Round The States

New Delhi, 15 February 2007

Punjab Assembly Poll

CLOSE RACE BETWEEN MAIN RIVALS

By Insaf

A record voter turn-out of 72 per cent for the Punjab Assembly poll on Tuesday, despite rain and chilly weather, leads to two predictions: a decisive popular verdict or a nail-biting finish between the ruling Congress and the Opposition Akali Dal (Badal)-BJP combine.  The true picture will be clear only on February 27, the counting day. Various exit polls differ in their projections at the end of the day of largely peaceful polling. One assessment favours the Congress, which could win 53 to 63 seats in the 117-member Assembly against the Akali Dal’s 47 to 53 seats. Two other exit polls give the Akali-BJP combine a decisive lead. These have, however, estimated the Independents and others winning upto ten seats. The close predictions have prompted the main two contestants to claim victory with their spin doctors coming out with various theories and possibilities.

Whatever the outcome, much of the  credit for a peaceful and largely free and fair polling at the end of an hectic campaigning goes to the Election Commission which took tough measures to implement the model code of conduct from the start. It banned the presence of political functionaries from outside the constituency once campaign ended.  It strictly enforced the voter identity cards at each and every polling booth.  Even the CM’s wife, Preneet Kaur, M.P. from Patiala who came without her ID card was refused voting. It also kept a check on consumption and sale of liquor on the polling day in a State which is known to be a tipler’s delight. It is another matter that the candidates amassed their stock well in time. Alcohol sales during January showed a nine-time high increase over the corresponding month last year---from 2.5 lakh litres to 22 lakh litres.  Added to this was the import of sexy bar girls from Mumbai, Bangalore and elsewhere, each dancer making anywhere Rs.500 to Rs.5,000 per performance.

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Naga Interest In Manipur Poll

The outcome of the Manipur Assembly poll, two phases of which have already been held on February 8 and 14 and the last phase is scheduled for February 23, is being watched with great interest for two reasons. First the “Naga Cause” (demand for Greater Nagalim) in five hill districts having 19 of the 60 Assembly seats. For them the main issue is “Manipur integration versus Naga integration”.  Manipur’s apex Naga body, the United Naga Council (UNC) has fielded its own candidates in the Naga-dominated districts of Senapati and Ukhrul, who will be expected to defend the interest of the Naga people through integration of the Naga majority areas, as demanded by NSCN-IM in its decades-old talks with the Centre.  In the four valley districts with 41 Assembly seats, the ruling Congress-led Secular Progressive Front (SPF) is hoping to romp home easily on the valid plea that its present Government in the State is the first to last its full term in office.

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BJP Hopes In Uttarakhand

In Uttarakhand, the present poll “hawa” favours the BJP and its Chief Ministerial candidate, former Union Minister B.C. Khanduri prior to the second Assembly poll in the hill State on February 21.  The present Congress Government, led by N.D. Tiwari, undoubtedly has an unquestioned record of progress and development during the last five years. Nevertheless, the BJP is going all out to nail the Tiwari Government. It claims that the Congress won the last Assembly poll in 2002 because of a swing of less than two per cent of the popular vote. But the BJP is now all set to reverse its fortunes. Its hope is based mainly on the fact that the ruling Congress is fighting the election as a divided house. Several of its leaders denied party nominations are contesting the poll as Independents. Moreover, other smaller parties have also launched an aggressive campaign against both the Congress and the BJP.

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Rahul’s Plan For U.P.

The Election Commission has now turned its attention to U.P.. Final touches are being given to its plans for ensuring a free and fair Assembly poll, proposed to be held in five phases, starting in mid-April and spread over almost a month. The main political parties too have started working on their plans. Rahul Gandhi has already worked out the Congress strategy at a high-level meeting in New Delhi last week, attended by Sonia Gandhi and AICC General Secretary Incharge for U.P.  Accordingly, the party’s plan is to concentrate on 165 of the 403 Assembly seats.  These constituencies include the seats of 15 sitting MLAs, 26 in which the party finished second in the 2002 Assembly poll, 47 of the Parliamentary constituencies where the party won in 2004 Lok Sabha poll and those where its nominees polled more than 8,000 votes. Some senior national level leaders, like Salman Khurshid and Mohsina Kidwai, are also being sounded for contesting the poll.

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Bengal’s SEZ Plan On Hold

All is not well with the industrialization model of the Left Front Government in West Bengal, headed by Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee of the CPM.  It is not only the Trinamool Congress Chief Mamata Bannerjee, who has been breathing fire against the acquisition of farmlands for industries, but also the Left allies CPI, RSP and Forward Block. They are dead against the Special Economic Zones (SEZs) projects. After a resolute fight to bring the Tata Motors at Singur, Bhattacharjee is showing signs of cracking and has gone on record to say that he would not set up any SEZ “if that is what the Left parties want”.  After a CPM Politburo meeting at Kolkata over the week-end, General Secretary Prakash Karat announced that all SEZs, including the one at Nandigram have been put on hold. However, the Singur project of Tatas is on, notwithstanding Mamata‘s threat to continue the stir against it.

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Farmer’s Suicides: 6 in 3 Days

Even though the suicide spree of the cash-starved farmers in Maharashtra’s Vidarbha region continues; with six of them ending their lives in three days last week, not more than 10 per cent of the promised relief is reaching the sufferers.  According to Maharashtra’s Finance Minister Jayant Patil, a paltry sum of Rs.248 crore has been released by the Centre out of the relief package of Rs.3,750 crore, which Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had announced in July last.  Patil has now disclosed that most of the Centre’s share has been earmarked to complete the pending irrigation projects in the area, with the stated objective of increasing agriculture productivity in the suicide belt.  This has been communicated to the Planning Commission by the State Government last week. The Commission was told that only 17.8 per cent of the net sown area in the State has access to irrigation, as against the national average of 38 per cent.

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ULFA Wants To Restart Talks

Assam’s Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has reason to feel elated, thanks to successful conduct of the National Games at Guwahati which end on February 18 and getting the dreaded ULFA first to withdraw its boycott of the Games and then to strike the right chord with them for re-starting the peace talks. During the Games, some ULFA leaders established contact with the Chief Minister and other political leaders. Gogoi, on his part, made it clear that a direct approach by the ULFA’s C-in-C Paresh Barua or “Chairman” Arabinda Rajkhowa would be required for the Government to re-start the talks process which was scuttled last year.  This development clearly indicates that the militant group is now keen to revive the peace talks with the Centre since public opinion in Assam has largely swung against them. More and more people are beginning to see the ground reality that ULFA and its leaders are shameless paid agents of Pakistan’s ISI and of Bangladesh!

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J&K Probe On Rights Violations

The sensitive issue of human rights violation has taken centre-stage in J&K at a time when the peace process between India and Pakistan is on the fast track. Massive demonstrations have taken place in the last few days following an exposure of anti-militancy Special Operation Group (SOG) killing civilians and dubbing them as foreigners for rewards and promotions.  The protest against such killings has forced the State Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad to act fast, particularly because the issue took a political turn when it was taken up by the National Conference Chief Omar Abdullah. The CM announced on the floor of the State Assembly that all incidents of human rights violations in the State since 1990 would be probed. A number of cops, including a Superintendent and Deputy Superintendent of Police, have been arrested. ---INFA

 (Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)