Congress revives Kamaraj Plan? 4 ministers offer to work for party

Several Congress ministers have reportedly said that they want to be relieved of their ministerial posts. These include Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh, Law Minister Salman Khurshid, Overseas Affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi and Health and Family Welfare Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad.

The ministers are said to have written a letter to Congress president Sonia Gandhi saying they want to work for the party.

Any actino on this front is expected after the Budget session of Parliament ends on May 22.

Meanwhile, Ravi has denied that he has written a letter to Gandhi stating that he wants to be relieved from his portfolio.

The Congress party is no stranger to such an exercise. In the 1960s, when the Congress party was being buffeted in the post-1962 China war debacle and the rise of regional parties in northern India, party boss K Kamaraj had proposed that senior ministers resign their post and work for the welfare of the party. This came to be known as the Kamaraj Plan, and had then prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru's active backing.