Polls make CM's task a little easier

PATNA: Although it is likely to prove quite difficult for chief minister Rabri Devi to reduce the size of her ministry to 15 per cent of the state assembly''s total strength by July 7 following the 97th amendment to the Constitution, the Lok Sabha (LS) polls appear to have made her task slightly easier.
This is because five of her colleagues in the ministry have been elected to the LS, three resigned on being denied RJD ticket for contesting the polls and another one was sacked for contesting against the party''s official nominee.
It has reduced the size of 62-member state ministry to 53. Rabri is now required to bring the ministry''s strength down to 36 by dropping 17 more ministers.
Political observers feel that dropping 17 more ministers will prove to be quite a difficult exercise for Rabri in view of the assembly elections due next year. But RJD insiders maintain that with party supremo Laloo Prasad Yadav inflicting a crushing defeat to NDA in the LS polls, dropping 17 ministers will not be much of a problem for Rabri. They feel that the ministers likely to be dropped will not venture to turn rebels as they have seen the fate of four ministers who either resigned or were sacked from ministry for contesting the LS polls. RJD MLA and former Union minister Dasai Chaudhary, who had resigned from the assembly following denial of party ticket and contested the LS polls from Rosera on JD(U) ticket, was also defeated, they point out.
Building construction minister Mohammad Taslimuddin, medical education minister Shakeel Ahmad, information and public relations minister Sitaram Yadav, mines and geology minister Sitaram Singh and junior health minister Akhilesh Prasad Singh have been elected to the LS from Kishanganj, Madhubani, Sitamarhi, Sheohar and Motihari respectively. All of them will now have to resign from the assembly, rendering their seats vacant.
Food and civil supplies minister Purnmasi Ram, who had resigned from the ministry and the assembly to contest the parliamentary elections from Bagaha on BSP ticket, and junior ministers Monazir Hasan and Chhedi Paswan, who had also resigned from the ministry and the assembly to contest the polls from Munger and Hajipur respectively on JD(U) ticket, were defeated. Dadan Pahalwan, a junior minister who was sacked from the ministry for contesting against official RJD nominee from Buxar Shivanand Tiwari, also failed in his bid to enter the LS. Dadan, however, did not have to resign from the assembly because he contested the polls as an Independent candidate.
With RJD MLAs Jai Prakash Narain Yadav, R K Rana, Giridhari Yadav and Aniruddha Prasad alias Sadhu Yadav and BJP MLA Sushil Kumar Modi also getting elected to the LS from Munger, Khagaria, Banka, Gopalganj and Bhagalpur respectively, 14 assembly seats, in all, will fall vacant. RJD''s strength in the assembly will go down from 117 to 105, while that of Congress and BJP by one each. Shakeel Ahmad is a Congress MLA.