Round The States

New Delhi, 19 December 2007

All Eyes On Gujarat

SATTA GIVES MODI THUMBS UP

By Insaf

All eyes are riveted on the poll outcome in Gujarat tomorrow. Specially, after the bitterly-fought high decibel campaign for the 182 Assembly seats in the State. The elections in Gujarat are no ordinary routine State elections. The outcome will have a domino effect on the national polity. The result will decide the timing of the next general election as also the fate of the controversial Indo-US nuclear deal. In the event, the Congress emerges victorious then Sonia Gandhi is likely to announce general elections by mid-April next year and initial the nuclear deal. But if the obverse holds true and Modi emerges third-time victorious, the nuclear deal will be dumped and Congress-Left ties will be back to bhai-bhai once again.

While the exit polls are hedging their bets over Modi’s victory, from scraping through to a simple majority, the Gujaratis are reposing their faith in the satta market. Unlike the psephologists, who appear confounded by the abnormally high percentage (17) of those surveyed belonging to the ‘can’t say category’, the satta bazaar has given Modi a majority of 102 out of 182 seats. That the Hindu icon is a bookies favourite is evident from the lowest returns of 70 paisa on the BJP winning. In other words, if one bets Rs.1 on the Saffron Party getting 102 seats and are proved right then one takes home Rs.1.70. Already, the satta amount has surpassed Rs.800 crore and is slated to rise to Rs.1000-1500 crore. Interestingly, Gujarati NRIs too have jumped in with their mega dollars, pounds and euros.  

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Daring Jailbreak In Chhattisgarh

The Naxalites have once again cocked a snook at the Government. This time round in Chhattisgarh. In a daring jailbreak, 299 inmates out of 377, including 110 Naxal activists, escaped from the Dantewada jail in the State. Described as a “pre-meditated conspiracy,” by the State police, the undeniable fact is that the jailbreak was a major security lapse. The reason doled out for this lax is the low priority given to security in this district prison which housed only the low-level Naxalite functionaries and was highly understaffed. Shockingly, only five out of the 16-strength staff were present. Recall, following the infamous Jehanabad jailbreak in 2005 in Bihar, senior and important Naxalite leaders facing trial, were shifted from small district-level prisons to Central jails.

Significantly, the jailbreak has exposed the State-Centre disconnect on the jail security issue vis-à-vis strategy and its implementation on the ground. More so as the Dantewada incident comes a day after the Special Task Force on Naxalism discussed measures to beef up security in Naxal-hit States in Bhubaneswar. For over two years the Home Ministry has been asking the States to beef up security and surveillance as also upgrade the jail housing. But to no avail. The States have limited the upgrade to central jails and the bigger state-level prison on the facetious plea of lack of funds. The Centre has again asked the States to pull up their bootstraps and hopes they will act this time. Better late than sorry.

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BJP Suffers Twin Blows In MP

The BJP’s ‘victory’ march in Gujarat has been dampened by the twin blows it has suffered in the by-polls in Madhya Pradesh. It has had to bite dust in the Sanwar Assembly segment and the Khargaon Parliamentary constituency. In both the saffron bastions, the Congress wrested the seats from the BJP with massive margins. Interestingly, both parties viewed these by-polls as an acid test and had put their best foot forward. Buoyed by the results, the Congress has demanded the resignation of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on the ground that the polls have exposed the peoples’ loss of confidence in the State Administration. Significantly, the BJP has lost five out of the ten by-elections held in the State in the past two years. Clearly, this holds out ominous portends for the BJP, which needs to get its act together prior to the Assembly elections ten months away.

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Sheila Completes Nine Years

Sheila Dikshit, Delhi’s popular Chief Minister, has much to rejoice. Setting a record, she has not only completed nine “extremely exciting” years as the CM, but also put her many political rivals on the back-foot. Her USP? Converting every challenge into an opportunity and meeting the same with truthfulness and veracity, as she puts it. Standing testimony to this is the fact that her duly acclaimed Bhagidari scheme has truly empowered the people. Moreover, her Government has been in the forefront of bringing the eco-friendly CNG, Metro and low-floor buses to its people. Besides, the construction of 28 flyovers has not only changed the city’s skyline but also the transport scenario. Not willing to rest her past laurels, Sheila has set the agenda for her ‘10^th and most challenging’ year --- demolitions, sealings, Blueline buses and population pressure. And is rearing to go.

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Ending Corruption Khanduri-Style

The Uttarakhand Chief Minister, BC Khanduri, seems to have achieved an impossible feat. He has reportedly succeeded in ridding the State of corruption in Government jobs. His formula? Banning all interviews in recruitment for Government posts. Only those who score above the cut-off mark in the objective questions exam would be selected.  So far, about 6,000 people have been recruited this way. Asserts Khanduri proudly: “Even my sifarish can't get anybody a job in the State now." Khanduri has also threatened to cancel the appointments of teachers and doctors who do not report for duty. Moreover, the CM has withdrawn 250 cars with beacon lights and 350 policemen from VIP duty. Khanduri has cut his own entourage of cars from 8 to 3. All officers now travel to Delhi from Dehra Dun by train. True, all this may be a small consolation in his nine-month-long fight against bureaucratic corruption and lethargy in the hill State. But well begun is half done!

Karunanidhi Anoints Successor

The DMK supremo Karunanidhi has virtually anointed his Crown Prince. After his daughter Kanimozhi’s rise to a Rajya Sabha MP, it is now the turn of son, Stalin, to take a bow. At a massive first-ever gathering of his Party’s youth wing on Sunday last, Karunanidhi took the first step towards the continuation of his own dynasty when he described his two sons, Stalin and Azhagiri as “two hands of a clock”. Asserting that Stalin, who is presently the Local Administration Minister had done him proud, Karunanidhi recited a couplet which inferred that Stalin would succeed him as DMK’s Chief and possibly the next Chief Minister. Even as other speakers hailed the junior Karunanidhi as Ilaya (young) Kalaignar, the elder Karunanidhi nodded his approval. Stalin on his part described the rally as a turning point in the DMK’s history --- and, indeed, that of the DMK’s first family! ---- INFA

(Copyright India News & Feature Alliance)