QUESTIONS GALORE OVER RAHUL'S SHADOW CABINET 'PLAN'

"The shadow cabinet exists only in British politics. Moreover, the UK has not formed any coalition government till now, there are two dominant parties.'

- BADAR BASHIR

After Rahul Gandhi took over as the leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha, leaders close to him indicate that the Gandhi scion is planning to form a shadow cabinet in which all the opposition parties could be included and subsequently, shadow portfolios will be allotted to important leaders.

To explain the shadow cabinet model further, it is a feature of the Westminster setup of government. It comprises of a senior group of opposition speakers who, under the leader of the opposition, form an alternative cabinet to that of the government, whose members mirror the positions of each individual member of the Cabinet. However, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, according to a leader close to him, is unaware of such a plan. According to a Member Parliament of SP, “Akhilesh ji may have recently come to know about it, yet there has been no formal communication between the grand old party and Samajwadi Party on this matter.”

The reason for not informing the opposition, according to a senior CWC member, is the unavailability of top leaders like Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge in Delhi before the parliamentary sessions and the time constraints of the two leaders. A Congress MP said, “Rahul Gandhi has talked about forming the shadow cabinet but until now, there has been no communication with the opposition parties about it. They may do it after the parliament session will be over.”