Indian Elections 2009

Dr. Manmohan Singh took oath today as the PM for the second time. He had taken oath as the PM for the first time on the same date, May 22, five years back.

 In addition to Dr. Singh, Pranab Mukherjee, Sharad Pawar, A K Antony, P Chidambaram, Mamata Banerjee, S M Krishna, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Sushilkumar Shinde, Veerappa Moily, S Jaipal Reddy, Kamal Nath, Vayalar Ravi, Meira Kumar, Murli Deora, Kapil Sibal, Ambika Soni, B K Handique, Anand Sharma and C P Joshi were sworn in as cabinet ministers.

• Pics: New Team Manmohan , NDTV.com, May 22 2009

There is going to be a continuity with most of the ministries being given to the incumbents like Pranab Mukherjee who will get Finance, P. Chidambaram getting Home, Sharad Pawar getting agriculture. It is expected that Mamta Banerjee will take over as the new railways minister. In addition, Trinamool Congress will get 6 Minister of State berths.

The negotiations between Congress and DMK on the number of cabinet seats to be given to them has not been resolved and National Conference has to still get it’s share. So there is expectation that the cabinet will be further expanded to accomodate these two allies.

May 22nd, 2009 | Tags: Dr. Manmohan Singh, UPA government, UPA/Congress | Category: Dr. Manmohan Singh, Sonia Gandhi, Trinamool Congress, UPA/Congress | Comments (1)

Flush with the success of the Lok Sabha elections, the four pre-poll allies of the Congress have begin negotiating for their share of the pie.

• UPA allies battle for their share of the spoils, Hindustan Times, May 20 2009

The DMK has already asked for seven cabinet positions. I guess their logic is that if they ask for seven, they will get five.

• DMK demands 7 cabinet berths; meeting with Pranab inconclusive, Indian Express, May 20 2009

Farooq Abdullah of the National Conference has also expressed a desire for a cabinet post for the party (read him).

Mamta Banerjee has not yet expressed a desire to join the cabinet in Delhi, claiming to be concentrating on the coming Assembly elections in West Bengal in 2011. As expected, the party has called for pre-poning the elections.

• Mamata yet to take decision on joining UPA cabinet, Indian Express, May 20 2009

NCP has been quiet so far …

May 20th, 2009 | Tags: allies, DMK, National Conference, NCP, Trinamool Congress, UPA government, UPA/Congress | Category: DMK, Dr. Manmohan Singh, Elections, National Conference, Sharad Pawar, Trinamool Congress, UPA/Congress, coalitions/alliances | Comments (1)

Dr. Manmohan Singh has become the Prime Minister for the second consecutive term. He was appointed as the PM by the victorious UPA alliance. UPA was also able to show support of 322 MPs in the letter it presented to the President Pratibha Patil. Given this strong show of support, the President has not asked the prime minister to prove his strength in the house.

• Manmohan gets Presidential nod for second term as PM, Indian Express, May 20 2009
• Manmohan Singh appointed Prime Minister, Times of India, May 20 2009

The new PM will be sworn in on Friday, May 22.

May 20th, 2009 | Tags: Dr. Manmohan Singh, Election Results, UPA government, UPA/Congress | Category: Dr. Manmohan Singh, Indian Politics, Trinamool Congress, UPA/Congress | Comments (1)

With 261 seats in it’s bag, the United Progressive Alliance (UPA), is confident of getting support of 11 additional MPs to cross the magic number of 272 needed for a majority in the parliament. Speculation is rife in main stream media that the parties that constituted the fourth front (RJD,SP and LJP) will not be invited to support the UPA government; instead the UPA will rely on like-minded independents and smaller parties to make up for the shortfall.

Apart from the Congress party that won 206 seats on it’s own, the UPA consists of Sharad Pawar’s NCP, M. Karunanidhi’s DMK, Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress and Farooq Abdullah’s National Conference, who won the remaining 55. Leaders of these four parties are expected to be part of the new cabinet. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is also expected to join the cabinet.

The PM, Dr. Manmohan Singh, will give his resignation to the President on Monday who will ask him to continue as the interim-PM. The Election Commission will present the list of successful Lok sabha candidates to President Pratibha Patil on Monday evening.

Dr. Manmohan Singh is expected to be sworn in as the PM either on 20 or 22 May 2009.

May 17th, 2009 | Tags: Dr. Manmohan Singh, Lok Sabha elections, lok sabha results, UPA/Congress | Category: Dr. Manmohan Singh, Election Results, Elections, Indian Politics, National Conference, Rahul Gandhi, Sharad Pawar, Sonia Gandhi, Trinamool Congress, UPA/Congress, coalitions/alliances | Comments (1)