Home arrow Archives arrow Round the States arrow Round The States-2016 arrow SP Bonhomie Shortlived: RLD-JD(U) JOIN FORCES IN UP By Insaf, 26 Nov, 2016
 
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SP Bonhomie Shortlived: RLD-JD(U) JOIN FORCES IN UP By Insaf, 26 Nov, 2016 Print E-mail

Round The States

New Delhi, 26 November 2016

SP Bonhomie Shortlived

RLD-JD(U) JOIN FORCES IN UP

By Insaf

 

The dust on the ongoing Samajwadi family soap opera seemed to have settled for the first time since the feud between Chacha-Bhatija Shivpal and Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav broke out two months ago on Tuesday on Monday when the duo shared a public platform for the IAF spell binding fighter jets landing on the Agra-Lucknow Expressway. That too in the presence of Parivar supremo Mulayam Singh along-with re-inducted General Secretary Ramgopal Yadav showcasing unity in poll-bound Ulta-Pulta Pradesh. It’s another matter that cousins Shivpal and Ramgopal avoided eye contact all through the function. But it seems this unity was just an eyewash as on Wednesday at a Party rally in Ghazipur, the bastion of Quami Ekta Chief criminal Mukhtar Ansari now languishing in jail the Chief Minister was absent. Instead, it saw the debut of Shivpal’s son Aditya. Recall, the genesis of the feud was the merger of the Quami Ekta with the Samajwadi, strongly opposed by Akhilesh.

 

Meanwhile, an unperturbed Mulayam has rejected talks of forming a Maha Gathbandhan for the forthcoming State polls notwithstanding the fissures in the parivar which has dented the party’s image, more so, after Party Chief Shivpal  Yadav intends giving tickets to Ansari and jailed Amarmani Tripathi’s progenies.  Indeed, BSP’s Mayawati is watching these developments closely specially in the backdrop of Ajit Singh’s RLD, Nitish’s Janta Dal (U) and BS-4 no option joining hands. The trio is also busy trying to rope in other local players against the BJP, SP and Mayawati’s BSP. Clearly, UP is all set to witness a Mahayudh.

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Lalu-Nitish Tension?

The demonetisation has resulted in frayed relations between the ruling JD(U)-RJD in Bihar. Pertinently, both Nitish and Lalu till yesterday were on the same page on every issue be it the liquor ban or the formation of an anti-BJP alliance at the Centre, today have divergent views resulting in tension. The bone of contention are visible vis-à-vis scrapping of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes and Lalu opposing the JD(U)-RLD alliance in UP alongwith projecting a Prime Ministerial face against Modi in the 2019 elections. While Nitish wants to showcase himself as a committed leader, Lalu is focusing on emerging as a strong muscular man who alone can take on the Prime Minister. The ties seem to have hit such a low that many of the duo’s well wishers have their fingers crossed that the alliance does not fall apart prior to the State Assembly elections. The Congress is watching these developments closely and holding its cards close to its chest.

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Migrants Workers Go Jobless

Prime Minister Modi’s surgical strike against corruption and demonetization has hit the migrant labourers hard and left them cashless. Over 15 lakh agriculture workers in Uttarakhand have returned home to UP and Bihar as work has come to a grinding halt. Earning Rs.9000 per month (Rs.300 per day) the daily wage labourers left home and hearth in search for better opportunities but thanks to demonitisation they are returning with empty pockets. Primarily because not only do they have no bank accounts or identity proofs but worse their employers do not have enough cash to pay their dues thereby making their future bleak. Nearer Capital Delhi, many daily wage earners either sit idle at Gurgaon’s Labour Chowk or have to reconcile to accepting old currency from contractors. To keep body and soul together not a few eat langer at gurudwaras and temples. As workers head back to their respective States, their plight underscores a classic case of moving from the frying pan into the fire!

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Nagas Turns Black Into White

In far away Nagaland, the National Socialist Council of Nagaland-IM insurgents too are busy in saving their old cash which runs into mind boggling crores. While the IM faction has begun depositing old currency which it had earned from contractors, Government officials and local businessmen in banks, the Myanmar-based NSCN-Khaplang is physically shipping its annual income of over Rs.100 crores to a welter of bank accounts held by businessmen and other proxies across the border. Recently, the CISF seized over Rs.3.5 crores cash from a Hisar person in Nagaland’s Dimapur district. Even as former Chief Minister son-in-law claimed that this was his agricultural income. Primarily, as tribes living in Nagaland, Manipur, Tripura, Mizoram and the Assam hills are exempt from paying tax on income earned, hence the large sums cannot be interpreted as black money. Consequently, insurgent outfits are using this tax loophole thereby adding to the Government’s woes. Scandalously, according to sources, the NSCN-IM made a budgetary projection of Rs 170 crores for the year 2016-17, notwithstanding the IB pegging the sum at nearly Rs.600 crores. So much for demonitisation in the North-East.

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Punjab’s ‘Towering’ Protest

Protesters in Punjab have hit upon a nouvelle way to get themselves heard – by climbing cellphone towers. This is a common sight in the poll-bound State Capital Chandigarh, Gurdaspur and Bhatinda areas where young men who have passed the Teachers Eligibility Test want the State Government to hire them as teachers. Over the last ten days not a few are staying, eating, sleeping and performing other bodily functions from hundred feet above. Till date the Badal Government seems to have turned a deaf ear leaving the youngsters with no recourse but to go on a hunger strike from their perch.  Taking a cue recently, the President of the State Nurses and Ancillary Staff Union had to be rescued from the Bhakhra Canal in Patiala as her pleas for regularization of jobs went unheard. Yet in poll season an unfazzled polity continues to dish out promises of jobs galore. ---INFA

 

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)

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