Patel told DNA.
Patel is the second Union minister — that too belonging to the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) — to express desire for a change in profile. Patel had met the PM thrice, the last time being the inauguration of the new airport in New Delhi.
It is learnt that Pawar had raised the matter of Patel’s desire to be shifted to another ministry when he (Pawar) called on the PM at his residence on Monday morning. Apparently, when Pawar requested the PM to lighten his workload, he politely demanded that Patel be upgraded to full cabinet minister considering his seniority. “If Pawar sheds the crucial department of food and consumer affairs, he wants a cabinet rank post in return for his party. There is no free lunch,” said a senior Congress leader.
Pawar’s decision to go public soon after meeting the PM took the Congress by surprise. The party may have been eager to tame Pawar by blaming him for high food prices, but it is also fully aware that starting the process of reshuffling the cabinet before Parliament’s monsoon session will cause more pain.
If the nine-member NCP in the Lok Sabha gets two cabinet posts in the new scheme of things, why shall the 20-member DMK bandwagon compromise with three cabinet berths (A Raja, Dayanidhi Maran and M K Alagiri)? A couple of senior Congress leaders may have been indicating an impending reshuffle and gunning for the portfolios of telecom minister A Raja and environment and forest minister Jairam Ramesh (the opposition has been baying for Raja’s blood over the 2G spectrum scam).
Also, minister of new and renewable energy Farooq Abdullah probably desires to be shifted to tourism or some other ministry.
But the Congress high command and the PM are disinclined to undertake such an exercise as there are no “compelling reasons” to reshuffle the council of ministers. The Congress has 27 Cabinet posts out of 33, leaving only six for its allies; it has most of the plum portfolios as well.
However, the Congress is fully aware that the Monsoon session will be stormy, with the NDA and the Left joining hands on fuel price and the Civil Nuclear Liability Bill. So why buckle under them and sacrifice Raja, for which the DMK supremo is not ready?
The final call will be taken at the Congress core committee meeting on Friday at the PM’s residence.
After Sharad Pawar, Praful Patel seeks profile change
Showing posts with label Aviation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Aviation. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
IAF chief ‘pleased’ with pay panel proposals
Bangalore, November 12
Air Chief Marshal F.H. Major’s comment here today on the “attractiveness” of the sixth pay commission’s recommendations will be a paean to the ears of the central government, which has been rattled by the dissatisfaction expressed by the armed forces over the discriminatory nature of the recommendations.
The Air Chief Marshal today said the panel’s recommendations on pay packets of the IAF personnel were “attractive” and would help in bringing youngsters to the IAF.
The IAF chief, who was here today in connection with a function at the Air Force Technical College, said: “The IAF is an attractive option after the sixth pay commission”. Major was asked by a reporter whether the slump in the aviation industry would be a blessing in disguise for the IAF as it would stop the exodus of IAF pilots to commercial airliners.
“I do not wish ill to any industry”, Major said on the slump in the aviation sector. He added that losing pilots to commercial air operators had never been a problem with the IAF. “The IAF had never been really bothered by this”, he said.
The IAF is at present having a shortfall of 1,352 officers. Against a sanctioned strength of 12,120 officers, it is having a positioned strength 10,768 officers.
Major told reporters that IAF was now going through a stage of massive modernisation. He said during 11th, 12th and 13th plans, a huge amount of technology was going to be brought into the IAF and this would totally change the IAF’s complexion within a few years. With regard to modernisation, Major mentioned introducing new weapons and use of sensors by IAF. The IAF would soon emerge as a major aerospace power, he said.
The IAF chief said he was “very pleased” with the three dimensional Rohini radar developed jointly by DRDO and BEL. The IAF had placed orders for 30 such radars, he said.
Major also revealed that the IAF would shortly acquire 128 new fighter jets. Evaluation of the jets is at an advanced stage, he said.
He replied in the negative when asked whether the police action against an Army officer in the Malegaon blast case would affect the morale of the Army. “The Indian Army is 1.1 million strong. How can one incident affect the morale of the force”, he said.
Shubhadeep Choudhury
Tribune News Service
IAF chief ‘pleased’ with pay panel proposals
Air Chief Marshal F.H. Major’s comment here today on the “attractiveness” of the sixth pay commission’s recommendations will be a paean to the ears of the central government, which has been rattled by the dissatisfaction expressed by the armed forces over the discriminatory nature of the recommendations.
The Air Chief Marshal today said the panel’s recommendations on pay packets of the IAF personnel were “attractive” and would help in bringing youngsters to the IAF.
The IAF chief, who was here today in connection with a function at the Air Force Technical College, said: “The IAF is an attractive option after the sixth pay commission”. Major was asked by a reporter whether the slump in the aviation industry would be a blessing in disguise for the IAF as it would stop the exodus of IAF pilots to commercial airliners.
“I do not wish ill to any industry”, Major said on the slump in the aviation sector. He added that losing pilots to commercial air operators had never been a problem with the IAF. “The IAF had never been really bothered by this”, he said.
The IAF is at present having a shortfall of 1,352 officers. Against a sanctioned strength of 12,120 officers, it is having a positioned strength 10,768 officers.
Major told reporters that IAF was now going through a stage of massive modernisation. He said during 11th, 12th and 13th plans, a huge amount of technology was going to be brought into the IAF and this would totally change the IAF’s complexion within a few years. With regard to modernisation, Major mentioned introducing new weapons and use of sensors by IAF. The IAF would soon emerge as a major aerospace power, he said.
The IAF chief said he was “very pleased” with the three dimensional Rohini radar developed jointly by DRDO and BEL. The IAF had placed orders for 30 such radars, he said.
Major also revealed that the IAF would shortly acquire 128 new fighter jets. Evaluation of the jets is at an advanced stage, he said.
He replied in the negative when asked whether the police action against an Army officer in the Malegaon blast case would affect the morale of the Army. “The Indian Army is 1.1 million strong. How can one incident affect the morale of the force”, he said.
Shubhadeep Choudhury
Tribune News Service
IAF chief ‘pleased’ with pay panel proposals
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