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.
* * * *
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.
* * * *
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.
* * * *
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.
* * * *
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.
* * * *
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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