Round The States

New Delhi, 1 March 2007

Three Assembly Polls

CONGRESS ROUTED OUT IN TWO

By Insaf

The outcome of the three Assembly elections in Punjab, Uttarakhand and Manipur has clearly shown once more that the voter now understands the value of his vote and wants good, clean governance.  If the Congress Governments have been routed out in Punjab and Uttarakhand, the Manipurians have retained the party in office for another term in the interest of moderation and stability. In Punjab where no party or combine has been voted consecutively for a second term during the last 20 years or so, the Akali Dal-BJP combine has this time romped home with a clear majority, bagging 67 seats in the 117-member Assembly and leaving the ruling Congress behind with 44 seats.  However, despite the defeat, the Congress has recorded in its favour a swing of five per cent of the votes polled in 2002. It has also improved its position in the rural areas, thanks to considerable development under the outgoing Amarinder Singh Government.

The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD)-BJP combine improved its vote percentage by seven and fourteen per cent respectively, mostly in the urban areas. However, the Akalis won six seats less than its tally of 54 in 2002. But the BJP has improved its position considerably,  to the surprise of even its Central leadership.  The party has won 19 of the 23 seats it contested, against only three in 2002.  This gives Prakash Singh Badal, fourth-time Chief Minister of the State, a comfortable majority in the Assembly and a greater clout to the BJP in the Ministry.  Their victory is attributed to the fact that Sikh and Hindu votes combined in the urban areas and, what is the more, a large number of Sikh workers actively campaigned for the BJP candidates.  This was well reflected in the victory of the BJP’s Navjot Sidhu against Finance Minister Surender Singh Singla. The combine’s declared economic policies, especially plans for farmers and Dalits, also helped. Surprisingly, BSP’s Mawayati received a major rebuff. All her 113 candidates lost.

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BJP Wins In Uttarakhand

The BJP’s victory in Uttarakhand has indeed brought back the party to the centre-stage of national politics.  It has won 34 seats against 21 of the ruling Congress. The BJP has gained 16 seats with a vote swing of seven per cent in its favour over its 2002 performance.  But, unlike the Congress, the saffron party has failed to secure an absolute majority in the 70-member Assembly.  Much would depend on the three independents, who are Congress rebels. The Congress’ loss of 15 seats against the 36 it won in 2002 was mainly due to acute infighting in the party. This led to the presence of several rebel candidates in the fray as Independents and, significantly, an ineffective poll campaign that failed to project the Narayan Datt Tiwari Government’s many achievements during the last two-three years.

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Consolation In Manipur

In Manipur, the Congress has something to cheer about. Although the party fell short of an absolute majority by two votes with 29 seats in the 60-member Assembly, it should have no difficulty in forming the Government for the second time in succession.  It has the support of the current coalition partner, the CPI, which has won four seats. In fact, the stability of the Okram Ibobi Singh-led Ministry, which became the first Government in the State to complete its full five-year tenure, was one of the main reasons that prompted the people to vote it back to power. Another reason for popular support to the Congress was its reputation for moderation and its decision to keep away from the several underground groups that are known to be receiving active support from politicians of other regional parties. Significantly, the pro-NSCN United Naga Council succeeded in sending to the Assembly six of its eleven candidates for pursuing its demand for the creation of Nagalim or greater Nagaland.  

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Poll Pitch Moves To U.P.

Poll campaigning in UP has jazzed up with the rout of the Congress in adjoining Uttarakhand, once the hilly part of the larger State. The BJP and the BSP of Mayawati, emboldened by their success in Uttarakhand, have moved their crack troops into U.P. for the poll in seven phases, starting April 7. Adding to the excitement is the ruling Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh’s success in winning the seventh vote of confidence in his Government (the second in two months) on Monday in a near-empty House. The BSP, Congress and the RLD stayed away and the BJP walked out of the Assembly, leaving Mulayam Singh to sail through comfortably. The trust motion was passed by a voice vote after which the Speaker Pandey adjourned the House to meet again on March 12.

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Madhya Pradesh Towards Progress

Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan of Madhya Pradesh has reason to celebrate. He and his Government received a major compliment the other day from the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia. Madhya Pradesh, he said, was moving in the right direction on the economic development front. The occasion was the Chief Minister’s discussion with the Planning Commission for finalising the State’s annual plan for 2007-08.  The plan has been pegged at Rs.12,011 crore, a hike of Rs.2061 crore in the current year’s allocation. Considering the State’s progress roadmap, the Commission has allocated a one-time additional Central assistance of Rs.111 crore for projects of special benefit to the State, which has made appreciable progress in the social sector, especially education and health. The Commission has also appreciated the continuous efforts to improve irrigation and women empowerment. The Commission has, however, advised acceleration of efforts for employment generation and poverty reduction.

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Special Central Grant For Orissa

Orissa, too, has been given an additional one-time grant of Rs.80 crore for projects of special interest to the State. This was announced by the Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Ahluwalia while finalizing with Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik the State’s annual plan for 2007-08 in New Delhi last week.  Ahluwalia complimented the State for its economic performance, pointing out that Orissa had developed potential to go for a higher plan size for the Eleventh Plan (2007-12).  There has been a substantial improvement both on revenue deficit and fiscal deficit. The Commission has noticed that the State Government has created an investor-friendly environment and a large amount of foreign investment has been indicated. Several foreign companies have shown interest in setting up industrial projects in Orissa.

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Gujarat’s Tax-Free Budget

Gujarat’s Finance Minister Vajubhai Vala has presented a tax-free budget for 2007-08. He has also announced in his proposals an additional tax relief of about Rs.400 crore, leaving a deficit of Rs.70 crore which he hopes to meet by reducing Government and non-development expenditure.  Chief Minister Narendra Modi has described the budget as “pro-people”, benefiting more than 90 per cent of the poor and middle-class families. The Finance Minister has also announced a massive Rs. one-lakh crore outlay for the State’s Eleventh Plan (2007-08). It will be more than double the Tenth Plan outlay of Rs.47,000 crore. The State Government is hoping to achieve a 10.62 per cent growth rate at the end of the Tenth Plan.

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Fresh Trouble In Singur

Fresh trouble has arisen for the West Bengal Government and its Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee over the farmland acquired for the Tata car project at Singur. Over 350 protestors tried to force their way into the village on Saturday last in a bid to damage the fence around the project site.  Most of the protestors are marginal land owners who are dissatisfied with the compensation package. To make matters worse, the Calcutta High Court has pulled up the State Government on a batch of public-interest litigations (PILs) for following two sets of compensation rules for the acquisition of land. The Court has directed the Government to show it all the documents and agreements in this regard. Nevertheless, the Tatas are pushing ahead with their plans for manufacturing a people’s car of Rs. one lakh---and keeping their fingers crossed. ---INFA

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