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Round The States
New Delhi, 5 October 2019
BDC Polls
BLURRED J&K STRATEGY?
By Insaf
Kashmir conundrum deepens. Elections for
Block Development Council are to be held on October 24. Both Srinagar and New
Delhi want to show to world outside ‘normalcy’ is returning, and choose to
ignore the undercurrents of ‘civil disobedience’ by the Valley folk. Will these
polls to elect peoples representatives be for real or a sham? The latter is a
likely guess. More so as the electoral college here comprises panches and
sarpanches and as of now more than 61% of these seats were lying vacant, mainly
in the 138 blocks (of 310) in the Valley owing to peoples non-participation in
elections held last December. Thus, the move to ease restrictions on Jammu
leaders may not help the Government as the first step should be to fill these
vacant posts. Plus, the unprecedented clampdown in Kashmir particularly for
past two months may have seen some restrictions removed, but people are not
willing to play ball. So while political activity may revive in Jammu, what
about Kashmir? Leaders and activists continue to be detained and plans are to
release them “one by one after analysis of every individual”, is no answer to a
democratic exercise. An NC leader views the process as “face saving,” but
peoples’ participation is under doubt. Three weeks time is unclear all that the
administration has got. Decision taken and then planning to follow is the wrong
strategy. Will there be a rethink?
* * * *
NRC
Ripples in N-E
Assam has triggered ripples across its
neighbourhood. Since the National Register of Citizens was published,
Meghalaya, Nagaland, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh have sounded a red alert.
Border checks have been intensified and those without proper papers have been
turned back. Meghalaya is insisting on ‘valid IDs’ to prove Indian citizenship
and Mizoram is not issuing requisite Inner Line Permits (ILP) to enter the
State, to those Assam residents whose names don’t appear in the NRC. In fact,
it has issued a directive saying any
unusual influx of people without valid document has to be immediately brought
to the district administration’s notice and that village and town authorities
need to maintain strict vigil or proof before issuing the ILPs. While
Meghalaya Police so far has turned back “1,329 detected persons,” its
counterpart in Mizoram says “everyday 10-15 people without ILP attempting to
enter the State are caught” and thus one can imagine the numbers. Likewise,
Nagaland and Arunachal which require ILP to enter are being cautious.
* * * *
Bypolls Big Test
Preparations are on a war
footing for ensuing byelections in 16 States and one UT. All eyes are now on
big chunk of 51 Assembly seats before Maharashtra and Haryana polls. While the
BJP seeks to keep its juggernaut rolling, Congress and JD(U) particularly need
to work doubly hard to retain some critical seats. These include, Gujarat,
where Congress may find it tougher to retain two of six seats, with both its
MLAs having become BJP candidates; MP Chief Minister Kamal Nath, under SIT
scanner in 1984 riots, needs to win the sole seat to reach the 115-mark in
230-member Assembly; in Rajasthan, Congress it eyes at least one of two seats
to raise its tally from 106 MLAs and in Kerala it’s hoping to do well in five
seats, despite nagging uncertainty. Results of Bihar’s bypolls in five seats are
going to further map out the JD(U)-BJP ties, under strain. Nitish Kumar needs
to retain four of these to withstand saffron pressure, in the backdrop of
RJD-Congress contesting together. For the BJP, UP hopes for tally of 11 seats
if Yogi Adityanath can wrest two seats from SP and BSP, which is not easy.
Plus, it could be wary in Assam of its 3 of 4 seats after NRC release. The rest
of the seats -- 3 in Sikkim, two each in Himachal Pradesh and Tamil Nadu and
one each in Arunachal Praesh, Meghalaya, Odisha, Telangana, Puducherry and
Chhattisgarh, would add to the story, which shall soon unfold.
* * * *
New
Face & Rivalries
The
bugle has been sounded for the big fight in Maharashtra and Haryana. While the
seat sharing formulas have been worked out between the rival camps, the
Congress finds itself having to deal with dissention within. Former party chief
in Haryana has quit the poll-related committees saying the State Congress has
turned into ‘Hooda Congress’ as his supporters have been denied tickets. It’s
the same story in Maharashtra, where Mumbai party chief has said he will not
campaign for the party. In comparison the situation in the BJP is different as
even though Khattar is Haryana has dropped some sitting MLAs, no dissent is
being voiced. Importantly, the seat-sharing formula with its ally Shiv Sena has
been cemented without any hiccups and the BJP continuing to be big brother in
the 124 and 164 seats formula, respectively. Plus, the BJP has accommodated
most of the Congress and NCP MLAs who walked over. The October 21 poll has a
new entrant in the Sena -- Aditya Thackeray, elder son of party chief Uddhav
Thackeray. With the youngster being the first member in founder Bal Thackeray’s family obviously the spotlight is on him.
Predictably, he has been given the ‘safest’ seat, Worli and the party is
hopeful that if the combine wins, then Aditya may well be a contender for the
top post, against Chief Minister Fadnavis, who the BJP is set for a second
term. Both know there can be a slip between the cup and the lip.
* * * *
Bihar
Rains
The rain god has added to Bihar Chief
Minister Nitish Kumar’s woes. Capital Patna got flooded with the late September
unprecedented torrential rains, where ‘1.6 million of its two million residents
battled water-logging,’ according to the State disaster relief office. The
city’s poor drainage and infrastructure system stood simply exposed. Deputy
Chief Minister Sushil Modi was among 4,000-odd people rescued by relief
personnel, whereas people in large parts had to do without power for two days
and phone connections. In the northern part, at least 15 other districts were
marooned after heavy rainfall, which claimed 32 lives. Nitish, already at the
receiving end not just by his opponents but partner BJP has some explaining to
do as experts opine the flooding was due to unscientific planning and lack of
accountability. When questioned by the media, Nitish hit back ‘What about heavy
flooding in Mumbai or for that matter even in US?’ Bad answer, for two wrongs
don’t make a right. He must set his house in order.
* * * *
Andhra
Nursing Drinks
No rash decisions on Gandhi Jayanti, is
Andhra Pradesh’s way of achieving a target. So like nursing a drink, the State
has decided to take measured steps towards complete prohibition. With next year as its target, Jagan Reddy
government made the first move by taking over 3,448 shops on lease to be now
run by AP State beverages Corporation. Plus, liquor shops gradually will remain
open only for 3-4 hours. So far, liquor sales/consumption is down by 18%,
43,000 illegal/illicit liquor shops shut down and 4,788 cases registered
against brewing of illicit liquor and 2,834 people arrested. Another positive
is ‘generating jobs’ with 3,500 supervisors and 8,033 salesmen recruited to run
the alcohol shops. Plus, night watchmen around neighbourhoods and another 680
in Excise department are to be recruited. Alcoholism has wrecked many a lives
and homes and hopefully the slow and steady approach should help Jagan keep his
promise to lakhs of women who sought prohibition. One would drink to that!---INFA
Copyright, India News
& Feature Alliance)
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