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ROUND THE STATES
New Delhi, 22 February, 2006
Poll Scene in West Bengal
LEFT FRONT READIES
TO RETAIN POWER
By Insaf
The Left Front has completed its fool-proof preparations to
retain power in West Bengal for the seventh
time in succession. It has finalized its list of candidates for
the Assembly poll in April, even
before the announcement of the election schedule. The Front’s election manifesto has also been
released and its campaign has taken off in earnest, not only in West Bengal,
where it has been ruling for the last 29 years, but also in Kerala where it is
hoping to wrest power from the Congress-led
United Democratic Front (UDF). The Left
leaders have announced their intentions to fight tooth and nail in these two
poll-bound States against the Congress
and its allies in the UPA they are presently supporting at the Centre from
outside.
The CPM, main constituent of the Left Front, which would be
contesting 209 seats in the 294-member Assembly,
has made an effort to field only winning candidates. In the exercise for the
selection of candidates, the party has dropped seven Ministers and 52 sitting
MLAs. This has been done to induct young
and dynamic comrades and ensure more effective governance. The Forward Bloc, the second-largest
constituent of the Front, has also dropped one Minister. It would field 34 candidates, while the RSP
and the CPI would put up 23 and 13 candidates respectively. The Front has offered two seats each to Lalu
Yadav’s RJD and the Nationalist Congress
of Sharad Pawar. Pawar is yet to decide.
Meanwhile, the Congress
leadership is making another effort to get Mamata Banerjee and her Trimanool
Congress to join hands with the
party to end the Left hegemony in the State.
The AICC General Secretary incharge of West Bengal,
Margaret Alva has approached Mamata to work out an electoral
understanding. Mamata is, however,
unwilling so far to break with the BJP.
This would mean three or four-corner contests to the advantage of the
ruling Left Front which has made several promises to the voters in its
manifesto. These include development of infrastructure, boost to the on-going
industrialization and increased power generation.
* * * *
LDF Problem In
Kerala
It is not going to be easy for the CPM-led Left Democratic Front
(LDF). The CPM politburo’s decision to overrule the State party’s move for a
pre-poll alliance with Karunakaran’s Democratic Indira Congress (DIC) has deepened the factional feud in the
State unit. A majority in the State unit
had favoured a tactical alliance between the LDF and the DIC. The LDF sweep of the recent Kerala civic
polls and the Thiruvananthapuram byelection had given credence to the benefits
of aligning with Karunakaran. But another view, espoused by V.S. Achutanandan,
prevailed that any association with
Karunakaran’s party would tarnish the Left Front’s image. Karunakaran has now decided to fight the
election on his own, leading to triangular contests.
* * * *
DMK Gets Stronger
In Tamil Nadu
In Tamil Nadu, another poll-bound State in the South, Karunanidhi
and his DMK appear to be getting stronger against the ruling Anna-DMK. Smaller
Dravidian parties, including the MDMK of Vaiko, have finally promised support
to the DMK, a constituent of the Congress-led
UPA at the Centre. After dithering for the
last few weeks, Vaiko publicly declared in Chennai on Monday last that not only
would the MDMK continue in the DMK-led front but would work towards
strengthening the bloc to help it win the Assembly
elections. Vaiko’s decision was influenced by his octogenarian mother’s “No” to
joining Jayalalitha who had kept him in jail for 19 months. The Congress, moreover, refused to allow Vaiko to do a
Ramvilas Paswan: fight election against an UPA constituent.
* * * *
Sangma Keeps His
Pocket Borough
Former Speaker of the Lok Sabha, Purno Sangma continues to
keep his firm hold over his Tura Lok Sabha constituency in Meghalaya, even
after leaving the Congress which
first sent him to Parliament. He won his
Tura pocket borough in a byelection for the ninth time in a row. Purno defeat his Congress
rival Mukul Sangma, by over one lakh votes.
The Congress candidate had
resigned from the State Cabinet in the wake of police firing on student
protesters in Garo Hills. Meanwhile, the Shiv Sena has suffered a setback in
two byelections to the Maharashtra Assembly.
It lost the Naigong constituency to the Congress. This
constituency was known to be the Sena’s stronghold. It was held by Kalidas
Kalambhkar, who had quit the Sena and joined the Congress
with Narayan Rane.
* * * *
Mulayam’s Problems
UP’s Chief Minister and Samajwadi Party Supremo Mulayam
Singh Yadav is presently facing several political problems. At a time when the
party’s important leader Raj Babbar was expelled for revolting against General
Secretary Amar Singh, Ajit Singh, Chief of the RLD, a coalition partner in the
Mulayam Government, has threatened to withdraw support. Even though Ajit’s RLD
has only 13 MLAs in the 403-member State Assembly,
the SP with 187 MLAs may face difficulty since the BJP, BSP of Mayawati and the
Congress have stepped up thier
campaigns against the Government on various issues.
Ajit Singh also dissociated his
party from the Samajwadi Party’s No-Confidence Motion in the Lok Sabha against
the UPA Government. In fact, if the
group of 16 independent MLAs also takes anti-Mulayam stance, the Government may
lose its majority.
* * * *
JD(S) Action To
Have No Impact
The Janata Dal (Secular) of former Prime Minister Deve Gowda
is slowly and surely losing its hold over Karnataka. The party high command’s decision to suspend
the State Chief Minister and Gowda’s eldest son, H.D. Kumaraswamy, and 39 other
MLAs for their coup against the party supremo is unlikely to have any
impact. Kumaraswamy and others were
suspended last week for pulling out of the coalition arrangement with the
Congress and forming the Government
at Bangalore
with the support of the BJP. Coming
almost a month after the dramatic developments that altered the political
equations in the State, the action has actually weakened the party
considerably. The suspension of the 40 MLAs after Kumaraswamy had flouted the
party policies and formed a government with the bjp has effectively left the Gowda with barely eight MLAs.
* * * *
Uma Bharti Backers Suspended
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan has got
a shot in the arm and former CM Uma Bharti a big setback. The BJP high command has suspended four of
its MLAs, all known supporters of expelled Uma Bharti. The charge against them?
Recently, when a Bharti supporter, Prahlad Singh Patel was sitting on a hunger
strike in Bhopal,
protesting against the working of the Chauhan Government, the four MLAs were
seen sitting by his side. Earlier they backed Bharti and supported her campaign
for leadership change that ultimately led to Shivraj Singh Chauhan replacing
Babulal Gaur as the Chief Minister.
Earlier, several other BJP MLAs were expelled, following a violent
protest outside the State BJP Legislative Party meeting which elected Chauhan
as the CM. The action sends a strong message
to the State BJP.
* * * *
Cartoon Fury Erupts
The cartoon fury currently lashing the world singed several
Indian cities, especially Hyderabad and Lucknow over the
week-end. Hyderabad
was worst affected when a mob protesting the publication of the images of
Prophet Mohammed in a Danish newspaper went on the rampage in the old city last
week. Nearly a dozen vehicles and several shops were damaged. Soon after the
Friday prayers at the Mecca Masjid, thousands of protestors spilled on to the
streets, trampling on Danish flags and shouting “death to Denmark”.
Protest marches have also been held in Calcutta,
Bangalore,
Muzaffarnagar in U.P. and several other parts of the country. In Lucknow,
some clerics reportedly close to the ruling Samajwadi Party took out a massive rally over the week-end. ---INFA
(Copyright,
India News And Feature Alliance)
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