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Sonia back as NAC chief, to push 'aam admi' agenda

The National Advisory Council is back with Congress chief Sonia Gandhi at its head, promising to give a strong fillip to the UPA government's social sector agenda that is at the heart of the party's political strategy to consolidate its 'aam admi' base.

The revival of the NAC, that had folded up following Sonia's resignation after the office-of-profit controversy, has been on the cards since the Supreme Court gave its assent to the Centre's new law on the offices that MPs can hold. TOI had reported, on February 13, that Sonia would be back as NAC chairperson and the body would be constituted in April.

As head of the NAC, Sonia, with the status of a cabinet minister, will be leading a team of domain experts and civil society activists who as members of the elite body will be a separate think tank outside of ministries and the Planning Commission.

The NAC is expected to propose laws and make interventions to strengthen the string of entitlements UPA has crafted—from NREGA to the proposed food security bill.

During the tenure of UPA-1, the big ticket initiatives—that are now seen to have been a success—from rural employment guarantee to the right to information, were initiated by the NAC.

The rebirth of the NAC comes at a time when Sonia has asserted herself with regard to the government's agenda with initiatives like the women's reservation bill and the food security bill. The tussle with the opponents over the women's bill brought out her willingness to stake her political capital on social security initiatives she deems significant.

The NAC's sharp focus has ensured that key programmes are not only not diluted but, as in the case of NREGA, expanded through the country. It can be expected to deal with development issues in areas like Bundelkhand which also coincide with the Congress's political priorities. There has been a sense in the Congress that the pace of governance could be speedened up, and better aligned with party's priorities.

Crucially, after Sonia turned down the premiership and brought in Manmohan Singh, NAC helped give the party a primacy it would have lacked otherwise.

Apart from the food security act, another bill that the NAC may like to see piloted by the government soon is the communal violence bill and possibly the whistleblowers bill as well. To that extent, the NAC, which will draw its powers from Sonia's leadership, can influence the legislative and political agenda of the government.

The tenure of the NAC members will be for one year, showing that the chairperson wants to keep elbow room for changes in view of her previous experience. The chairperson's term is expectedly co-terminus with the panel itself.

The advent of NAC holds a special place in the Congress attempt to reinvent itself as a left-of-centre party since it returned to power in 2004 after a barren eight-year spell. With the 'aam admi' campaign pipping the BJP's 'India Shining' triumphalism, Congress has been convinced on the need to ensure that those who are not immediately seeing the fruit of reforms do not turn against it.

The party decided to ensure that 'aam admi' remained its governance theme, with the NAC giving a welfarist philosophy the pride of place. At the same time, the co-option of civil society activists ensured that the scope for dissent against the Congress-led Centre stayed at a minimum as the party moved to the left.

It marked a shift in the business-as-usual governance identified with Congress and gave the party the political talking points it was looking for. RTI, NREGA, social security for unorganised sector, domestic violence bill, forest rights act, right to education have added a new halo to the party even though implementation has remained patchy.

While NAC was very much on the minds of the party brass, the leadership did not move with alacrity in UPA-2 as it was wary of the legal challenges to the 'office of profit' law which exempted certain offices including the NAC chairperson from its ambit. It was only when the SC gave its nod to the OoP law that the party moved to revive the NAC.

The notification issued on March 29 took ample care to clarify that MPs on the NAC panel would not be entitled to draw any "remuneration, allowances or perks as such member from the NAC other than the compensatory allowance as defined in clause (a) of section 2 of Parliament (prevention of disqualification) Act, 1959".

Sonia had quit the NAC after the opposition alleged she had violated the 'office of profit' principle, like SP MP Jaya Bachchan who lost her Rajya Sabha seat. The Congress chief had then resigned from LS. While she won the Rae Bareli bypoll, she kept away from NAC.

In UPA-2, the Congress has allowed the ministries to function on their own through the guidance of experienced heads in group of ministers or drafts prepared by key party leaders on important policy issues.