Round The States

New Delhi, 12 November 2015

Fallout Of Bihar

BENGAL PREENS, GUJARAT FROWNS

By Insaf

A major fallout of the loss of face in Bihar has led to the BJP to moo holy cow! It has taken off the cow from its menu of demanding a ban on slaughter of cows in West Bengal. In fact, last week a Sangh offshoot, the BJP Cow Development Cell had announced a gau mata utsav with much fanfare. After biting dust, not only the venue was changed but explicit instructions given to ensure that the function should be “low key.” Predictably, the event was a damp squib with only a handful of activists offering cow milk to people in Central Kolkata. Underscoring the party’s intention of desisting from raising the crescendo on cow slaughter and demanding a ban on beef in the State notwithstanding a significant 27 per cent Muslim population. Clearly, its plans to polarise the Hindu community in its favour has been put in cold storage for the present. Indeed, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee can breathe easy and continue to rule the roost. The Bihar verdict has given her extra ammunition. 

On the other hand, her counterpart in Gujarat, Anandiben Patel is very worried. There has been a double whammy. Her plans of postponing the 300 local bodies’ elections were shot down by an adamant High Court nullifying the BJP government’s ordinance. The Patidar community is up in arms and wants to do a Bihar in the forthcoming polls in six municipal corporations, 31 district Panchayats 230 Taluka Pachayats and 55 municipalities, crucial to endorse her leadership post Modi’s shift to New Delhi. With her plans running into a fire wall with the powerful Patel lobby under Hardik’s leadership demanding reservation for the community or doing away with affirmative action has resulted in a quagmire, given that the RSS too wants a debate on the issue. It remains to be seen whether Gujarat would herald the beginning of unravelling the BJP’s 15-year rule in the State.

Kerala FM Resigns

The year-old controversy over ban on sale of liquor in bars has come to bite the UDF government led by Congress’ Chief Minister Oommen Chandy in Kerala. His Finance Minister K M Mani has had to finally put in his papers for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs one crore from the State’s Bar Owners Association to ensure that 418 bars closed by the Government as part of its prohibition drive were reopened. At one end, the Government has lost an important MLA in the State’s political scenario as Mani has been a member of the Assembly since 1965. On the other, it might lead to the Government being on tenterhooks given its wafer-thin majority of just four MLAs in the 40-member House. Mani who heads the third largest party in the UDF, Kerala Congress (M), with 8 MLAs could be a thorn in Chandy’s flesh as the Chief Minister has refused to so far buckle under his demands, including making Mani’s son, a Lok Sabha member. While Chandy claims that Mani resigned on his own ‘to uphold values’ he has cherished, there may be more than meets the eye.

Arunachal Cong Troubles

It’s no longer hunky dory for Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Nabam Tuki. For the past two months, he has been facing rebellion from his own Congress legislators. Some 21-odd of the 46 party MLAs in a House of 60 members are in revolt and want a change in the leadership. The ‘rebels’ insist they are against Tuki, for his “undemocratic and autocratic way of functioning’ but are no less loyal to the Congress. While many may construe their statement as falling in line with 10 Janpath, which is in praise of Tuki and is keeping a close watch on the developments, some others feel that the BJP, which has 11 members in the House, is trying to destabilise the government and in touch with some key rebels. Notwithstanding, New Delhi claiming that the government is “100 per cent stable”, there are undercurrents and the question doing the rounds is whether Tuki will be able to complete his second consecutive term?

UP ‘Road’ To Polls

The Uttar Pradesh government has put itself into the first gear of electioneering already. With an eye on the 2017 Assembly polls, Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav has decided to hound the Centre for funds. With election issues normally veering round sadak, pani and bijli (road, water and electricity), Lucknow has been writing to Prime Minister Modi for additional funds under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY), for building rural roads. Many rural roads, says the SP government have been rendered “unusable, while others are in desperate need of repairs and maintenance.” And thus, the fund allocation must be revised to Rs 2,600 crore, demands Akhilesh. This comes close on the heels of another demand seeking a “relook” at the Centre’s changed fund-sharing formula for development and social sector schemes, wherein these have taken a beating. The statistics for roads are already in place. The State is yet to receive Rs 1134.54 crore under PMGSY-2 earmarked for 2013-14. Worse, the Centre has only released part of the Rs 1500 crore due under PMGSY-1, despite utilisation certificates being given. Clearly, the Chief Minister is making a case against the Modi government to be taken to his people. More is bound to follow.

Rajasthan Mining Idea

The Rajasthan government is in ‘transparency mode’, after Chief Minister Vasundhra Raje’s reputation took a severe beating in the Lalit Modi scandal. Additionally, it wants to add a feather in its cap and become the first State in the country to conduct e-auction of major minerals. According to its plans, the auction will be over in 45-60 days from the day bidding starts. Recall, that recently the Government cancelled allotment of mines after irregularities were found in the auctioning process under former Principal Secretary. The IAS office was arrested by the State’s Anti Corruption Bureau in an alleged case of graft involving Rs 2.55 crore, taken from a Chittorgarh-based mines owner for allowing him to restart operations in his mines, which were closed by the mines department. With e-auctioning, it hopes to set the system right and plans to invite even the media during the auctioning. With the guidelines from the Centre on e-auctioning in place and all necessary approvals taken from the Ministry, the process should get rolling soon, with 10-11 mines to be auctioned in the first phase. However, a lot will depend on how the bidders are educated on the e-auctioning process. And that files don’t get corrupted!  ---INFA

(Copyright, India News & Feature Alliance)