Round The States

New Delhi, 19 December 2007

All Eyes On Gujarat

SATTA GIVES MODI THUMBS UP

By Insaf

All eyes are riveted on the poll outcome in Gujarat tomorrow. Specially, after the bitterly-fought high decibel campaign for the 182 Assembly seats in the State. The elections in Gujarat are no ordinary routine State elections. The outcome will have a domino effect on the national polity. The result will decide the timing of the next general election as also the fate of the controversial Indo-US nuclear deal. In the event, the Congress emerges victorious then Sonia Gandhi is likely to announce general elections by mid-April next year and initial the nuclear deal. But if the obverse holds true and Modi emerges third-time victorious, the nuclear deal will be dumped and Congress-Left ties will be back to bhai-bhai once again.

While the exit polls are hedging their bets over Modi’s victory, from scraping through to a simple majority, the Gujaratis are reposing their faith in the satta market. Unlike the psephologists, who appear confounded by the abnormally high percentage (17) of those surveyed belonging to the ‘can’t say category’, the satta bazaar has given Modi a majority of 102 out of 182 seats. That the Hindu icon is a bookies favourite is evident from the lowest returns of 70 paisa on the BJP winning. In other words, if one bets Rs.1 on the Saffron Party getting 102 seats and are proved right then one takes home Rs.1.70. Already, the satta amount has surpassed Rs.800 crore and is slated to rise to Rs.1000-1500 crore. Interestingly, Gujarati NRIs too have jumped in with their mega dollars, pounds and euros.  

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Daring Jailbreak In Chhattisgarh

The Naxalites have once again cocked a snook at the Government. This time round in Chhattisgarh. In a daring jailbreak, 299 inmates out of 377, including 110 Naxal activists, escaped from the Dantewada jail in the State. Described as a “pre-meditated conspiracy,” by the State police, the undeniable fact is that the jailbreak was a major security lapse. The reason doled out for this lax is the low priority given to security in this district prison which housed only the low-level Naxalite functionaries and was highly understaffed. Shockingly, only five out of the 16-strength staff were present. Recall, following the infamous Jehanabad jailbreak in 2005 in Bihar, senior and important Naxalite leaders facing trial, were shifted from small district-level prisons to Central jails.

Significantly, the jailbreak has exposed the State-Centre disconnect on the jail security issue vis-à-vis strategy and its implementation on the ground. More so as the Dantewada incident comes a day after the Special Task Force on Naxalism discussed measures to beef up security in Naxal-hit States in Bhubaneswar. For over two years the Home Ministry has been asking the States to beef up security and surveillance as also upgrade the jail housing. But to no avail. The States have limited the upgrade to central jails and the bigger state-level prison on the facetious plea of lack of funds. The Centre has again asked the States to pull up their bootstraps and hopes they will act this time. Better late than sorry.

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BJP Suffers Twin Blows In MP

The BJP’s ‘victory’ march in Gujarat has been dampened by the twin blows it has suffered in the by-polls in Madhya Pradesh. It has had to bite dust in the Sanwar Assembly segment and the Khargaon Parliamentary constituency. In both the saffron bastions, the Congress wrested the seats from the BJP with massive margins. Interestingly, both parties viewed these by-polls as an acid test and had put their best foot forward. Buoyed by the results, the Congress has demanded the resignation of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on the ground that the polls have exposed the peoples’ loss of confidence in the State Administration. Significantly, the BJP has lost five out of the ten by-elections held in the State in the past two years. Clearly, this holds out ominous portends for the BJP, which needs to get its act together prior to the Assembly elections ten months away.

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Sheila Completes Nine Years

Sheila Dikshit, Delhi’s popular Chief Minister, has much to rejoice. Setting a record, she has not only completed nine “extremely exciting” years as the CM, but also put her many political rivals on the back-foot. Her USP? Converting every challenge into an opportunity and meeting the same with truthfulness and veracity, as she puts it. Standing testimony to this is the fact that her duly acclaimed Bhagidari scheme has truly empowered the people. Moreover, her Government has been in the forefront of bringing the eco-friendly CNG, Metro and low-floor buses to its people. Besides, the construction of 28 flyovers has not only changed the city’s skyline but also the transport scenario. Not willing to rest her past laurels, Sheila has set the agenda for her ‘10^th and most challenging’ year --- demolitions, sealings, Blueline buses and population pressure. And is rearing to go.

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Ending Corruption Khanduri-Style

The Uttarakhand Chief Minister, BC Khanduri, seems to have achieved an impossible feat. He has reportedly succeeded in ridding the State of corruption in Government jobs. His formula? Banning all interviews in recruitment for Government posts. Only those who score above the cut-off mark in the objective questions exam would be selected.  So far, about 6,000 people have been recruited this way. Asserts Khanduri proudly: “Even my sifarish can't get anybody a job in the State now." Khanduri has also threatened to cancel the appointments of teachers and doctors who do not report for duty. Moreover, the CM has withdrawn 250 cars with beacon lights and 350 policemen from VIP duty. Khanduri has cut his own entourage of cars from 8 to 3. All officers now travel to Delhi from Dehra Dun by train. True, all this may be a small consolation in his nine-month-long fight against bureaucratic corruption and lethargy in the hill State. But well begun is half done!

Karunanidhi Anoints Successor

The DMK supremo Karunanidhi has virtually anointed his Crown Prince. After his daughter Kanimozhi’s rise to a Rajya Sabha MP, it is now the turn of son, Stalin, to take a bow. At a massive first-ever gathering of his Party’s youth wing on Sunday last, Karunanidhi took the first step towards the continuation of his own dynasty when he described his two sons, Stalin and Azhagiri as “two hands of a clock”. Asserting that Stalin, who is presently the Local Administration Minister had done him proud, Karunanidhi recited a couplet which inferred that Stalin would succeed him as DMK’s Chief and possibly the next Chief Minister. Even as other speakers hailed the junior Karunanidhi as Ilaya (young) Kalaignar, the elder Karunanidhi nodded his approval. Stalin on his part described the rally as a turning point in the DMK’s history --- and, indeed, that of the DMK’s first family! ---- INFA

(Copyright India News & Feature Alliance)

Round The States

New Delhi, 6 November 2007

Chinese Claims On Arunachal

NEW DELHI NEEDS TO ACT FAST

By Insaf

Sadly, India’s sensitive and strategic North-East is still not receiving due attention of the Central Government.  More so, against the backdrop of China’s repeated incursions and loud declarations that Arunachal Pradesh is its territory. Bringing things to such a pass that the people of this vital frontier region are worried over New Delhi’s poor response. In fact, Arunachal’s Chief Minister, Dorjee Khandu has now publicly demanded that the Government of India should firmly make it clear to Beijing that Arunachal Pradesh is an integral part of India and that it should stop making territorial claims on it. This, he added, was necessary “to dispel all doubts and apprehensions in the minds of the Arunachalis.” Recall, only last week, the Congress MP from the State, Nabam Rebia, created a stir in the Rajya Sabha when he disclosed that the Chinese army had demolished last month a Buddha statue in the picturesque Tawang district, bordering China’s Tibet region. Notwithstanding, New Delhi’s denial.

Clearly, New Delhi can no longer wish the Arunachal problem away. Specially, as the Chinese have entrenched themselves firmly across the Sino-Indian border by building a vast network of roads, townships and various facilities. Making the Union Defence Minister A.K. Antony, on a visit to Sikkim, Nathula Pass and the Sino-Indian border to openly confess that all-round development in the region by Beijing was an “eye opener”. Needless to say, India would have to work doubly hard to dramatically improve its road network in the border areas if it has to keep pace with its neighbour’s “superior” infrastructure. However, it is to Antony’s credit that he is the first Defence Minister to visit the Line of Actual Control (LAC) since trade through the Nathu La Pass resumed in July last year, after 44 years. There is no gainsaying that New Delhi has to get its act together --- and fast if it is to keep enjoying the confidence of the Arunachalis, who generally speak Hindi and feel one with the rest of India.  

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Nandigram: People Still Scared

Fear continues to stalk Nandigram. The deep scars left by the barbaric police firing on March 14 last and all the mayhem that followed will take a long time to heal. This was the sum and substance of the impression gathered by the West Bengal Governor, Gopal Krishna Gandhi, from his welcome visit to the strife-torn district since a modicum of peace has been restored there. It is now for the local administration to erase the scare among the people and ensure a fearless environment. Importantly, the Governor did not spare the Left cadres and told them candidly that “fear has no colour…but it is harmful”. He wants those responsible for the violence to be shown the door. The Governor’s visit was all the more significant against the backdrop of his severe indictment of the State’s CPM Government’s “recapture” of Nandigram as “unlawful and unacceptable”. Happily, he visited both sides of the divide. This has helped to put at rest earlier talk of a rift between him and the Left Government.

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Bhajan Lal Floats New Party

Old Congress warhorse and former Haryana Chief Minister Bhajan Lal has parted ways with the Congress to form his own party, Haryana Janhit Congress. The split, however, was no surprise. The Haryana strongman has been hurting for over three years for having been denied Chief Ministership of the State following the Congress victory in the Assembly polls. Moreover, his younger son Kuldeep, an MP from the family stronghold of Bhiwani, was suspended from the Congress by its High Command a few months ago for raising the ante against Chief Minister Bhupinder Hooda. No matter, that Bhajan Lal’s elder son Chander Mohan remains firmly ensconced as Deputy Chief Minister. However, Hooda is not unduly perturbed. In a chat with Insaf, he asserted that the rally was around only 70,000  strong and not in lakhs, as claimed. It comprised mainly of Bhajan Lal’s Bishnoi community, brought across from neighbouring Rajasthan.

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Karunakaran-Son Split In Kerala

Down South, in Kerala too another former old Congress warhorse K Karunakaran fell out with his son Muraleedharan last week. The raison de atre? The father’s plans to return to the Congress after having formed his own regional Party, DIC (K) three years ago. Calling it an “act of betrayal,” a livid Muraleedharan lambasted Karunakaran publicly for “ditching” his “supporters in the mid-sea”. Thus, signaling a parting of ways. Recall, the veteran Congressman had floated his regional outfit after cutting the umblical cord with the Congress. Only to merge his Party with Sharad Pawar’s National Congress Party (NCP) recently. Karunakaran’s reaction is still awaited to Muraleedharan’s assertion that he would not be a part of his father’s “political games” and would remain firmly with the NCP.” Interestingly, Muraleedharan confirmed that Karunakaran had not been invited by anyone to join the Congress, adding: “I have no faith in the central leadership of the Congress, that ditched those who stood loyally by it.”

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Gujarat Campaign Gets Bitter

Poll campaigning in Gujarat is getting vitiated by the day with both the Congress and the BJP indulging in a vicious no-holds-barred slanging match against each other. The ball was set rolling by Congress President Sonia Gandhi at her huge public rally of tribals at Jasdan, Rajkot wherein she denounced the BJP Chief Minister Narender Modi as a maut ke saudagar and promised to "throw the cheats and liars out of Gujarat." Only to earn bitter expletives from Modi, who retaliated sharply, asserting: “Italian mud will not stick on me. It is they who are hand in glove' with maut ke saudagar and the terrorists. Why is the Congress Government trying to save Afzal Guru, who masterminded the attack on Parliament in 2001”. But there is no answer. Only deafening silence. Nevertheless, the Congress seems to have improved its prospects in the past week and more. Even senior BJP MPs are now putting the odds at fifty-fifty!

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Empty Coffers & Promises

Prakash Singh Badal’s Government in Punjab has run into a major insurmountable hurdle. It came to power on a slew of populist promises. But its grandiose plans have been hit hard by the “near-empty coffers” inherited by the Shiromani Akali Dal-BJP Government. It bemoans that it does not have enough funds to even pay salaries, let alone  carry out much-needed development work. (The Government owes over Rs.2,700 crores to the Punjab Electricity Board alone). Expectedly, the Congress leadership has denied the charge. Former Chief Minister Amarinder Singh asserts that while he had inherited empty coffers he had ensured that his successor does not face the same problem. No one yet knows the truth about the rival claims. One thing alone is clear. The aam aadmi will not get all the exciting goodies he was solemnly promised!

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Gogoi Bashes Budha

Assam and its Chief Minister, Tarun Gogoi, have every reason to be livid with West Bengal and its Chief Minister, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee --- and even to go for him. The reason? Buddhadeb’s tongue-in-check statement last week that “he would not allow an Assam-like situation to prevail in West Bengal.’ Appropriately, Gogoi called a Press conference and justifiably asserted that there was no comparison at all between what happened at Nandigram for months together and the incident last week at Dispur in Guwahati (involving the adivasis) that was brought under control within a few hours.” The CPI(M’s) conduct in Nandigram, he added, was in utter disregard of democracy and all it stood for. Even the media was barred from entering Nandigram. In sharp contrast, Assam did not hide anything about the incident. In fact, it is eager to get at the whole truth through a CBI probe. ---INFA

 (Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)

Round The States

New Delhi, 28 November 2007

Mounting Islamic Terrorism

STATES ASKED TO STEP UP VIGIL

By Insaf

All the States have been alerted to step up vigil following the serial bomb blasts in Varanasi, Faizabad and Gorakhpur. The Union Home Minister, Shivraj Patil, told Insaf that a nation-wide alert had been sounded to apprehend the culprits. Refusing to apportion blame on the State Government, Patil said that the Centre would extend all help to the UP Administration in tracking down the culprits. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, too, will confer with all the Chief Ministers before long. Causing concern is the new breed of Islamic terrorism that has reared its deadly head in the last few months. In fact, UP seems to have become a fertile ‘bombing’ ground for the terrorists. Clearly, the terrorists have misused the Centre’s policy of doling out largesse to the Muslims. Instead, of using it to educate and uplift the minority community, it is being used to largely encourage Muslim fundamentalism.

Meanwhile, two terrorist organizations, 'Indian Mujahideen' and the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen have claimed responsibility for the UP blasts which left 13 dead. What has added a frightening dimension is the fact that this new breed of Islamic terrorists is tech-savvy. The threat of the impending disaster was sent via an e-mail to a private TV channel just a few minutes before the blasts occured. It claimed that "'Islamic raids" would be conducted against lawyers, who had thrashed terrorists and refused to take up their cases. More. The intelligence agencies have unearthed a Jaish-e-Mohammad plot to kidnap Rahul Gandhi and get dreaded terrorists, including Mohammad Afzal convicted in the attack on Parliament, released in exchange. Clearly, the call of a new jihad should make the Centre take a fresh hard look at its “appeasement” policy --- as also on the need for a stringent POTA-type law to deal with the threat.

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Hundred New Faces In Gujarat Poll

Gujarat’s Chief Minister, Modi is leaving no stone unturned to return to power the third time around.  The “messiah of Hindutva” has got a push-up with the former BJP maverick leader and ex-Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister, Uma Bharati throwing her weight behind her erstwhile colleague. For the sake of Hindutva, Bharti has directed Bharatiya Janshakti candidates to withdraw and extend support to the BJP in the Assembly elections. However, she is still non-committal about her return to the parent party. The BJP is going all out to win through “carpet bombing” of the State, with 80 leaders simultaneously addressing rallies all over. Significantly, Modi, has calculatedly chosen to field 100 new faces in the poll. More than 50 sitting MLAs, including Ministers, have been dropped to overcome the anti-incumbency factor. It remains to be seen whether the Hindutva promise of Ram and Roti and a hark back to Godhra will emerge victorious. Notwithstanding, the satta bazaar surprisingly showing Modi slipping from being the top favourite.

Nitish Completes Two Years

Bihar’s Chief Minister, Nitish Kumar, has much to pat himself for on the completion of two years in office. His tenure so far has given much-needed impetus to development and to delivering speedy justice. Leading to a marked improvement in the overall environment of the State. Not only has the crime graph gone down but, more importantly, communal harmony has been maintained. The State is in the throes of construction activity with new roads being built and battered ones repaired. The power situation too has improved substantially. Interestingly, the CM has announced a slew of incentives for the girl child as a reward for the peoples’ support. Ranging from a payment of Rs 2,000/- for a girl born in a BPL family to Rs.5,000/- for the marriage of a girl in a family earning less than Rs.60,000 per annum. Expectedly Rabri Devi has denounced Nitish’s “tall claims” as an eye wash. But few take her seriously. Even veteran Congressmen are discreetly applauding Nitish!

Mayawati’s Impressive Maharashtra Debut

UP’s Chief Minister, Mayawati, is fast earning the title of an “unstoppable whirlwind” now that she is beginning to spread her wings to the other States. The Dalit icon is all set to try and repeat her social engineering of Brahmin-Dalit module in the forthcoming Assembly polls in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh. After wooing voters in Gujarat and addressing large meetings in Ludhiana and Jammu, the BSP supremo held an impressive rally of some two lakh people in Mumbai last week, taking her opponents, the ruling Congress-NCP and the BJP greatly by surprise. In Himachal, she has placed a helicopter and huge sums of money at the disposal of her party’s state unit which is contesting all the 80 Assembly seats. Mayawati is determinedly using the ensuing State polls as a testing ground for her ultimate bid for India’s Prime Ministerial crown in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls. She is confident of bagging at least 60 seats out of a total of 80 in UP. This, she believes, would give her a head start over her rivals.

Adivasi Violence Rocks Assam

If ULFA and various militant outfits spelt bad news for volatile Assam, a new Adivasi brew is turning out to be almost as deadly. A new outfit, the All Adivasi Students Association of Assam (AASAA) held Guwahati to ransom by organizing a 36-hour Assam bandh from Monday in protest against last week’s unprecedented violent attack on Adivasi protestors by the locals, which left one dead and about 240 injured. Demanding their right to be given scheduled tribe status, they accused the State Government for the violence. Meanwhile, the State Government has termed the stripping of an Adivasi woman as an “isolated incident committed by some miscreants.” At pains to dispel misgivings among the tribals, Dispur has tossed the complicated ST status issue in a State brimming with tribals in the Centre’s court. New Delhi alone is empowered under the Constitution to decide in such matters.

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Jamir’s Miraculous Escape

God’s grace and Mrs. Jamir’s prayers to the Almighty miraculously saved S.C. Jamir, Goa’s Governor, from a fourth attempt on his life since 1993. On his way to Dimapur from his village in Mokokchung, the former Nagaland Chief Minister’s 20 vehicle convoy was attacked with automatic weapons and mortars. Recall, the NSCN-IM in September last had declared Jamir “anti-people and anti-national” and even issued a fatwa barring him from returning to Nagaland. But Jamir and his spouse, both true Nagas, refused to be cowed down. “God was great”, as he put it. “Three of the four bombs planted among the road failed to explode and so also two mortars fired at our car.”  Clearly, the militants have not only violated the ceasefire in the State, as agreed to between the Centre and the NSCN-IM, but continue to do so with impunity.  Time for New Delhi to take serious note, what with the Assembly poll due in February.

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Sanskrit Compulsory In Madhya Pradesh

The BJP Government in Madhya Pradesh is going all out to popularize Sanskrit, ‘the mother of all languages’. From the next academic year, the State Government plans to make Sanskrit compulsory for tiny tots seeking admission to Class I in the schools. The premise? Teaching Sanskrit would enable the State to revive Indian culture which, it believes, is getting corrupted due to English and the Western culture. Moreover, if English could be made compulsory in a non-English speaking state, there was no reason why Sanskrit should be discriminated against. Interestingly, there are 769 Sanskrit schools and colleges in the state in which as many as 25,000 uttar madhyamik (equivalent to higher secondary) students pass out every year. That is not all. The state administration is also set to create history by establishing a Sanskrit University in Ujjain.---INFA

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)

Round The States

New Delhi, 22 November 2007

West Bengal In Flames

CENTRE AWAITS CPM GREEN SIGNAL

By Insaf

West Bengal is in flames over the festering Nandigram issue. The violence spread to the State capital Kolkata on Wednesday last, leading to six army columns staging a flag march. A night-to-dawn curfew was imposed in the plush Muslim-dominated areas of Central Kolkata district including posh Park Street and Ripon Street. Trouble started when activists of the All India Minority Forum clashed with the police, pelted stones and set buses aflame. Unfortunately, the situation went out of hand when the Rapid Action Force was unable to control the violent mob. The AIMF also resorted to road blocks in Howrah, North 24 Parganas and South 24 Parganas. Worse, train services too were affected. The issue also exploded in both Houses of Parliament wherein L.K. Advani demanded that the Centre issue directions to the State Government under Article 355 of the Constitution and Home Minister Shivraj Patil disclosed that this had already been done.

A circumspect Congress, dependent as it is on the Left support, made sure it played safe.  Member after member merely termed the Nandigram turmoil as a national tragedy and asked the Centre and West Bengal to work together to provide compensation to victims. Meanwhile, 15 days after violence-rocked Nandigram, the supporters of the Bhumi Ucched Pratirodh Committee are preparing to pay back with renewed force. Their confidence stems from two factors: One, neither the Central Reserve Police Force nor the CPM cadres will stay there for ever. “Who will then protect the people who have made us suffer? We will pay them back in their own coin three times over," stated the BUPC Treasurer, S K Asrafultulla. Two, the people are already organising themselves for another mass movement against the State Government, for trying to uproot the people in the name of industrialisation.

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Karnataka Betrayed Twice Over

Karnataka today resembles the theatre of absurd. Call it a comedy of errors or a farce, but the BJP’s first Southern Chief Minister B.S. Yedyurappa’s tryst with power ended before it actually began. He was forced to resign in less than seven days, that too just minutes before the motion of confidence was put to vote in the Assembly. Thanks to the betrayal, the second time over, in less than a month, by the JD (S) father-son Gowda duo. Worse, if the second honeymoon between Yedyurappa and Kumaraswamy was not bad enough the JD(S) supremo, wily Deve Gowda, tried to play smarter by half. He rushed to New Delhi in the hope of convincing the Congress to ally with him and anoint his favourite son, Revanna, as the Chief Minister. Only to earn a sharp rebuff and suffer the ignominy of being called the “most unethical politician”. Needless to say, the Gowdas' bit off a lot more than they can chew!

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Keen Contest In Gujarat Polls

Gujarat is set to witness a keen contest in next month’s State Assembly polls. Both the principal parties, the BJP and Congress are busy poaching each other’s disgruntled MLAs. The Congress has nominated six BJP rebels among the candidates for the first phase of the Assembly polls on December 11. Not only that. The Party has entered a seat-sharing arrangement with the NCP and CPM by giving them four and one seat respectively, adding to Modi’s discomfiture. However, a confidant Arun Jaitley, BJP in-charge of Gujarat is upbeat about Narendra Modi’s victory the third time over. He told Insaf in a chat that even as the media went looking for anti-Modi stories, the people of Gujarat, specially the women, were busy hooting for Modi as “the only incorruptible, tall mard leader the State had produced in the last 25 to 30 years”. No matter that Partymen who failed to get tickets are putting impediments in the way of their respective parties.

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BJP Dilemma In MP

The ruling Saffron Sangh is in deep trouble in Madhya Pradesh. The BJP is on the horns of a dilemma whether to retain or sack its Chief Minister Shivraj Chouhan. The demand for the CM’s resignation is fast reaching a crescendo in the wake of an FIR being filed against him and his wife for alleged corruption by the Special Police Establishment of the Lokayukta under the Prevention of Corruption Act. The BJP can ill-afford to change the CM a fourth time (after Uma Bharti and Babulal Gaur) in the last leg of the Assembly election race. But at the same time it cannot have a stigmatised Chief Minister. Notwithstanding, Chounan’s charge that the FIR has little basis in fact and has been maneuvered by the erstwhile Congress CM. Digvijay Singh to embarrass the party. It remains to be seen who will have the last laugh: the Lokayukta or Chouhan?

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Chinese Intrusion In Arunachal

All is not well in the border States of Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim. A Congress MP, Nabam Rebia, created a stir in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday last by asserting that both the border States were victims of Chinese incursions. Worse, the Chinese army had demolished a Buddha statue in the Tawang district last month. Not only that. The Chinese disinclination to recognize the Mcmohan Line as the international border had led to a sense of insecurity among the Arunachali people. The matter has since been referred to the Defence Ministry which has been directed to ensure clear demarcation of the Line of Actual Control and tighten its vigil on the border. Resulting in Defence Minister Antony clarifying that the mechanism to address these intrusions were well-established and that he hoped at arriving at a common perception of the LAC so that peace and tranquility would be maintained on the border.

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Hurriyat Leader’s New Demands

The travails of Kashmir continue. Yet another spanner has been added to the long list of spanners on the road to peace. Leader of a breakaway faction of the Hurriyat Conference, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq has added a new dimension to finding a solution to the Kashmir problem. First, he has grandiosely mooted the proposal for a complete devolution of powers by the Centre to the State Government and that appointment of an independent President and Prime Minister as until 1953. However, Farooq did a somersault within 24 hours when accused of a ‘sell out’ to India and following in the footsteps of Sheikh Abdullah. He then asserted that there could be “no solution within the framework of the Indian Constitution is acceptable.” Shockingly, he then went on to eulogize Gen. Musharraf’s formula providing for demilitarization, open borders, joint management and self-governance “as the best possible solution for the Kashmir issue”. It remains to be seen whether his jarring notes match the emerging new peace realities on the ground.

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The BJP has outdone the Election Commission by coming out with a long list of do’s and don’ts for aspirants for the Assembly poll in Himachal Pradesh. The candidates will have to submit a detailed bio-data on their qualifications, experience, vision, and even specify whether they face any legal case. Not only that. The Saffron Brigade, hoping to wrest power from the Congress, has come out with a four-page nomination form for hopefuls. Talking to Insaf, the BJP General Secretary in-charge of the State, Satpal Jain, asserted: “This will show whether a candidate has the vision and concept." On its part, the ruling Congress too is confidant of winning a comfortable margin. Notwithstanding the deluge of ticket seekers who are making life hell for PCC Chief Vipala Sharma and General Secretary in-charge RK Dhawan. In a first of sorts, veteran State leader and Minister Satpal Mahajan has declined to contest. He told Insaf: “It is time for young leaders to carry the baton forward”.---INFA

 (Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)