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People’s Verdict: WILL BJP SMILE, CONG SULK?, By Insaf, 5 Dec, 2013 Print E-mail

Round The States

New Delhi, 5 December 2013

People’s Verdict

WILL BJP SMILE, CONG SULK?

By Insaf

 

Come Sunday and four States may give reason to the BJP to say hurrah. That is of course if the exit polls predictions come true. So far, all the polls have predicted that the BJP is going to retain its two States, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh and shall wrest power from the Congress in Delhi and Rajasthan, with the curtains coming down on the Assembly elections. The fifth State, Mizoram, is a grey area and the Congress’ only hope, that too maybe. Other than the BJP, the Aam Admi Party which has made its political debut in Delhi too may end up with a smile, with most exit polls giving it a better standing than the Congress. However, there is a lingering fear that in the national capital, that though the BJP may come out as the single largest party, it may not be able to form the Government. A hung Assembly or President’s rule may just play spoilsport for the saffron brigade. However, if the exit polls are on the dot, then Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi could be the biggest gainer. His detractors would have been put to shame and he could enjoy having the last laugh. As for the Congress, it will need to so some hard thinking, for these elections are being seen as a semi-final to General Elections 2014. It will need to pull up its socks. Last but not the least the voters too are edgy, for they came out in record numbers in every State for a change in governance. The inked fingers are being kept crossed.

 

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J&K’s Unsavoury Debate

Jammu & Kashmir’s ruling National Conference is in a belligerent mood.  The father-son duo of Chief Minister Omar and Union Minister For New and Renewable Energy Farooq Abdullah is all set for the big fight, if pushed to the wall by BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi. A recent statement of Modi in Jammu suggesting a debate whether Article 370, which guarantees special status to the State, has helped the State or not is turning ugly. The Abdullah’s are up in arms with Senior warning that: “Nobody, whether Modi or anybody else, can revoke the Article…it is there and will remain forever.” Younger Abdullah has gone a step further and threatened the issue “will reopen the issue of the State’s accession to India!” The Article he said has acted as a “bridge” between the State and the rest of the country and “attempts to weaken it would only weaken this relationship.” The message is obviously not only to Modi, but to the Centre. The latter cannot remain a mute spectator and should step in to stop this unwanted debate. It’s not between individuals or parties but could have larger repercussions across the border. Hope better sense prevails.

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Andhra Siege?

Should Andhra Pradesh gear up for a siege? With the Cabinet clearing the creation of Telangana State, with 10 districts instead of 12 (Rayala-Telangana) as was proposed by the Group of Ministers, all eyes are on the key players-- Telangana Rashtriya Samiti,  YSR Congress, the TDP and the Congress—of the means they adopt to oppose or support the Bill, the Andhra Pradesh and Telanagana Reorganisation Bill. With the Bill being seen as a ‘political conspiracy’ by the anti-Telangana parties, the Centre would need to tread carefully, insofar as law and order is concerned. It saw the first signs of agitation with rumours of Rayala-Telangana going viral. With the TRS calling for a bandh on Thursday last in the region, which saw shops and offices shutting down and bus services badly hit. New Delhi got cold feet and dropped the proposal. Will TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao keep the pressure to see his dream come true? At the same time, YSR Congress Jaganmohan Reddy may need to rethink strategy as the dye has already been cast. He had been going around getting support for a United Andhra from Chief Ministers of West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Odisha other than political party leaders. Will getting on the streets, his next call? And, what will Congress Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy do, put in his papers, as threatened? The coming weeks will provide some answers hopefully.

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Bihar Political Hiccups

The merry-go-round of Bihar politics appears to have got stuck, even before completing the first round. Rumour has it that the much-hyped bonhomie between the Rashtriya Janata Dal and Lok Janshakti Party is heading for a collapse. The RJD, which is bracing with its chief Lalu Prasad Yadav in jail, appears to be flexing its muscles and sending signals of a change in mind for a poll alliance. Its leaders recently, out-of-the-blues charged LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan with not seeing beyond his son Chirag, termed the party as ‘treacherous’ and claimed that the party could well contest all 40 Lok Sabha seats on its own. The outburst apparently seems to have got triggered by the buzz of Paswan exploring options of clinching a tie-up with the JD(U)-Congress alliance, as some party leaders prefer. However, the LJP chief is unruffled and is learnt to be keeping his options open. He insists the alliance for 2014 is intact. Interestingly, both the JD(U) and the Congress have chosen to keep away from this fracas. Wonder who will have the last laugh.  

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Haryana Model Hailed 

A scheme in Haryana has caught the fancy of the Supreme Court. While setting a fresh deadline for all States and UTs to put in place rules to regulate the sale of acid, the court made a note of the Haryana Child and Women Welfare Department’s decision to foot the entire bill for treatment, including “corrective plastic surgery and psychiatric counselling”, of acid attack survivors. Further, it asked the States whether they would consider emulating the scheme. However, the court regretted that none of the States had acted upon its earlier directions to notify the rules to regulate acid sale on the model prepared by the Centre. Other than banning the sale of acid to minors and enhancing the compensation from Rs 50,000 to Rs 3 lakhs for the victims, the court has now set a deadline of March 31, 2014 for States to notify the rules. It has also asked all Chief Secretaries to give their opinion on the Haryana model—of bearing 100 per cent of medical treatment. It goes without saying that the Hooda government has got a fillip and shall eagerly await the final outcome.

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Karnataka Goes Innovative

Karnataka Government is indeed going innovative. It has recently announced the creation of Rs 20-crore Fund to promote “Innovative ideas”. Accordingly, it will happily disburse grants of $30,000 (Rs 18 lakh) each to innovative ideas. The Siddaramiah government is reported to have tied up with “three universities in California and TiE (The Indus Entrepreneurs) Silicon Valley chapter, and is part of the San Francisco-Bangalore Sister City Initiative.” They will vet the ideas and make their recommendations to the Government to go-ahead. Happily, the fund has already got takers. A first grant has been made to a biotech researcher and entrepreneur whose start up String is to make plastics biodegradable. He would need to use the funds “to validate the idea and come up with a business plan, which is scalable, sustainable and must seek to solve real-life problems,” as per the concept of the fund. Additionally, TiE SV has also set up a $20 million venture fund ‘LaunchPad’, wherein those who get Government grant can later apply to it. Will it – ideas --be raining in Karnataka? 

—INFA

 

(Copyright, India News and Feature  Alliance)

 

 

 

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