New Delhi: A day after India's 60-hour terror nightmare in Mumbai came to an end and the nation heaved a sigh of relief, political reverberations were felt in the power corridors in New Delhi.
Heads began rolling with Home Minister Shivraj Patil who resigned on Sunday in the wake of intense pressure from political, civilian and media circles.
Patil had been facing criticism for a long time for the failure of security and intelligence agencies to protect the people against a series of terror attacks in the past six months.
He has been replaced by Finance Minister P Chidambaram, whose Finance portfolio will be handled by the Prime Minister now.
At the late-night Congress Working Committee meeting, sources say there was no one to defend Patil.
PM and Sonia looked on as he accepted responsibility for the Mumbai attacks and offered to resign. In that meeting, Chidambaram was present as a special invitee. Soon the word was out that he would be present at the all-party meeting as well, signaling a change of guard at the MHA.
But even Congressmen and allies who have been up in arms against Patil wonder if this couldn't have happened earlier. They believe the move has come too late to reap any political mileage.
“He offered his resignation very late. Whatever is happening in the country is our priority, the ministerial post doesn't matter," said RJD chief and Railway Minister, Lalu Prasad.
A worried PM and Sonia realised that unless drastic steps were taken without delay, the BJP would have a cakewalk in the general elections. Ultimately, Sonia was said to be left with little choice but to let go of her loyalist.
Election season calls for desperate measures and the party is now hoping that the ouster of Patil would be a step in salvaging some of its reputation.
But the trouble does not stop here. if the Congress thought that the BJP could be made to tone down its stance, its not happened. Even in Patil’s departure, it saw an opportunity to score political points.
“This is too little, too late. One disaster has been replaced by another proven disaster,” said Rajiv Pratap Rudy of the BJP.
The ruling coalition has a lot to answer for. A lot will be expected of the new Home Minister.
While as a Finance Minister he had come out with a bailout package, as the in-charge of Home, Congress hopes he will pull a trick and bail the Government out.(Inputs from Pallavi Ghosh)
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