Chief Minister Narayanasamy might have successfully cleared his first big political hurdle since taking over the administration of the UT by getting elected to the Legislative Assembly, but two more challenges that would test his political acumen await him: Taking a decision on filling the three nominated legislators post and dealing with the ticklish issue of enforcing the one-man-one-post rule in the matter of Pradesh Congress Committee chief’s position.
The Part 11 sub section 3 of the Government of Union Territories Act 1963 accords power to the Centre to “nominate not more than three persons, not being in the service of the government, to the Legislative Assembly.
The established customary practice was that of Centre approving the names proposed by the ruling party in UT, though there were instances of the names being ignored at the Ministry of Home Affairs level when two different political establishments were the helm of affairs at Centre and UT.
The United Progressive Alliance government in 2011 shot down the names proposed by the N. R Congress. Here lies the challenge before Mr. Narayanasamy-led Congress government. The filling up of three posts had become important, administrative wise as nominated members are bestowed with voting powers when it comes to passing of legislations.
Politically too, the decision matters as there is a pre-poll commitment made by the Congress party to its alliance partner DMK to part with one seat. Besides, he needs to accommodate two from his party to keep his commitments to his confidants. All this becomes possible when the file related to the appointment moves from the Lieutenant Governor’s Office to the MHA for clearance.
It will be of interest to see how the issue plays out in the coming days at a time when the relationship between the ruling National Democratic Alliance and the Congress are not at the best of terms.
“The first thing is to get it cleared by the Lieutenant Governor. The Central government comes in the picture only after getting clearance from the LG. So the first obstacle will be here itself,” said a senior Congress member.
Ticklish issue
The other ticklish issue is that of taking a call on the post of Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC). The current PCC president A. Namassivayan also holds a ministerial position and as per the ‘one man one post’ rule favoured by the Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, he can retain only one post.
Given the bitter power struggle witnessed between Mr. Narayanasamy and Mr. Namassivayam when the former was made Chief Minister at the instance of Congress high command, the PCC post would come as a delicate balancing act.
