Tenure Sharing Agreement: An Absurd Political Exercise
Source: Hueiyen News Service / Seram Neken

Imphal, July 03 2014: Sharing of ministerial tenure is a new concept innovated by the power-hungry politicians of Manipur.

Nowhere in the Constitution of India, rather nowhere in the country has this convention been heard of earlier.

Tenure of the legislature in the state is five years and accordingly under normal circumstances, the tenure of the council of ministers also remains five years.

However, it is not guaranteed that a minister should hold office for the whole tenure, as he/she may be removed on various grounds.

When a minister is incapable of holding the charge and is not discharging duties properly, he/she can be removed anytime.

Removal of incapable ministers and induction of capable ones are normally done particularly as per the wishes of the chief minister and in general on demand by the ruling party legislators.

Constitutionally, the council of ministers is responsible to the legislature.

However, there has been no tradition in which the tenure of a minister is shared between two or more legislators, according to political observers.

It is obvious that the power hungry MLAs of the ruling congress party in Manipur are raising their heads to pull down the existing ministers with the hope that they may be inducted.

The agitating MLAs have again and again alleged that the sharing of tenure was agreed upon by the chief minister earlier.

It is again a disgraceful reiteration on the part of responsible legislators (Congress MLAs) that they stick their demand on the basis of the said agreement.

It would be better if they demand removal of weak and incapable ministers from the present council of ministers, observers opined saying that it would also seem generous if they base their demands on the performances of the existing ministers.

Every right thinking citizen of the state understands that majority of the ministers in Okram Ibobi Ministry do exist now in name only, stated an intellectual on condition of anonymity adding 'Except for one or two, all ministers are underperformers and unfit to hold their posts' .

Some senior citizens give the opinion that it is the desire of the people of Manipur to remove the underperformer ministers and recruit new capable faces in their place in the overall interest of state's welfare.

It is also obvious that among the incumbent ministers in the Okram Ibobi Singh government, a few are working comparatively better than previous ministers of the same party.

When they are removed to pave way for sharing of tenure, the continuity of the programmes and policies will get seriously affected.

Further, it would be against public interest to remove the performing ministers.

A number of right thinking citizens of Manipur are of the view that the chief minister should be considerate enough to remove inefficient ministers and induct new faces, while retaining those ministers who are doing better as compared to previous ones.

Performance only should be the basis for either removal or induction of the ministers.

A political observer, on condition of anonymity, has opined that sharing of ministerial tenure is a childish tradition which has no place under the constitution of India.

Performance of the MLAs should be the sole criteria of their being either removed from or inducted into the ministry.

MLAs can very well show off their performance as MLAs, without being ministers.

It is not guaranteed that all MLAs in ruling party should vie for minister-ship once they are elected.

On the other hand, ministers should also acknowledge the collective responsibilities vested in them.

They should not sideline the other legislators in serving the people of the state.

Incumbent ministers should shun the idea of alienation towards their own constituencies only.

In Manipur, a number of ruling party MLAs who have not raised even one question or participated in the discussion in state assembly sessions are now vying for the ministerial posts.

It is shameful enough to monger power, in spite of their performances in political sphere.

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