PM turns to states over reform Bills

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is increasingly looking at regional parties as potential allies in the Rajya Sabha to fulfill his government’s reforms agenda.

Support from these parties is crucial for the contentious land Bill to clear the Rajya Sabha. Rural Development Minister Birender Singh has conceded the government is willing to include a diluted consent clause in the Bill.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Thursday met Modi to seek compensation for the Rs 50,000 crore the state might lose due of the implementation of the latest Finance Commission report.

Sources said the meeting was significant, only months before the Bihar Assembly elections. Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) and the Bharatiya Janata Party ran a coalition government in Bihar till mid-2013. This was Kumar’s first meeting with Modi after becoming chief minister in February. Kumar is one of several chief ministers the prime minister and his Cabinet colleagues have courted in recent months, promising the Centre will look at their concerns sympathetically.

The strategy helped the government isolate the Congress and the Left during the Budget session of Parliament, with almost all regional parties voting with the government for the coal and mines Bills in the Rajya Sabha. JD(U) MPs walked out rather than vote against the government.

Earlier this month, Modi met West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in Delhi. He had spoken to Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.

Modi also attended the wedding of Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Mulayam Singh Yadav’s grandnephew with Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad’s daughter.

The National Democratic Alliance is willing to accommodate concerns of the SP government in Uttar Pradesh, the All-India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam government in Tamil Nadu, and K Chandrashekhar Rao in Telangana.

EYES ON POTENTIAL ALLIES

• March 26: Bihar CM Nitish Kumar calls on the PM, requests Bihar be compensated for the Rs 50,000 crore it might lose because of implementation of Finance Commission’s recommendations
   
• March 9: Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee meets PM, gets no assurance on her request for waiving off Bengal’s debt but movement on other projects awaiting clearances
   
• March 9: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley meets Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik during his visit to Delhi, govt wanted BJD support on key reform Bills
   
• March 8: Modi speaks to Patnaik over phone; on March 5 the PM tweets, paying tribute to Patnaik’s father and former Odisha CM Biju Patnaik on his 98th birth anniversary
  

 

February 21: Modi attends wedding ceremony of SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav’s grandnephew and RJD chief Lalu Prasad’s daughter in UP