Round The States

New Delhi, 13 June 2007

As Governments Change...

VENDETTA POLITICS TO THE FORE

By Insaf

Witch hunt seems to have become the flavour of the season.  Politics of vendetta is being pursued increasingly by erstwhile Opposition parties voted to power in the States in recent elections. UP and Punjab provide glaring examples of two major States where Governments have recently been replaced by the rival parties---the BSP in Lucknow and the Akali Dal-BJP in Chandigarh. Soon after assuming charge as Chief Ministers, Mayawati in U.P. and Parkash Singh Badal in Punjab publicly declared that they would not practise any vendetta against the Chief Ministers and other leaders of the outgoing Governments. Nevertheless, contrary to the established norms of administration, both have allowed partisan interests to influence their outlook and undermine the continuity of governance even on the development front. The new Governments are undoubtedly entitled to take corrective measures required without fuss in public interest. But all norms have been thrown to the winds.

Mayawati has announced her Government’s decision to review almost all major actions taken by the outgoing Mulayam Singh Government, especially those relating to the projects of Anil Ambani and Subrato Roy, both close friends of Mulayam Singh and his close associate Amar Singh. Such decisions, together with mass transfers of 154 senior officers, has not only affected the smooth continuity of governance, but also created chaotic conditions in the administration.  Similar situations have also arisen under Badal’s Government in Punjab. Enquiries have been ordered in several causes of corruption. This includes the Ludhiana City Centre scam, in which the former Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and four of his advisers are allegedly involved. The State Government has also shunted out seven Special Public Prosecutors (SPP) appointed by the erstwhile Congress Government to probe high-profile corruption cases involving Badal and his family.

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Task Before Goa CM Kamat

Goa’s new Chief Minister Digambar Kamat has reason not to celebrate. The State’s Chief Ministership has become a crown of thorns, given the Goa’s political history of defections and unstable governments. The Congress he leads in the Assembly has only 16 MLAs in the 40-member House. He has managed to cobble up a majority with the support of the NCP, a Congress ally, and the  MGP, which have three and two MLAs respectively, and two Independents. Importantly, Kamat defected from the BJP to the Congress only two years ago. Yet, he outsmarted two senior Congress leaders, Pratapsinh Rane and the PCC Chief Ravi Naik, both of whom were in the run for the Chief Ministership. The former has been the State’s CM seven times and the latter thrice. Kamat has already faced his first difficulty in finalizing his Ministry and distributing portfolios. In fact, the exercise was still on at the time of writing.

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Modi Has The Last Laugh

Political activity in Gujarat is fast warming up, ahead of the Assembly elections by the year-end. Chief Minister Narendra Modi is facing a challenge both from within his BJP and the Opposition Congress. Sonia Gandhi has visited the State twice and the loyalists of his bete noire and former BJP Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel are bracing up for show of strength within the party.  However, Modi seems to be having the last laugh in regard to the threat from within. A massive rally was sought to be mounted against Modi at Surat on Monday. But he nipped it in the bud successfully. Even Keshubhai stayed away from the rally attended by not more than one lakh locals against expectation of more than five lakh. In contrast, Modi’s influence and development-oriented governance was reflected at a rally in Ahmedabad, a day earlier. Held to mark his emerging as the longest serving Chief Minister, it was attended by more than seven lakh people.

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Raje’s Hat-Trick Against Gurjjars

Rajasthan Chief Minister, Vasundhara Raje has scored a hat-trick, striking thrice against the Gurjjars in the State who have been agitating aggressively for Scheduled Tribes status. First, she managed to get them to call off their violent stir which had spread to adjoining States and the Union Capital. She offered them a Committee to look into their demand and got their leaders to accept it. Second, she has managed to get the Gurjjar satraps to split over the agreement to withdraw the agitation. Simultaneously, she has got the State police to move against Gurjjar activists led by Col. Bainsla (Retd), for creating violence and destroying public property during the agitation. Third, she has got the State BJP to suspend three of its Gurjjar MLAs and hold two Ministers responsible for helping wage what the Government has described as “open caste war” between the Gurjjars and Meenas of the State.

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Generals Join Hands In Uttarakhand

The BJP and its Chief Minister in Uttarakhand B.C. Khanduri have managed to be one-up on the Congress Party. Khanduri has got a senior Congress leader and former Minister, Lt.-Gen TPS Rawat (Retd) to resign his Assembly seat from Dhumakot and offer it to him to enable him to enter the Assembly through this constituency before September 8. The deal is essentially a quid pro quo. Presently, Khanduri represents Pauri constituency in the Lok Sabha. Rawat has now been offered the Pauri seat. Interestingly, Khanduri had defeated Rawat in the 2004 election for the Lok Sabha by over 50,000 votes from Pauri.  Now that the two rivals, one a retired two-star General and the other a retired three-star General from the same IMA course, have  joined hands, the BJP is assured a majority on its own in the 70-member Assembly. At present, the party has 35 MLAs.

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AIADMK Agitates Against CM

The AIADMK cadres violently hit the streets across Tamil Nadu last week, protesting against Chief Minister Karunanidhi for allegedly making derogatory remarks against their supremo Jayalalitha. Thousands of party workers, including a large number of women, blocked roads in different places and burnt the CM’s effigies. Over 12,000 persons, including 1117 women, were detained across the State. One of the DMK activists died in jail reportedly of a heart attack. Alleging negligence of the prison authorities, the cadres demonstrated in Chennai again, resulting in more arrests. The State Government later  ordered release of all AIADMK workers, except for 28 people arrested on charges of attempt to murder. Jayalalitha has, however, warned the DMK Government that her party cadres would not remain silent spectators to derogatory comments against their leader.

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Chhattisgarh’s “Salwa Judum” Challenged

The Chhattisgarh Government’s initiative to constitute “Salwa Judum” (self-defence groups) to combat the growing Naxalite menace in the State has run into difficulty. A public interest litigation (PIL) has been filed in the Supreme Court against the group by two individuals. The Court has issued a notice to the Government after hearing the petitioners about the killings and atrocities committed by the Salwa Judum in the guise of countering the Naxal movement. These local activists have been conducting frequent raids on villages and “suspected” Naxalite sympathizers are allegedly being beaten up and brutally killed. Their houses are torched and livestock stolen. These armed activists are also said to have been frequently involved in illegal checking of vehicles and levying of taxes.

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Meghalaya To Clean Up PDS

 The Meghalaya Government has worked out a nine-point programme to tackle the menace of increasing “diversion” of commodities meant for the Public Distribution System (PDS). This follows a survey that showed about 80 per cent of commodities meant for the below poverty line (BPL) families were diverted in 2004-05. The State will now use Government agencies to distribute the PDS material. This is expected to eliminate malpractices by private fair price shops. Moreover, ration cards will hereafter be distributed by the Block Officers, to end misuse. Wholesale dealers in the State are also proposed to be reduced from 756 to around 400. Those indulging in malpractices will lose their dealership. ---INFA

 (Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)