The interim budget presented on Monday February 16, 2009 by the Acting-Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who is also the External Affairs Minister, is for the moment adequate and prudent. The vote-on-account was limited to the rural sector with significant increase in the defense allocations. Both are timely and non-controversial. The government is obviously keeping an eye on the vital infrastructural development even at the cost of increasing the fiscal deficit to 6% of GDP. Looking at the situation here in the United States, the Indian economic team appears far more competent.
Lalu Prasad Yadav is a very savvy politician today. Was he always so shrewd or not, is difficult to judge but he has certainly grown in his job. Lalu has a very solid base in his home-state of Bihar and therefore brings a huge political capital to the Union Cabinet. Unlike the political gigolos like Shivraj Patil (Union Minister for Home Affairs) and Pranab Mukherjee (Minister for External Affairs of India) who have zero base in their home-states and bring absolutely nothing to the Central Government. These two characters are disgustingly loyal to Sonia Gandhi (Congress Party President) and pose no regional or national challenge to her unqualified writ on the Indian Government. Unlike Lalu Prasad Yadav, Patil and Mukherjee are more of a liability than any kind of an asset. This is no way to provide a stable central government.
Yadav was born on June 11, 1947 in Gopalgang, Bihar. He was a student leader at Patna University and a staunch follower of Jai Prakash Narayan during the 70s. He was only 29 years old when he was elected a Member of Parliament of the 6th Lok Sabha. He won the seat on a Janata Party ticket, specifically promoted by Satyendra Narayan Sinha (the erstwhile Chief Minister of Bihar). Lalu Prasad Yadav belongs to a backward caste and so became a formidable force in Bihar state Politics. He was elected the Chief Minister of Bihar in 1990 and from there he and his wife, Rabri Devi, ruled the state for the next 15 years. Lalu and his family behaved like the local Rajas of their fiefdom (Bihar) and were involved in a politically toxic ‘Fodder Scam’. He was sent to jail five times. His wife took over as Chief Minister of Bihar.
THINK! 