Sonia Gandhi?s stricture to Congress ministers in the party?s plenary meeting in Burari, that they listen to party workers and be more responsive to them has found an echo within the government as well. Cabinet secretary KM Chandrashekhar, in a letter to all UPA ministers, has asked that issues ?raised by the members of Parliament be promptly attended to and set aside some time to meet members of Parliament to address their concerns on such issues.?
According to top sources, this is not the first time that such a missive has been sent. A letter dated June 10, 2010 written by then minister for personnel Prithviraj Chavan said the same.
?But it is obvious that doors to MPs have remained shut in government offices. Many MPs, a large number of them from the Congress itself, have complained rather frequently to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that they are not being heard by the ministers,? said a top source in the government.
?The impression gaining ground is that the ministers have no time for their colleagues in Parliament,? said the source. At the Congress plenary in fact, both Congress president Sonia Gandhi and AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi had put Congress ministers in the UPA government in the dock. In a letter addressed to all Congress ministers she had said that all ministers should meet party workers when they travel outside Delhi.
Rahul Gandhi had in fact said that ?ministers who occupy big bhavans should not forget that they do so on the basis of the hard work put in by ordinary party workers. They should not forget who put them there.?
With the Congress and the UPA government getting jittery over the attitude of its ministers, it appears that some churn is in order. ?This is also one of the reasons why a reshuffle is necessary, so that nobody takes their position for granted,? said a senior Congress leader.