Opposition dissatisfied with Yosano joining Cabinet+

TOKYO, Jan. 14 Kyodo -
Japanese opposition leader Sadakazu Tanigaki reacted sharply Friday to the
appointment of former Finance Minister Kaoru Yosano in the reshuffled Cabinet
of Prime Minister Naoto Kan.
Tanigaki, president of the main opposition Liberal Democratic Party, said
Yosano's appointment as state minister for economic and fiscal policy shows
that Kan does not pay any attention to the relationship of trust between the
ruling and opposition parties.
Tanigaki noted that Yosano had run on the LDP ticket and gained his seat in the
House of Representatives in the 2009 general election through proportional
representation.
Yosano should first give up his seat and join the Cabinet as a
non-parliamentarian, he said.
Natsuo Yamaguchi, leader of the No. 2 opposition New Komeito party, was also
critical of Yosano, saying, ''Voters must be very uncomfortable.''
Japanese Communist Party leader Kazuo Shii said the new Cabinet is a
pro-business one that would raise the 5 percent consumption tax and promote
talks on joining the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade agreement.
Mizuho Fukushima, leader of the Social Democratic Party, said the appointment
of Yosano to the post of economic and fiscal policy minister is intended to
support a plan to raise the consumption tax.
Kan's reshuffled Cabinet apparently intends to raise the 5 percent consumption
tax, Fukushima said, noting that Yosano was an LDP member until last year and
is a proponent of a sales tax hike.
Yoshimi Watanabe, head of the minor opposition Your Party, said Kan collected
''scraps'' to launch his new Cabinet.
Yosano left the LDP and founded the Sunrise Party of Japan in April 2010 with
other veteran lawmakers. He left the party on Thursday to join the Cabinet as
an independent.
Sunrise Party of Japan Secretary General Hiroyuki Sonoda, a close friend of
Yosano, said Friday's Cabinet reshuffle clearly showed a lack of human
resources within the governing Democratic Party of Japan headed by Kan.
Meanwhile, the inclusion of former House of Councillors President Satsuki Eda
in the new Cabinet sent a shock wave through the country's political world.
Eda is the first former president of the House of Councillors to join a
Cabinet, the upper house's secretariat said.
In the lower house, Umekichi Nakamura (1901-1984) was the only former speaker
of the House of Representatives to join the Cabinet. Nakamura served as justice
minister between 1973 and 1974 under then Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka
(1918-1993).
A senior New Komeito lawmaker said Eda's appointment as justice minister could
damage the authority of the upper house presidency.
==Kyodo
2011-01-14 23:27:01