|
Round The States
New Delhi, 8 February 2007
Maharashtra Civic Poll
OUTCOME UPSETS
CONGRESS HOPES
By Insaf
The outcome of civic polls in Maharashtra last week has cast
a shadow over the Congress Party’s
prospects in the forthcoming Assembly
elections in Punjab, Uttarakhand and Manipur later
this month and in U.P. in April-May. The party was hoping to romp home easily
in the Bombay Municipal Corporation (BMC) poll and regain control over the
country’s richest local body after a lapse of ten years. But this did not happen, despite the
anti-incumbency wave against the Shiv Sena-BJP combine and the decision of the
Sena’s senior leaders, Raj Thackarey and Narayan Rane to part company. The
saffron combine has won 111 of the 226 seats in the BMC. In fact, In Mumbai, the Sena has a strong
base among the Marathi-speaking people, the core being the migrant community
from the Konkan region.
However, it has not been hunky dory for the Shiv Sena-BJP
combine elsewhere in the State. Its overall performance in the ten Municipal
Corporations for which the elections were held is disappointing. It has also lost a large number of seats it
won in the last election in 2002. In eight of the ten Corporations, its tally
is significantly lower----declining from 133 to 111 seats in Mumbai, from 63 to
53 in Thane, 53 to 45 in Pune, 60 to 40 in Nashik, 25 to13 in Pimpri-Chinchwad,
32 to 18 in Akola, 40 to 24 in Sholapur and from 37 to 27 in Amaravati. In
fact, the poor performance of both the saffron parties and the Congress in Maharashtra
has turned out to be a gain for the ruling Samajwadi Party in U.P.. There is
evidently a massive shift of the
Muslims and Dalits from the Congress
as reflected in the performance of the SP and BSP candidates in all the ten
Corporation polls.
* * * *
Development Main
Plank In Punjab
Economic development and pro-people governance planks have
held the spotlight during the on-going hectic campaigning for the Punjab Assembly poll on February 13. While the main contestant for power, the
Shiromani Akali Dal-Badal (SAD) has promised in its manifesto to concentrate on
issues like arrest of price spiral,
self- sufficiency in power, employment generation, farmers’ welfare etc, the
Congress leaders, including Sonia
Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, have claimed considerable progress on these developmental issues
during the last five years of the party’s Government, led by Amarinder Singh.
The AICC member and former Union Minister Mohsina Kidwai praised the Amarinder
governance and even assured her
rally at Nabha that the present incumbent would continue as the Chief Minister,
if the Congress won a majority once
more.
* * * *
Rebel Problem In
Uttarakhand
Rebel candidates for the Assembly
poll in Uttarakhand on February 21 are causing concern to both the ruling
Congress and the BJP. In nearly a
dozen of the total 70 constituencies, the official candidates may get affected
by the rebels who have decided to contest as Independents or are being fielded
by other smaller parties. Senior Central leaders of both parties are now busy
persuading the rebels not to take on the official candidates. The Congress is also faced with two other problems: intense
group rivalry and the leadership’s failure to arrive at an electoral alliance
with Sharad Pawar’s NCP. This may harm the party in at least a dozen
seats. The BJP too is facing a challenge
from Uma Bharti’s Bhartiya Janshakti Party, which is fielding 46 candidates, 41
of whom were earlier with the BJP.
* * * *
Karnataka For
Cauvery Review
More than a century old Cauvery water dispute among the four
southern States of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala and Pondicherry (mainly the first two) does not
seem to be over yet, despite the Tribunal’s final award last week. The legal
and political fight, which began in 1986 and led to the constitution by the
Union Government of a Tribunal at the stance of the TN Government in 1990, has
seen several violent agitations for the last 17 years, over the distribution of
the Cauvery water. The final order of the three-member Tribunal, headed by
Justice N.P. Singh, has hiked Tamil Nadu’s share from 205 tmc ft (thousand
million cubic feet) in its 1991 interim order to 419 tm cft, leaving 270 tm cft
to Karnataka, 30 tmc ft to Kerala and 7 tmc ft to Pondicherry. This means that
Karnataka, from where the Cauvery originates would be required to release 192
tmc ft annually. While TN is upbeat with the award, Karnataka is upset and
tense.
Karnataka’s Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy has discussed the award at an all-party meeting which has
unanimously decided to ask the Tribunal for a review of the award, failing
which the matter will be taken to the Supreme Court. The States have three
months to appeal against the decision to the Tribunal and, according to the
Union Minister for Water Resources Saifuddin Soz, the matter cannot be referred
to the Apex Court.
The whole trouble is that Cauvery, known as “Dakshin Ganga” is a water deficit
river, while both Karnataka and Tamil Nadu have expanded their cultivable areas
since 1974. The latter needs water in June for its short-term Kuruvai crop but
Karnataka has repeatedly refused to oblige, citing poor storage on its side.
Thus the long political battle between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu continues.
* * * *
Tribal Welfare Plan
In M.P.
The Tribals in Madhya Pradesh have reason to rejoice. They are
to get settlement rights on forest land, thanks to an initiative by Chief
Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan. The formalities to legalise possession
of land in forest areas would be completed soon after the Scheduled Tribes and
Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition Of Forest Rights) Bill is passed. The CM disclosed this at a recent “Adivasi
Panchayat” organized by the State Government. Besides the move for granting
settlement rights, the State Government would also complete its task of
converting all the forest villages in the State into revenue villages on
priority basis. The Adivasi Panchayat, where the CM made these announcements was
attended by elected representatives, MLAs, MPs and State Ministers. It was
called to invite suggestions from the people at the grassroots
to frame policies and programmes for the welfare of the Scheduled Tribes.
* * * *
Singur’s Troubles
Continue
Singur’s troubles and the problems of the controversial
Tatas car project in West Bengal are far from
over. After the Tatas conducted the Bhoomipujan
at Singur last week to start construction work on schedule, the Trinamool
Congress activists have attempted to
set on fire several posts demarcating the land acquired by the State Government
for the small car project. There have been several scuffles between the police
and the villagers, led by the Trinamool cadres, when the cops tried to prevent
them from setting the posts on fire.
Meanwhile, Trinamool suspremo Mamata Banerjee has warned the Government
“not to play with fire”. She has stated:
“I have requested both the Centre and the State Government not to acquire
multi-crop land and even residential plots…. The Government will have to face
the consequences for this.”
* * * *
Delhi Escapes Serial Blasts
The Union Capital Delhi narrowly escaped another set of deadly
serial blasts on Monday last, thanks to the strong police vigil. Four
Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists, three Kashmiris and a Pakistani national were
nabbed by the cops. They disclosed on interrogation that they were in the
capital to carry out multiple explosions in crowded market places before escaping
to Kolkata, possibly en route to Bangladesh.
According to the police, the strikes were planned at three market places with
the help of 3 kg of RDX, timer device and other ammunition recovered from them.
The Jehadis have been remanded to ten days of police custody. The interrogations
have so far brought out terror links in Kolkata, where the Kashmiri militants
were required to pass on some US
dollars to a contact, whose name is yet to be disclosed. ---INFA
(Copyright,
India News and Feature Alliance)
|
Archives 
