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Round
The States
New
Delhi, 1 January 2016
Poll Alliance 2016
TN, BENGAL LEFT WOO CONG?
By Insaf
The New Year should usher in great
surprises. The canvas would be political alliances for ensuing State elections.
For starters, signs of the first steps being contemplated are coming from West Bengal and Tamil Nadu. Murmurs of the CPM
considering a tie-up with the Congress were heard in the Left party’s plenum
being held in Kolkata. This may also have something to do with the State
Pradesh Congress chief writing to the High Command seeking ‘seat adjustment’
with the Left Front, which along with a declared common minimum programme could
dethrone the Trinamool Congress. However, TMC supremo has rubbished this
alliance saying it is not the character of the CPM to observe “jotdharma” (rule of alliance), as
sometimes it lends support and then withdraws it! ‘Look, who is talking’, could
be a prompt reply. With the parties wanting to keep the BJP out, some unholy
alliances are bound to come up.
Likewise, the Congress appears to be
a favourite in Tamil Nadu, with Opposition DMK. Having said it would opt for an
alliance rather than going alone, the DMK is seeking to mend bridges with the
Congress. After inviting the MDMK chief Vijayakanth for an alliance,
Karunanidhi sent feelers to its erstwhile partner in the UPA era. He wants
power and for the Congress it would be target BJP. Recall, the decade-old
alliance was broken by the DMK citing the Lankan Tamils’ issue, when it was
actually seeking to distance itself from scam-tainted UPA. The Congress would
be willing as going alone in the Lok Sabha polls was a disaster. After the success of the ‘Mahagatbandhan’ in Bihar,
a mini alliance would indeed to be enticing. Much would, however, depend on
whether the Congress can have its finger in many pies?
* * * * *
Karnataka
Bats For Cong
In the meantime, Karnataka’s ruling
Congress is upbeat. The year ended well for Chief Minister Siddaramaiah,
despite simmering in the party. In the recent legislative council polls, the
Congress won 13 of the 25 seats, just two short of a majority in the Upper
House. Reports suggest it wouldn’t be difficult for the party to rely on
Independents and JD(S) support to push through legislation in the 75-member Vidhan
Parishad. For the BJP, however, it is bad news as it barely managed to win six
seats, while the JD(S) won four and Independents two seats. The results are a
dampner for the saffron party as prior to these polls it controlled the
legislative council with 30 members while the Congress had 28 and the JD(S) 11.
Worse, the BJP was neither able to encash on the rebellion in the Congress camp
following ticket distribution for these polls and nor able to win Shivamogga,
represented by former Chief Minister Yeddyurappa. It would need to rethink its
strategy as its Congress-mukt Bharat seems too distant a dream.
* * * * *
Haryana
Fake Pensions
Haryana would set alarm bells ring
in other States too. A whopping 1.75 lakh “fake” pensions under the social
security pension scheme have come to light, amounting to a whopping Rs 288
crore going into phoney accounts annually. The racket was detected after the
pension beneficiaries were asked to submit their copies of bank pass book and
other documents for the Direct Bank Transfer. Of the 23.26 lakh beneficiaries
on the books, which involved an outlay of Rs 3,400 crore per annum, only 21.50
lakh complied. Who were the missing lot? Fake pensioners, is an immediate
guess. Besides, some beneficiaries were taking double pension from EPFO and the
State government, village and city, in both Haryana and Punjab.
Not wanting to be taken for another ride, the Khattar government has decided
that from 1 January all beneficiaries will get the pension transferred directly
into bank accounts and all 6756 villages will be covered under DBT.
Arrangements with banks, post offices, common services centres etc are being
put in place. Will other States pay heed?
* * * * *
Kerala
Gets SC Thumbs Up
Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy
must be heady. His surprise decision ordering closing down of all bars except
those in five star hotels has been upheld by the Supreme Court. The new liquor
policy announced in August 2014, had got entangled in controversy with bar
owners association knocking on the court’s door and accusing finance minister
of taking a bribe and not delivering. However, that is now passé. The big
question is will the policy curb the social evil? While time will tell, the
apex court had a list of dos for the Government: there is an urgent need to
curtail heavy consumption of liquor among youth in Kerala as the State with
100% literacy accounted for “14% of the total consumption of alcohol in the
country!” Also, being informed that the Government had not utilised the 5% cess
on liquor sale to rehabilitate those rendered jobless, the court asked the
aggrieved to approach the High Court. Recall that thousands of workers had lost
jobs due to closure of bars and pubs and some had even committed suicide. Besides,
the State should check the malpractice of 5-star hotels opening their premises
for consumption of liquor at lower rates. Will the administration deliver and ensure its
policy is not just cosmetic?
* * * * *
Bihar’s
Jungle Raj?
Is ‘jungle raj’ back in Bihar? Well, that’s a question doing the rounds in the Mahagatbandhan-ruled State
and Delhi,
after two engineers of a private road construction company were gunned down in Darbhanga
district and another’s throat slit in Vaishali district. There has been a
rippling effect suggest reports: road construction work appears to have come to
a halt; 300-odd workers and senior staff have refused to go on work; workers of
the construction company in Darbhanga are said to have fled the site, et al.
And of course, the Opposition has ammunition. It could well tell the people ‘We
told you so.’ The victory of the Grand Alliance has “boosted the morale of the
criminals’ allege the BJP and LJP. In Delhi, the
Ministry of Road Transport and Highways is claiming that engineers are seeking
transfers out of Bihar. Meanwhile, the police
suspect the killings related to ‘ransoms’ not being paid and has set up a SIT
to crack the cases. Surely, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar needs to do more. His
recent order on banning the use of hooters in VIP vehicles smacks of shifting
the focus from the deteriorating law and order situation. The murmur of an
unruly Bihar of ransoms and kidnappings
shouldn’t turn into a shrill.
* * * * *
Family
Tussle In UP?
Uttar Pradesh may not need an
Opposition after all to overthrow the Samajwadi government? The rumblings
within the ruling party seem to suggest so. A sulking Akhilesh has given both
the BJP and the BSP reason to believe that all is not well within the Yadav
family. The young Chief Minister skipped the opening of the ‘Sefai Mahotsav’, a yearly grand
festival in father and party chief Mulayam Singh’s native village in Etawah.
His staying put in Lucknow
raised many an eyebrow, with few takers for the explanation that he was busy in
official engagements. Akhilesh is said to be peeved over two of his close aides
(in students’ wing) being sacked by his uncle and Cabinet Minister Shivpal
Yadav for alleged anti-Party activities during the ongoing panchayat polls.
Worse, uncle was made in charge of all party matters relating to these elections,
sidelining Akhilesh, who was directly supervising poll strategy and candidate
selection as party State chief. Is Shivpal consolidating his position to become
the heir apparent? Signs of his holding ‘durbars’ among the party rank and file
while Akhilesh is busy running the Government are slowly emerging. The Chief
Minister will have to do more than just sulk to ensure there is no coup within
before the 2017 elections. –INFA
(Copyright,
India News & Feature Alliance)
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