Round The States

New Delhi, 4 February 2017

Voters’ Day

PUNJAB, GOA GET ROLLING

By Insaf

Punjab and Goa have set the electoral ball rolling today. With the high pitched campaign coming to an end on Thursday last, it is now the turn of the voter to make his final choice. The ruling parties have to face the challenge of anti-incumbency factor, even as opinion polls predict surprises and upsets. For Punjab’s 117 seats, this time round it’s a three-cornered contest while some forecast the ‘outsider’ AAP emerging victorious. Others give the baton to the grand old party, the Congress making a comeback. The ruling combine of SAD-BJP has been relegated to the third position with drug menace, corruption and law and order haunting it. In the tiny State of Goa, with a 40-member Assembly the fight is being seen between the ruling BJP and Congress. The former, however, faces trouble from rebel RSS leader Subash Velingkar and his Goa Surakhsha Manch. Here pollsters don’t give AAP a chance, at best a seat or two for its ‘honest’ IAS (retd) Elvis Gomes. Some opinion polls even predict a hung Assembly. It goes without saying the stakes are high for all the contenders, but the verdict is particularly crucial for the BJP as these elections are billed to be a major test of Modi’s popularity post-demonetisation. So is the case for Congress’ Vice President and heir apparent Rahul Gandhi, under whom the party saw a washout in the Lok Sabha polls. And for Arvind Kejriwal it is a big gamble as he yearns to make AAP a contender not just in Delhi but national politics. The fate of the three big contenders will be sealed this first phase of polling. Time has started ticking.   

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TN Mixed Fortune

There is good and bad news for Tamil Nadu’s main political parties. In the AIADMK’s camp there is bound to be despair and in DMK’s jubilation. The cause is two court verdicts. On Thursday last, the Madras High Court set aside AIADMK General Secretary V K Sasikalaa’s discharge in a 20-year-old money laundering case being investigated by the Enforcement Directorate. This could very well jeopardise her political ambitions and make her face trial. On the other hand, DMK had great luck. A Delhi special court dropped all charges against its leader and former Telecom Minister Dayanidhi Maran, his brother and others in the Aircel-Maxis deal cases lodged by CBI and the ED. Recall, the investigating agencies had accused Maran as Minister in UPA-I Government of helping Malaysian group Maxis to acquire Aircel in exchange for a huge kickback of nearly 700 crores. A relieved Maran had this to say: “When I resigned, I vowed I will prove my innocence. It was a politically motivated case with absolutely no base.” What about Sasikalaa? Will she appeal in the Supreme Court is the big question.

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Nagaland Unrest

New Delhi has had to come to the rescue of Nagaland. With violence escalating in this North-Eastern State over 33 per cent reservation for women in urban local bodies’ elections, the Home Ministry has had to rush Central Forces to restore law and order. On Thursday last, mobs are reported to have vandalised the State Election Commission and DC’s office and set ablaze the Kohima Municipal Council building, Regional Transport Office and Excise Department. Their anger is targeted at Chief Minister TR Zeliang and his Cabinet for trying to go ahead with the polls despite opposition from dominant tribal groups for the past one month. While Zeliang did finally heed and deferred the polls, the tribal groups are belligerent. They have refused to bury the bodies of two persons killed in Tuesday’s violence till the CM and his team of ministers resign. Will the curfew imposed in Kohima and Dimapur districts, shutting down of mobile internet services and presence of Army douse the fire burning  Nagaland, and how soon is the big question?  

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J&K Disgrace

Jammu & Kashmir Legislative Assembly & Council have been put to shame. A free-for-all was witnessed on Wednesday last with Opposition MLAs flinging question papers, banging on the table, throwing chairs in the air and ground, and there were even fisticuffs between a Minister and NC members! The anger was over Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti calling all those who sought abrogation of Article 370 as “anti-national”—an oblique reference to BJP ally. However, the Speaker & Chairman refused to relent to the demand that Mufti be asked to explain her position. Instead, they adjourned the session sine die, a week in advance. The Speaker justified his action saying the Opposition had ‘run out of issues and didn’t want the House to run’. The latter countered saying adjourning sine die before scheduled time was unprecedented and the Government didn’t want to protect the State’s special. Sadly, in the tu-tu-mein-mein it is the democratic system which ends up taking a severe beating.

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Odisha Takes A Hit

Odisha’s success model of fighting the Maoists took a hit this week. At least seven police personnel were killed and five injured in a landmine blast triggered by suspected ultras in Koraput district on Wednesday last. The personnel were travelling in a van to Cuttack for training, when the IED exploded on National Highway 26, paralysing traffic connecting Andhra Pradesh to Odisha. The blast comes just two weeks before panchayat elections in the State, for which the Maoists had given a boycott call in ultra-affected districts. Recall that Odisha had set an example for other States by successfully controlling Maoist activities in the past three-four years. The recruitment of cadres suffered a huge setback following arrest, and surrender of several Maoists and combing operations helped rein them in. However, this major attack suggests that the ultras are active in the AP-Odisha borders and the two States would need to carry on their joint operations against the red rebels with greater vigour. There is no room for complacency.

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Cash & Liquor Flows

Voter wooing is in full swing. The Election Commission surveillance and expenditure monitoring teams are being kept on their toes. So far, over Rs 100 crore in cash, 17.06 lakh litres of liquor worth Rs 32.03 crore and over 4,800 kg narcotics worth Rs 21 crore has been seized, since the poll bugle was sounded in the five States. The biggest seizure was obviously from UP--Rs 90.98 crore cash, 9.67 lakh litres of liquor (worth Rs 24.89 cr) followed by Punjab (Rs 7.08 cr cash and 6.55 lakh litres of liquor worth Rs 5.06 cr)), Goa (Rs 1.27 cr cash & 72,000 litres of liquor worth Rs 85.14 lakh), Uttrakhand (Rs 1.23 cr cash & 5,000 litres of liquor worth Rs 1.31 cr) and Manipur (Rs 8.13 lakh cash and spirits worth Rs 19.07 lakh). Again, the largest haul of drugs—heroin, poppy husk, smack, ganja et al, seized was from Punjab--2,640 kg, then UP --2,103 kg, 6.85 kg in Manipur, Rs 34.22 lakh worth in Goa and Rs 29.85 lakh worth in Uttarakhand. To top it, even gold and silver worth Rs 49.22 cr was seized with over half of it from Punjab. Kudos to the EC, but for the voter it may be playing spoilsport.---INFA

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