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Round The States
New Delhi, 13 May 2011
People’s Verdict
LEFT & DMK RULE
ENDS
By Insaf
Stormy winds of change have lashed across West Bengal, Tamil
Nadu and Puducherry, bringing about political upheaval in the States and Union Territory
which went to the polls. More importantly, of the two fiery women, Trinamool
Congress Chief Mamata Banerjee and AIADMK supremo Jayalalitha who are set to
don the chief ministerial berth, the former has created history. Predictably,
Mamata has brought down the curtain on the 34-year uninterrupted rule of the CPM-led
Left Front in West Bengal, forcing Chief Minister
Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee to tender his resignation on Friday last. Writers
building will now get its first woman CM after 64 years of Independence. In fact, Didi’s 'Ma, Mati, Manush' mantra appears to have done wonders
putting the Trinamool in a comfortable position to form the ministry on its own,
with or without its ally the Congress. Will she show her partner its place?
In Tamil Nadu, Jayalalitha appears to have been aided
largely by Raja’s 2G spectrum scandal to make this unexpected “sweeping” come
back. Obviously corruption charges have taken a terrible toll on the DMK-Congress
alliance, with the people in the State voting the Karunanidhi government out.
Clearly, the verdict should make the Congress-led UPA Government at the Centre
sit up and put its act together. Interestingly, for Jayalalitha it’s been a
double victory. AIADMK ally, the All India NR Congress (splinter group of the
Congress) has emerged victorious in Puducherry ending 12 years of Congress
rule. The latter can, however, heave a sigh of relief thanks to its Chief
Minister Tarun Gogoi in Assam.
He has recorded victory for the third consecutive term and has been given the
due credit—of bringing insurgent groups to the negotiating table and hauling the
State back from the brink of bankruptcy. All in all, the results are a clear
pointer: the electorate wants leaders who can deliver or else they would be shown
the door. .
* * * *
UP’s High Political
Drama
High political drama never seizes in Uttar Pradesh. The
farmers’ agitation against land acquisition by the BSP Government has provided
the opposition Congress and the BJP to train their guns on Mayawati yet again. Taking
the lead was ‘yuvraj’ Congress
General Secretary Rahul Gandhi, who on Wednesday last sneaked into Bhata
Parsaul in Greater Noida and lent his support to the farmers. The parties have demanded
among others a judicial probe into the violence, in which a farmer and two
policemen were killed and “hundreds of villagers missing”; withdrawal of all
cases against villagers and acquisition of land only after due consent of the
farmers. In her typical style, Mayawati, has denied all charges, advised the yuvraj to stop this “political drama”
and instead take up the issue of land acquisition policy with the Centre. The
big question is at the end of this political tit-for tat will the farmers’ get
any respite?
* * * *
Clean Up Act In Punjab
The BJP is in an image make-over mode in Punjab.
With an eye on the Assembly elections due in eight months it has decided to
clean-up its act and take a “high moral” stand in the wake of allegations of
its ministers’ involvement in a bribery case. On Thursday last, five ministers
including number three in the Cabinet, Manoranjan Kalia, two Chief
Parliamentary Secretaries and Deputy Speaker put in their papers. The bribery
scandal hit the headlines after the CBI arrested Chief Parliamentary Secretary
Raj Khurana for reportedly demanding a bribe of Rs 1.5 crore for resolving a
complaint related to a land dispute. While its coalition partner the Shiromani
Akali Dal has welcomed the move as it sees no threat to its Government, all
eyes are on how ‘clean’ shall be the new faces.
* * * *
Madhya Pradesh’s
Gloom
Dark clouds hovered over Madhya Pradesh’s capital, Bhopal, last week. The
victims of the Union Carbide gas tragedy of 1984 came in for rude shock on
Wednesday last, wherein the Supreme Court dismissed the CBI’s curative petition
seeking harsher punishment for the Carbide officials instead of the two-year
jail term pronounced by the Bhopal CJM. Importantly, the apex court went a step
further and questioned the CBI’s real intention in appealing against its order
of 1996 after a gap of 14 years. It maintained that its then judgement,
describing the tragedy as an act of negligence rather than culpable homicide on
part of the carbide officials was correct. However, it advised the CBI that the
CJM’s decision “can certainly be corrected by the appellate/revisional court.” All
eyes are back on the CBI. How soon will it move the Sessions Court and help the
victims, who viewed Wednesday as “another black day”, get the requisite
respite?
* * * *
Kudos For Orissa
Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik now has ammunition to
silence his critics. His governance has been given a good chit by none other
than the Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia. While
releasing Rs 15,200 crore annual Plan for 2011-12 for the State, on Wednesday
last, Montek lauded the State Government for its achievements, including
poverty eradication and human development. Satisfaction was also expressed over
the strides taken in the social sectors such as education and health and
achieving a real average growth rate of 9.57 per cent during the first three
years of the 11th Plan. On his part, Patnaik revealed that removal
of disparities was one of the important development strategies adopted by his
government. Undoubtedly, a key to success for other States to use.
* * * *
Hope In Kashmir
Are winds of change blowing in Jammu & Kashmir? Perhaps,
as panchayat election results in Wusan village, just 20 km from Srinagar would suggest.
On Tuesday last, a Kashmiri Pandit, 59-year-old Aasha Jee, came out victorious
in the poll in a pre-dominantly Muslim village. Aasha, who is one among the
only four Pandit families living in the village, beat her rival Sarwa Begum by
11 votes. Over 2,000 sarpanchs and over 15,000 panchs were elected for 15,000
constituencies across the State in the polls held after a decade. According to
the villagers “it didn’t matter whether she was Muslim or not. She is a nice
person and so we chose her.” Hopefully her victory should send a clear message
to the Kashmiri Pandits, who had fled the State in the late 80s that its time
to return home. The Omar Abdullah Government needs to keep its fingers crossed.
---INFA
(Copyright,
India News and Feature Alliance)
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