Congress, TMC share portfolios in Pondy Govt.

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, APRIL 3. The Congress(I) and the Tamil Manila Congress today reached an agreement on division of Ministries in the new coalition government in Pondicherry. After a meeting of leaders of both parties, including the Pondicherry Chief Minister, Mr. P. Shanmugham, with the Congress(I) president, Ms. Sonia Gandhi, it was also decided that the demand for Statehood for Pondicherry should be intensified and taken up with the Centre.

While the allocation of portfolios is to be left to the Chief Minister, it was decided that besides the Chief Minister, the Assembly Speaker, Chief Whip and two Ministers would be from the Congress(I). The TMC's ``share'' would be the Deputy Speaker, three Ministers and one parliamentary secretary. The 16 boards and corporations would be split equally between the two parties.

The discussions began yesterday and an agreement was reached this evening. The Congress(I) negotiating team consisted of Mr. Ghulam Nabi Azad and Mr. Anil Shastri (AICC general secretary and secretary respectively in charge of Pondicherry), Mr. Shanmugham and Mr. V. Narayansamy. From the TMC were Mr. G. K. Moopanar, Mrs. Jayanthi Natarajan, Mr. Balasubramaniam and Mr. Kannan (a Minister in the Pondicherry government).

During the meeting with Ms. Gandhi, she is understood to have asked them to ensure the coalition worked unitedly and effectively so that it was seen as an improvement on the previous DMK-TMC government. Mr. Moopanar is said to have assured her of the TMC's full cooperation and observed that his party was ``part of the same family''.

Mr. Shanmugham, for whom this was the first visit to New Delhi after assuming power, also called on the Prime Minister, Mr. A. B. Vajpayee. He said Pondicherry should continue to get the special financial privileges it had been enjoying and discussed some pending projects. He raised the issue of a broad gauge railway line between Pondicherry and Karaikal.

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