Business Standard / New Delhi Jun 08, 2009, 00:11 IST
Why did the Congress make Meira Kumar a Cabinet minister if it had to appoint her the Lok Sabha Speaker a few days later? That’s the question doing the rounds in Delhi since it was almost a fait accompli that V Kishore Chandra Deo, Congress MP from Andhra Pradesh, would be anointed Speaker. The Congress is tight-lipped on this last-minute change in plan but it’s clear that the usual faction fights in the party scuppered Deo’s chances.
It turns out that former AP chief minister Janardhan Reddy played spoilsport by apparently pulling out some long-forgotten skeletons from Deo’s cupboard. Reddy was reportedly acting in concert with current chief minister Y S Rajshekhara Reddy who does not want any Congressman from the state to shine in Delhi. It is another matter that Deo, a five-time MP who enjoys immense goodwill across the political spectrum, would have made a fine Speaker. That most people felt sorry for Deo was clear from the large number of politicians cutting across party lines commiserated with him in the Central Hall of Parliament.
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