Round The States
New Delhi, 20 March 2008
Governor Goes Wrong
CONGRESS ROUTED IN MEGHALAYA
By Insaf
Congress supremo Sonia Gandhi and her party have egg on
their faces once again, thanks to the latest debacle in Meghalaya. They went
all out to grab the State Government by hook or by crook. But they fell flat on
their faces, notwithstanding the State Governor, S.S. Sidhu’s questionable
efforts to help install a Congress Government in the State. Theoretically, the
Governor was justified in inviting the leader of the single largest party to
form the Government in preference to the post-poll Meghalaya Progressive
Alliance. But he went wholly wrong in pragmatically refusing to recognize that
the ball game had changed once the MPA had paraded 31 MLAs before him. True,
the Supreme Court has ruled that majorities in the States have to be proved on
the floor of their respective Houses. But he had no business to ignore the
ground reality and not only invite the Congress to form a Government but
unconscionably give its leader as many as ten days to somehow muster a majority
The big question now is: will the MPA be able to give a
stable Government to Meghalaya under Donkupar Roy. The erstwhile Congress Chief
Minister, D D Lapang, does not think so and gives it no more than three months.
But he is counting without Purno Sangma and his vast experience both at the
Centre and in the State. Remember he was once the State’s CM and thereafter a
Union Minister and Lok Sabha Speaker. He can be relied upon to ensure both
stability and longevity for the MPA Ministry, based on a clear formula of power
sharing: the NCP and UDP, the main constituents of the MPA, have agreed to
share the post of the Chief Minister for two-and-a half years each. A power-sharing agreement is nothing new for
Meghalaya. Two Meghalaya stalwarts, BB Lyngdoh and Capt. Sangma successfully
shared the top post between 1979 and 1983. Significantly, Roy has asserted: “The formula may have
failed in UP. But it will not fail here. People from the hills honour their
commitments!”
* * * *
Joint Anti-Moist
Operation
Desperately-needed cooperation between the States of
Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra has yielded promising results in the
biggest security threat that India
faces, combatting the Naxals along the north-south corridor. Seventeen Maoists,
including seven women cadres, were killed in two separate encounters with the
police in Bijapur District in Chhattisgarh, close to the Andhra border on
Tuesday last. Most of those liquidated hailed from Andhra Pradesh. Some 700
police personnel from both of the States, including 250 to 350 Greyhound Commandos
from Andhra Pradesh, took part in the four-hour encounter with 80 to 90
Maoists. Another 1,000-strong team of Andhra, Maharashtra
and Chhattisgarh police successfully stormed and flushed out rebels from the
dense forest region of Abujhmart in Bastar, liberating the hilly region from
Maoist control after a long while.
Meanwhile, the Second Administrative Reforms Commission,
headed by Congress leader Veerappa Moily, has made some thought-provoking
recommendations about tackling Naxalism in its report on “Capacity Building for
Conflict Resolution” presented to the Prime Minister. The answer to Naxalism,
it asserts, lies in development, not in Salwa Judum, the people’s resistance
against Naxals in Chhattisgarh. It has advocated an judicious mix of
development initiatives, land reforms and well-planned counter-insurgency
operations in Naxal-infected areas like Chhattisgarh. Significantly, this is
the first time that a Government body at the Centre has expressed reservations
about the people’s resistance movement, which won praise even from the Prime
Minister some time back. Local resistance groups called Salwa Judum were
started initially in two tribal development blocks in Bastar. These now extend
to eleven blocks in Chhattisgarh.
* * * *
Karnataka Poll In May?
Even as Congress President Sonia Gandhi has handpicked SM
Krishna, till last week the Governor of Maharashtra, to head its PCC in Karnataka
and galvanise the party for the ensuing Assembly polls, the Election Commission
is yet to make up its mind whether it can do so by May-end. This uncertainty
follows apprehension of the Congress and other parties that if the revision of
rolls is hurried through in re-drawn constituencies by invoking Rule 24 of the
Registration of Electoral Rules, 1960 (special provision for preparation of
rolls on re-delimitation of constituencies) there is a possibility of bringing
out a defective roll which will not be conducive for free and fair elections.
However, legal experts are unanimous that the EC has a constitutional
obligation to conduct the polls in Karnataka before the expiry of President’s
rule i.e on May 28.
Elections, they say, cannot be deferred merely on grounds of
possible defects in electoral rolls and add that there is no basis for the
parties’ apprehension as revision of rolls is an ongoing exercise. The
Commission has already set into motion the poll machinery and delimitation of
Assembly constituencies in all districts is expected to be completed around
March 20. And revised rolls will be published thereafter. Of interest in this
context is an interesting instance dug up by the experts wherein elections were
held in Assam
as per the 1979 electoral rolls before the expiry of President’s rule even
though revision of rolls could not be completed. The Election Commission was
then clear on one basic point: holding elections was of paramount importance
and Constitutional obligation. No questions were then asked nor a controversy
raised. Times have surely changed.
* * * *
Trifurcation of
UP?
With Uttar Pradesh Chief
Minister Mayawati jumping on to the bandwagon for smaller States, the Centre finds
itself increasingly pushed towards accepting the proposal for a second States
Reorganisation Commission. This happened on Monday last when Mayawati took on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
on his suggestion that the Centre could consider formation of smaller States if
the State governments sent in their proposals. She pointed out that she had
already sent in writing to the Centre on the need for trifurcation of UP into three States of “Purvanchal, Western UP and
Bundelkhand” in the interest of speedy development of the region. Consequently,
the ball was now in the Centre’s court. However, Chief Minister Mayawati went
wrong on one basic point. It is not enough for the State Government to convey
the demand in writing to the Centre. The demand has first to be made by the State
Assembly in a resolution, as happened in the case of Uttranchal or Uttarakhand.
So the ball is still in Mayawati’s court. Much in regard to the future will
depend upon her ability to carry her arch rival, Mulayam Singh Yadav, with her.
He is totally opposed to any further division of UP. He sees in the move “a
conspiracy to undermine the political importance of the biggest State of the
country.”
* * * *
Loan Waiver “An
Illusion”
More and more States are now embroiled in the controversy
over the UPA Government’s grand pre-poll loan waiver for the farmers. Former
chief ministers of a number of States questioned the sincerity of the UPA
government to the farmers at a rally in Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh, on Sunday last
and rubbished the loan waiver as an “illusion”. Samajwadi President and former
UP chief minister Mulayam Singh argued that if the Centre was serious about resolving
the farmers’ problems it should “formulate a national water policy and
implement the Swaminathan report.” The report wants the farmers to be paid 50
per cent over and above the production cost. Former Andhra Chief Minister and
TDP leader Chandrababu Naidu said the “Congress never cared for the farmers, it
always favoured the industrialist.” The former chief Minister of Haryana Om
Prakash Chautala wanted the cap of two hectares of land to be removed for the
purpose of waiver. With General Elections due next year, if not earlier, loan
waiver for the farmers is clearly under the scanner.
* * * *
Goa’s Damage Control
Thanks to a nationwide outcry against the horrendous murder
of British teenager Scarlett Keeling and the Centre’s intervention at the Prime
Minister’s level, the Goa Government has launched a much-needed damage-control
exercise. A midnight curfew has been imposed on all bars and beach shacks,
together with a crackdown on drug peddlers. Over 40 people were arrested in an
overnight raid on Sunday. Additional teams of officers have been posted along
its popular beaches. Anyone loitering after beach shacks have been closed will
be questioned and even searched. At least 126 foreign nationals have “died” in Goa of whom 40 were British. The State’s Chief Minister
has assured the Prime Minister that the State is still “the safest
destination”. IGP Krishan Kumar has promised “ruthless” action to clean up the
holiday hotspot. But will they be able to revive the State’s good name pitted
as they are against powerful drug cartels and other mafia. Scarlett’s mother,
Fiona, still thinks the real issue is “corruption in the police.” ---INFA
(Copyright,
India News and Feature Alliance)
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