Dr.Baburaya.C.Sagar
Guest
Lecturer
Dept. of
Political Science,
C/o.
H.No.607/2C, Bapu Nagar Near Sudha Hospital, STBT Darga Road , Gulbarga
Cell.no.9886232485
The working of parliamentary
democracy in India
Since
1996 coalition Governments have been working at the centre. The working of
coalition Governments has influenced the Parliamentary system in India
While
expressing his views about the position of the Indian Prime Minister, Dr. B. R.
Ambedkar has said, “If any functionary under our constitution can be compared
with the President of the United
States
As
regards the formation of the Council of Ministers, Article 75(1) of the
Constitution states that the Prime Minister shall be appointed by the President
and the other ministers shall be appointed by the President on the advice of
the Prime Minister. The traditional practice is that the Prime Minister will
choose the ministers by paying due weightage to various factors. But under the
impact of coalition politics, Prime Minister is not free in the formation,
re-organisation and the removal of any minister. In this respect he has to take
the approval from the partner parties.
After
the eleventh parliamentary elections held in 1996, BJP under the leadership of
Atal Behariajpayee formed its government and resigned only after 13 days due to
lack of majority support. Then a coalition government of United Front with the
outside support of Congress, led by H.D Deve Gowda was formed. Since Prime
Minister H D Deve Gowda was a compromise leader of a motley crowd, he did not
enjoy the usual Prime Ministerial freedom to select his own Cabinet colleagues.
Deve Gowda’s own Janata Dal with 46 members in the Lok Sabha bagged 10 Cabinet
berths; Mulayam Singh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party with 17 MPs got 4, while DMK with
as many seats got only two. So, did its poll ally Tamil Manila Congress (TMC)
with 20 seats, but Chandrababu Naidu’s TDP with 16 seats got 3 ministerial
berths. Baiwant Singh Ramoowalia, who was not a member of either House of
Parliament, was a surprise inclusion for giving representation to Punjab . The CPI and the Asom Gana Panshad (AGP) joined
the Government on June 18, 1996 and with this the contours of a real federal
structure appeared to be emerging at the centre. The United Front witnessed
pulls and pressures in the appointment of senior Janata Dal leader S. R. Bommai
whose name figured in the Jam diaries, but another leader Sharad Yadav, who had
been charge-sheeted in the Hawala Scam was kept out. To maintain a balance
among coalition partners, Sharad Yadav was mollified later by elevating him to
the position of working president of the Party, a special post created for him.
S.R. Bombai’s inclusion in the ministry was again a compromise for preventing
him from interfering in the politics of Karnataka, where J. H. Patel,
considered close to Hegde, had become Chief Minister against the wishes of the
Prime Minister.
After
the formation of Council of Ministers, distribution of portfolios posed another
problem for the coalition Government. P. Chidambram, a former Congressman and
now TMC MP was given finance with the assurance to the Congress that economic
reforms started by it would continue. Mulayam Singh Yadav, former Uttar Pradesh
Chief Minister was keen on Home department but was given Defence Department.
When the CPI decided to join the ministry, it too wanted home department for
its nominee but the Congress objected on the plea that the Communists could not
be trusted with the sensitive information in that department. However, finally
Inderjit Gupta of the CPI did get the coveted portfolio. Ram Vilas Paswan was
said to be eyeing the foreign office, but agreed to let Inder Kumar Gujral
become foreign affairs minister. In return, besides Railways, he was given the
charge of Parliamentary Affairs. The Prime Minister had to relent on many
counts and his prerogative of distributing the portfolios got circumscribed by
the presence of large number of important leaders of the coalition parties.
Instead of being the centre of Council of Minister, he had to feel content by
becoming first among several leaders. It was otherwise not easy for Deve Gowda
to lead a Government that he did not have full control over.
This
coalition government however, could last only about a year when the Congress
under the presidentship of Sitaram Kesri withdrew its support in March 1997.
However the prospect of a mid-term poll apparently forced both the Congress and
the United Front to come to rapprochement. In this process on April 20, 1997
Gujral was elected leader of the United Front Parliamentary Party and on the
same day, the United Front Steering Committee notified the President of India
of its decision. The President, however, appointed Gujral as Prime Minister
only after receiving assurance from Congress President Sitaram Kesri about his party’s
support to the United Front. On April 22,1997 the second United Front coalition
Government headed by I.K. Gujral won the vote of confidence in the Lok Sabha.
Thus the second United Front coalition Government was installed and the
coalition system Of governance got a new lease of life. The composition of the
new Council of Ministers and the allocation of portfolios was again a difficult
task which threatened to rupture the United Front. The initial idea was that I.
K. Gujral alone would take the oath on April 21 as Prime Minister and the
selection of ministers could be taken up later. The CPI (M) Politburo member
Sitaram Yechury played a crucial mediating role in resolving the crisis. He
made a simple proposal: swear in the old team in its near entirety with the
exception of Deve Gowda, of course with slots kept vacant for the TMC ministers
to return and send out a message of continuity and stability. The
redistribution of ministerial portfolios could be taken up later as part of an
overall political review However, the proposal was not acceptable to Laloo
Prasad Yadav who attempted to scoop the process by first asking for the droping
of ministers close to Deve Gowda and then also excluding C.M. Ibrahim, D.P.
Yadav and Srikant Jena. The Left criticised the idea, pointing out that any
such change in the ministry would serve only the Congiess by weakening the
United Front. Thwarted, Laloo Prasad Yadav demanded the inclusion of his man,
Sharad Yadav tainted by involvement in the lain hawala scam, in the new
Ministry. The Left pointed out that Sharad Yadav was not merely implicated in
the scam but had also admitted in public that he was a recipient of hawala
funds from the Jams. His elevation to the Union Cabinet would discredit the
United Front’s anti-corruption credentials and give the Congress a lever to put
pressure on the minority Government for soft-pedaling other corruption cases.
Ultimately, after long arduous negotiations the United Front leaders succeeded
in blocking Laloo Prasad’s aggressive demand; but for D.P. Yadav’s sacrifice,
the United Front decided to induct practically the whole of the old team.
On
the swearing-in day, the Prime Minister designate Gujral learnt that not just
himself, but all the other Ministers were going to be sworn in. The President
and the cabinet secretary were informed about the last minute change in the
arrangements. Ironically for the first time since independence, India
The
compulsions of coalition compelled the Prime Minister to transfer the CBI
Director Joginder Singh to the Ministry of Home Affairs as Special Secretary.
Actually CBI had decided to prosecute Laloo in the fodder scam and also it
named Rajiv Gandhi as chief conspirator in the Bofors bribery scandal. Gujral’s
dependence on the Bihar unit of the Janata Dal
for his seat in the Parliament on the one hand and the lifeline of the Government-
Congress became compulsions of the Prime Minister to affect this transfer.
Commenting upon the transfer Prime Minister explained that his transfer was in
fact a promotion.
The
India
Similarly
under the compulsions of coalition politics, the Prime Minister I. K Gujral,
recommended the President to impose constitutional emergency in UP under Article
356 and dismiss the Kalyan Singh led BJP Government, which secured vote of
confidence in the assembly with the help of Loktantrik Congress a breakaway
group from the Congress.
Earlier
the BSP withdrew support to the BJP Government led by Kalyan Singh with the
result that Government lost majority in the assembly. However, 37 members
Congress Legislative Party split and supported the BJP Government. The split
came as a rude shock to the Congress President Sitaram Kesri. He immediately
conveyed to the Prime Minister I. K. Gujral that the Kalyan Singh Government be
dismissed and the President’s rule be imposed in UP. The Prime Minister was
against such move. Even the legal experts were against dismissing a Government
after its leader had demonstrated his strength on the floor of the House. But
it was the time for the Congress President to get reward for his outside
support to the United Front Government. He made it clear to Gujral that the
choice was between Kalyan Singh and his own survival as Prime Minister. Under
the compulsion of survival, Prime Minister decided to recommend to the
President to impose constitutional emergency in UP under Article 356 of the
Constitution. However, President sent the recommendation back to the cabinet
for reconsideration. Yielding to unprecedented intervention by the President
K.R. Narayanan and strong internal opposition, the union cabinet reversed its
recommendation on imposing central rule in UP and decided to allow Kalyan Singh to continue
as Chief Minister. The UP crisis was however, over but it left a severe dent in
the credibility of United Front Government in general and the office of Prime
Minister in particular. In the meeting of United Front’s Steering Committee,
the members criticized the Prime Minister and argued that the attempt to in oke
Article 356, after the floor test was held in UP was misconceived.
During
one party dominant system Prime Minister is treated not as equal to any other
minister but at a much higher pedestal. His pre-eminence rests on his commanding
position in the cabinet, coupled with fact that he is the leader of the
majority party. During the Congress rule at the centre the Prime Minister was
usually the President of his party, the major campaigner in the elections; all
these positions of power when combined in one person make his rank much above
an ordinary minister. But in case of United Front Coalition Government first H.
D. Deve Gowda and then I. K. Gujral was selected to be appointed as Prime
Ministers as a compromise among the United Front partners. They even did not
enjoy full control over their party members. More so their party Janata Dal
created problems in the way of successful functioning of the coalition
Government.
So
under the impact of coalition politics the position of Prime Minister has
underwent a big change. He is no longer a sun around which all the planets revolve.
He has become first among equals. He does not enjoy free will. He is bound to
follow common minimum programme of the coalition Government. Moreover with the
establishment of an extra-constitutional body, the Steering Committee, the
powers shift from cabinet and its leader Prime Minister to this committee.
Prime Minister has to endure its decisions as its displeasure can cause the
fall of the Government. Hence, the position of real executive head under the
impact of coalition Governments has undergone changes in tenns of strength,
stature, influence and authority.
