Power and autonomy

Even the Congress members are left tongue-tied at the quick U-turns signalled within 24 hours of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh taking over the finance portfolio. Hard-pressed to explain if the PM had no say in running the finance ministry while former Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee was at its helm — when the government should be working on the principle of “collective responsibility” — a senior Congress leader with tongue-in-check said, “The UPA government and the finance ministry were so long working on a reverse principle — “Strategic autonomy, differential responsibility” — thereby Mukherjee was acting autonomously of the PM and the Cabinet.