O Js Corner : Reflections

O J’s Corner

Format practice and precept

Floppies are pre-formatted to make the process of storing data easier for the end-user. If it is not formatted correctly, the computer will not be able to read the floppy. An error message will appear if we try to access the floppy.

Those who study the Contract Act would definitely know that there should be consensus ad idem, or meeting of the minds, between the parties concerned before entering into a contract.

In other words, there should be configuration for doing something efficiently.
This is precisely what the V S Achuthanandan-led LDF Government should do.
Practise what the LDF had preached during the previous UDF tenure in governance.

I should say, at least attempt to do what had been projected and the people had expected. Surely, expectations are too high for any government to meet. But the people understand  if the intentions are clear, even if the results would not be that agreeable.

Unfortunately, the LDF Government has been hamstrung by indecision of the CPM on various matters right from the start.

In West Bengal, immediately after the elections were over, the State Committee of the CPM elected Buddhadeb Bhattarcharjee as the Chief Minister candidate.

The party representatives had gone to Delhi for the subsequent politburo meeting, armed with this resolution about their CM. The politburo had to only endorse the recommendation.

In Kerala, initially, the rival faction had succeeded in urging the PB to take a decision asking VS not to contest the Assembly elections. VS, his supporters within and outside the party, and neutral people expressed their desire to see him through at the hustings.

VS stood for election, was on the vanguard of  the campaign and he led the party and the front to crucial victory.

There was no resolution at the State Committee or recommendation at the State Secretariat of the CPM to make VS the Chief Minister.

The election results were announced on May 11, but VS could become the Chief Minister only on May 18 after rounds and rounds of discussions and representations at the State and PB levels.
P B member S. Ramachandran Pillai was proved wrong when he told the Press earlier that the Chief Minister would be decided within a day after the elections.

The scramble for power by the State Secretariat members of the party was unprecedented. Almost all the State Secretariat members became Ministers.

After Cabinet formation, the squabbles were for getting plum portfolios. The Chief Minister himself was unhappy about the portfolios.

The Congress, when it was in power, had to entrust everything with the high command for a decision. The state of affairs of the CPM also has whittled down to a situation in which the PB has to decide everything.

Now the State Secretariat and the State Committee of the party should discuss the people’s woes. The people by now know that the relevant fora had discussed about the undesirable tendencies that rattled the party. The role of VS in the election victory was also acknowledged. Fair enough.

Now the people want the party to attend to their needs, worries and hopes. There can be no compromise.