Round The States

New Delhi, 22 January 2009

Gearing Up For General Poll

UP TAKES LEAD IN NEW ALLIANCES

By Insaf

In the run-up to the next Lok Sabha election, various political parties have started exploring the possibility of new political combinations and simultaneously poaching candidates of rival formations. Uttar Pradesh appears to leading all others among the States. The reason is obvious: It holds the key to power at the Centre with 80 seats. With caste a major factor in the State’s politics, the Samajwadi Party has engineered its first break. It has succeeded in weaning away the BJP’s former Chief Minister and Vice-President Kalyan Singh in a bid to secure the support of the backward castes, specially of the Lodh community. Singh resigned (second time) from the party on Wednesday last on the grounds of having been “humiliated” and announced his decision to campaign for the SP. His son, Rajveer Singh has been inducted into the party as General Secretary. With this move, Mulayam Singh hopes to gain about 20 seats in UP, which have 50,000 to 1.5 lakh Lodh votes. The SP has also scored by wooing Sanjay Dutt to the party, much to the dismay of his sister and Congress MP Priya Dutt. Sanjay will contest from Lucknow, a seat held by Vajpayee.       

Meanwhile, in down south Andhra Pradesh, the Left, which has aligned with Chandrababu Naidu’s Telugu Desam Party, is all set to embrace the Telengana Rashtriya Samiti (TRS) indirectly. While the CPM is strongly opposed to the formation of a separate Telengana state, the CPI is not averse to its ally the TDP joining hands with the TRS. The TDP-TRS talks are said to be in the final stage and are expected to be clinched before long. The three combined have over 45 per cent votes in the State, which is likely to add to the woes of the ruling Congress. Not only is the Y S Rajasekhara’s government plagued by the anti-incumbency factor, it has a tough call to delink itself from the Satyam fraud. Worse, Chiranjeevi’s new party, Praja Rajyam is expected to inflict a big blow to the Congress vote bank in the coastal districts, an area where the party had done well in the last election.  The film star has already made known that his party will have no truck with the BJP. The Congress thus is left to go it alone.  

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Belgaum Border Row Resurfaces

The ugly face of the border dispute over Belgaum between Karnataka and Maharashtra has surfaced again. Last week the winter session of Karnataka Assembly began in Belgaum amidst protests from the Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti (MES). An uneasy calm is presently prevailing in Gulbarga, Bidar, Bijapur and Belgaum districts, bordering Maharashtra. Bus operations between the two States have come to a halt following violence and incidents of buses being set ablaze. The Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurrapa met the Prime Minister on Monday last and asserted that his State would not part with “even an inch of land” to Maharashtra, which is staking claim on Belgaum and adjoining villages dominated by Marathi-speaking people. The BJP Chief Minister is firm that the “Mahajan Commission report is final; on issues of land, water and language we are all together and one.” This, however, has upset its ally, the Shiv Sena, which is now threatening to snap ties with the BJP, in Maharashtra.        

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Jharkhand Under President Rule

Jharkhand has been placed under the President’s rule following the UPA’s inability to agree on Shibu Soren’s successor. Though the two-week long drama has ended, a fresh one appears to be in the offing. Governor Sibte Razi has not dissolved the State Assembly, due to end its term in March next year, but chosen to keep it under suspended animation. The move is being viewed by the opposition BJP as the Congress Party’s bid to keep its option open for forming the Government with the help of the JMM, the RJD and Independents. The BJP, for its part, is now demanding State elections alongwith the ensuing Lok Sabha poll. But the Congress has shot down the suggestion by claiming that most MLAs are opposed to it. Its partner, the RJD, is however, more forthright and says if any party has adequate numbers a Government can still be formed. The question is how? Shibu Soren, still wants his nominee Champai Soren as the new Chief Minister. But with the UPA not yielding, Madhu Koda, who led the UPA Government for 23 months, is keeping his fingers crossed.  

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Punjab Makes History

Punjab has perhaps scored a first in State governance and in the process made history. It has become the first State in free India to be administered by the father-son duo. The President of the Shiromani Akali Dal, Sukhbir Singh Badal, and son of Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal, was sworn-in as Deputy CM on Wednesday last. Sukhbir, who is US-educated, and is known for his warm friendliness and humility, will now sit in an office next to his father’s and will look after Home, NRI affairs and Information among other portfolios. The senior Badal’s unprecedented move to give the deputy’s post to his son did ruffle some feathers in the State unit of its ruling partner, the BJP. However, SAD claimed that the Chief Minister had gone ahead following a go-ahead from the party’s national leadership. All in all, the BJP had little choice in the matter since the Lok Sabha elections are barely a few months ahead. It can ill-afford to lose powerful poll partners!

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Bird Flu Now Afflicts Sikkim

Sikkim is now the latest State in the North-East to be afflicted by the bird flu. Both Assam and West Bengal continue to reel under it. Initially the State government has planned to start culling 1,50,000 chickens and ducks. The outbreak in the Hospital Road locality of Ravangla municipality in south Sikkim looks to be a case of lateral infection. The new infection site is very close to Siliguri, which has already witnessed an outbreak. Till now 36 birds have died in Ravangla area and it is feared that the H5N1 virus may mutate and spark a pandemic.. The worst ever outbreak of aviation flu was in Bengal in January last where four million birds were culled. It is feared that the virus might have got embedded in Bengal. The Union Health Ministry is keeping a close tab on the situation and is keen to know whether the virus has got entrenched in India or is being spread by migratory birds?

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Kerala To Plant 1 Crore Saplings 

Tree is now widely acknowledged as the answer to global warming. This is what Kerala believes and is getting geared to take the slogan forward. It is preparing to launch a campaign involving all citizens to plane one crore tree saplings all over the State this year and nurture them into shade trees. The campaign to be called “Haritha Keralam” will be launched on World Environment Day, this June. Seeing globally and acting locally had been the philosophy of the State, according to the State Forest Minister Benoy Viswom. In the past year and a half the State has implemented three programmes and planted over 50 lakh saplings involving the student and fisherman community.  Kerala is the most literate State in the country and with the new tree campaign may well add another feather to its cap! ---INFA

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)