E-Paper
HT This Day: Jan 24, 1979 - Charan Singh, J. Ram become Dy PMs today
Rabi Ray new entrant; H. M. Patel gets Home
Hindustan Times Correspondent
NEW DELHI- Cutting short his Gujarat tour, former Home Minister Charan Singh returned to the Capital late this evening to be appointed one of the two Deputy Prime Ministers tomorrow. The swearing-in ceremony is scheduled for 9-30 a.m. Defence Minister Jagjivan Ram will be simultaneously elevated as the other Deputy Prime Minister.
The preliminaries for the Rashtrapati Bhavan function were formalised today. Prime Minister Morarji Desai called on President Sanjiva Reddy and was with him for half an hour reviewing the current developments.
The earlier efforts to administer the oath of office to Mr Charan Singh today itself did not succeed because the Prime Minister had not completed his round of consultations with his Cabinet colleagues.. Mr Charan Singh too could not cancel his departure, although he postponed it by a few hours after a State plane was made available to him.
While the junior Ministers who had resigned in protest against Mr Charan Singh's ouster may return to the government later, Mr Rabt Ray, one of the general secretaries of the Janata Party and a staunch supporter of Mr Charan Singh, is expected to join the Cabinet as Health Minister tomorrow.
Instead of waiting for the budget session to be over as proposed earlier, Mr Charan Singh will takeover the finance portfolio immediately. The present incumbent, Mr H. M. Patel will get Home currently being handled by the Prime Minister.
The suggestion made by several supporters of Mr Desai that Mr Jagjivan Ram be shifted to Home, did not appeal to the Prime Minister. First, he felt that by giving Home to Mr Patel no snajor reallocation would be required immediately. In any case, Mr Patel had to be given an important portfolio when finance was being taken away from him.
Apart from incidentally meeting the wishes of Mr Charan Singh, as conveyed by him through party president Chandra Shekhar, Mr Desai is reluctant because Mr Jagjivan Ram's performance as Defence Minister has been widely appreciated and the Prime Minister does not want to disturb him.
As regards Mr Charan Singh's re-entry in the government, both, Mr Jagjiven Ram and his close associate Petroleum Minister H. N. Bahuguna reportedly told the Prime Minister that they did not want to come in the way of any solution that he might have conceived to get over the differences in the party. However, they are be. lieved to have expressed their misgivings about the functioning of the Cabinet, in view of certain "out-dated notions" entertained by Mr Charan Singh.
It was also pointed out by some others that the appointment of Mr Charan Singh as Deputy Prime Minister after all that he had said about the Prime Minister and the government as a whole might be misunderstood by other segments of the party as a convenient tool to get things done by threatening a split This may have far-reachin consequences.
The Prime Minister pleaded with all these dissenters that no hard and fast rule could be applied in such delicate matters. After all, the interest of the country as a whole had to be taken. And, in any case, Mr Charan Singh was not coming on his own terms.
Some other party MPs expressed the fear that Mr Charan Singh might translate the plan of Mr Raj Narain and try to wreck the Government from within. He might act like Mr Liaqat Ali Khan who was Finance Minister in Nehru's interim Cabinet.
Mr Desal asked all these sceptics not to harbour any misgivings. The formula as finally evolved should be given a fair trial.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ravindra Varma was among those who are understood to have expressed their reservations. At the same time, he assured his full co-operation in the efforts to forge greater cohesion and unity.
Mr S. N. Mishra and some other ardent supporters of Mr Charan Singh had consultation among themselves. While they agreed to wait and watch, some of them felt they had been let down by their leader. They also wondered if the proposed meeting of the erstwhile BLD on Jan. 28, would take piece at all.
UNI adds:
On his return from Ahmedabad tonight, Mr Charan Singh was received by three former Ministers of State, Mr Jagbir Singh, Mr Narsingh and Mr Ram Kinkar. Mr Rabi Ray and All-India Kisan Sammelan general secretary Narendra Singh were also present.
From the airport, Mr Charan Singh drove to his Tughlaq Road residence.
