Ramesh quits as MoS

Minister of State for Commerce and Power Jairam Ramesh today resigned from the council of ministers to devote more time to the party.

In 2004, Ramesh, along with a small group of Congressmen, had been the moving force behind the drafting of the Congress manifesto, which later morphed into the Common Minimum Programme (CMP), the document on the basis of which the United Progressive Alliance government moved forward.

Talking to Business Standard, Ramesh said he had been asked to resign by the Congress president because she wanted him to steer a core croup in charge of drafting the manifesto and propelling forward the party’s poll campaign.

Ramesh said he did not know yet who the other members of the team would be. In 2004, a group of middle-level Congressmen, including former Minister of State for External Affairs Salman Khurshid, were part of the group that produced a series of ‘base papers’ leading to the manifesto.

In 2009, the challenges are significantly different. Although it is easier to project a face — Prime Minister Manmohan Singh —for the acts of commission of the government, the party is facing a degree of anti-incumbency. It will be Ramesh’s responsibility to send out a positive impression.

The slogan ‘Congress ka haath, Aam aadmi ke saath’ was Ramesh’s brainchild. He will now be responsible for producing another one.