Round The States
New Delhi 16 March 2012
Budget Blues
BENGAL DERAILING CENTRE?
By Insaf
West Bengal has unfairly sent New Delhi into a spin. It’s Chief Minister
Mamata Banerjee has shrewdly passed her sense of insecurity on to the Centre.
The timing couldn’t be worse for partner Congress. Less than hours after the
Railway Budget, two days before the Union budget and a week-and-a-half after it
got a drubbing in three of the five State Assembly polls. To top it all the
Trinamool supremo on Wednesday last humiliated her colleague and Union Railway
Minister Dinesh Trivedi for showing the courage of ‘giving the country (rail
budget) what it needs.’ The TMC demanded a roll back in railway fares and that
Prime Minister replace Trivedi with her first choice of Mukul Roy. The
justification: the party “has never put burden on the poor." Theatrics of
the absurd is how Insaf sees it. It
learns that Mamata is jittery and is slowly losing her popularity, at least in
the capital, Kolkata, and would prefer to go to the hustings earlier than in
2014. Perhaps the Left would be better after a comeback. Mamata’s track record
so far is not helping and they are losing patience. Is Bengal
the only State which has poor? And what actually is her governance mantra:
claim to be the messiah of the poor but do precious little to rid them of their
misery. In fact, Trivedi, like others in Government, is learnt to have had
enough of her insults and shall have no regret of being shown the door. The big
question is how long will it take the Congress to say enough is enough?
* * * *
Uttarakhand Fiasco
Kissa kursi ka (clamour for the chair) in
Uttarakhand and Manipur has marred whatever little jubilation there was in
Congress quarters. In both States, the swearing-in ceremonies of the Chief
Ministers were neither smooth nor fully accomplished, causing major
embarrassment to the grand old party. No sooner had 10 Janpath announced
loyalist Vijay Bahuguna (son of former CM H N Bahuguna and brother of UPPCC
chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi) as its CM after three hectic days of deliberations,
strong contender Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Harish Rawat went
into a sulk mode. On Tuesday last, only 11 of the 32 Congress MLAs were present
at the swearing-in in Dehradun. Rawat and his team of 17 MLAs chose to stay
away raising a ‘banner of revolt’. The fight apparently has taken caste
overtones--Brahmins (Bahuguna) vs Rajputs (Rawat). While Rawat had put in his
papers, he may be consoled with a Cabinet berth and his man be made Deputy CM. However,
doubts over a stable government shall bound to nag the Congress, which sadly
believes in thrusting leaders from Delhi.
* * * *
Manipur Glitches
Likewise in Manipur, when 63-year-old Okram Ibobi Singh took
his third consecutive oath as Manipur’s 23rd CM in Imphal on Wednesday last, no
other Congress leaders could be sworn in. The party was unable to finalise the
names. Not only are there too many takers for the 11 ministerial berths, but
the party is unable to zero in on the Deputy CM. While State party president G
Gaikhangam is the front-runner, outgoing Forest Minister Th Debendra and
Irrigation Minister Phungzathang claim to be equally strong contenders. The
tug-of-war forced Ibobi to leave Raj Bhavan soon after the ceremony in the hope
that the Ministry “would be formed by March 19th.” Ibobi is
confident of overcoming the glitches and is expected to have the last word. For
none in the State can deny him the credit of making history in the region. With
Chief Ministers unable to complete even their first term, Ibobi has a
hat-trick.
* * * *
UP’s 1st
Hiccup
Winds of change may not necessarily blow in Uttar Pradesh,
despite the younger generation of Samajwadi Party taking over the reins of
government. On Thursday last, the politically crucial State got its 33rd
and youngest-ever Chief Minister, 38-year old Akhilesh Yadav. However, the
architect of SP’s victory on day one has disappointed many hopefuls. Expected
to rid his party of the “goonda raj’ (rule of goons) tag, Junior Yadav has
inducted Kunwar Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiya in his 19-member
Cabinet along with 28 Ministers of State. Worse, Akhilesh defended his choice:
cases against Bhaiya “were politically motivated”, check the dates and you will
know who was behind these! But does that change the fact that the fifth term
MLA has at least eight criminal cases, including murder, attempt to murder,
dacoity, abduction, corruption, against him. And the fact Bhaiya was a Minister
for Food and Civil Supplies and accorded Z-category security status during papa
Mulayam Singh’s tenure of 2003-07 absolve him of the charges. Unfortunately,
with this one single act, Akhilesh has put a big question mark over what he’s
promised: better atmosphere for investment and improved law and order.
Fulfilling of promise of giving lap tops to students is not going to help him
or the State exchequer.
* * * *
TN Pressure on
Centre
Tamil Nadu politics can blur perceptions of rivalry. The
warring ruling AIADMK and opposition DMK can turn friends and together put the
heat on the Centre without raising any eyebrows on one issue for sure – the
welfare of Tamils in Sri
Lanka. On Wednesday last, the two showed the
camaraderie in both Houses of Parliament and demanded that the UPA support the US-sponsored resolution at the UN Human Rights
Council in Geneva
for alleged human
rights violations against the Tamils. Foreign Minister S M Krishna’s
explanation that New Delhi
has a long tradition of not voting on any
country-specific resolution and that the Government would need to weigh whether
its action can assist the reconciliation process in Lanka did not cut any ice
with them. The Tamil leaders were joined by the Left parties in asserting that
nothing short of it was acceptable. The Centre does need to tread carefully as
its ally the DMK threatens an already beleaguered UPA that it may quit over the
issue. However, the Centre has a breather, the resolution is a good 10 days
away, enough time to appease the parties.
* * * *
(166)
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MP Mining Scandal
Madhya Pradesh government has finally relented. After
stubbornly claiming that both the Opposition and media were blowing the murder
of IPS officer Narendra Kumar Singh allegedly by the mining mafia out of
proportion, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has recommended a CBI inquiry.
However, he chose to give himself a face saver. On Tuesday last, he insisted
that it was as per “the wishes of the family … His (Narendra’s) wife and IPS
officer Madhurani Teotia wanted a CBI probe…” While he may consider so, the
fact is that the wide protest against the killing of Kumar last week in Morena
district was causing a major embarrassment to the BJP Government. This apart,
the Opposition Congress members on Tuesday last ensured the House proceedings.
However, while the State Government will be writing to New Delhi to handover the probe into to the
CBI, the latter will do well if it also takes a look at the implementation of
the provisions of its Mining Bill by the States. Only then can there be any
success in nailing the mining mafia, be it in Madhya Pradesh or elsewhere.
---INFA
(Copyright,
India News & Feature Alliance)
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