ROUND THE STATES
New
Delhi, 11 April 2006
PM Summons
Naxal-Hit CMs
CONGRESS MAY RETAIN
POWER IN ASSAM
By Insaf
All eyes are now on Assam
and the outcome of the crucial Assembly
poll which ended on Monday last, even as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has
upped the ante on mounting Naxalite violence. On return from his hectic
campaign in Assam, the PM
promptly reviewed the rebel situation with his advisers in the PMO and the
Ministries of Home and Defence and held a top level meeting of the Chief
Ministers of the Naxal-affected States on Thursday. Meanwhile, the Congress at the Centre, and its Chief Minister in Assam,
Tarun Gogoi, are keeping their fingers crossed
about the poll result. This will be
known only on May 11 when counting will be held after the elections in all the
four States are over. Expert Exit
pollsters, no doubt, predict a hung Assembly
in the State. Nevertheless, they also feel that the Congress has a fair chance of forming the Government.
These pollsters give the Congress
anywhere between 52 and 60 seats in the 126-member Assembly. The AGP is expected to bag no more than 25 to
30 seats and the BJP 10 to 15. (Both could have done better had they chosen to
join hands.) Importantly, the Assam United Democratic Front, founded by the perfume
Baron, Badruddin Ajmal, may end up holding the key to the final outcome. It fielded 37 candidates in constituencies
wherein the Muslims constitute a clear majority or near-majority. Tarun Gogoi
has gone on record to assert that he
will have no difficulty in forming a Government, if necessary
with the help of the “others” whose number could go up to 35. Credence is being given to the exit pollsters
as they proved dead right in predicting the outcome of the Bihar Assembly poll and in naming Nitish Kumar as the
winner!
* * * *
Impressive Voter Turnout
Meanwhile, the voters in Assam
deserve three cheers for their turnout on the second and concluding part of the
polling, which was as impressive as
on the first day. They refused to be deterred by rain in the first half of the
day or by ethnic violence and the call for poll boycott by KLNLF (Karbi Longri
North Cachar Liberation Front) in some hilly areas of lower Assam. The day was also marked by sharp clashes
between the Congress workers and
those of the AGP, the main Opposition, in the riverine Goalpara and Bilaspara
and Bongaigaon and Barpeta districts.
Nevertheless, the voter
turnout was more than 70 per cent of the 82.27 per cent voters in the villages. Happily, the decision of the Karbi Anglong
rebels to give up insurgency and instead plump for a separate State helped. It even
put up some candidates.
* * * *
PM For Tough
Measures
The recent spurt in Naxalite violence in Chhattisgarh,
Jharkhand, Bihar, Orissa and West
Bengal, where the five-phase Assembly
poll starts on April 17, prompted the Prime Minister himself to call the Chief
Ministers to New Delhi
on Thursday last for top-level consultations.
The concerned Chief Ministers were urged to take tough measures to deal
with the increasing Naxal violence. In
fact, the PM suggested that the 12 CMs of the Naxal-infested States should constitute
a “dedicated force” to fight the menace.
This force could be on the lines of the “Grey Hound” commandos on Andhra
Pradesh for exclusive use against the Naxalites.
In fact, India
is under increasing siege from within, as Insaf has been warning time and
again. What is more, the Naxalite menace is threatening to get out of control.
According to authoritative estimates, there are at present about 10,000
underground Naxals across the
country, equipped with sophisticated weapons.
They are supported by about 45,000 overground cadres, drawn mostly from the
tribal areas. Their operation is now beginning to target the hilly State of Uttaranchal also. The
Left-wing organizations in the State, which has old Left links, are mushrooming
in at least three districts of Pithoragarh, Udham Singh Nagar and Champawat,
which share a border with Nepal. An unhindered influx of Nepalese into these
districts is seen as a potential time bomb.
* * * *
Enemy Within In
Tamil Nadu Congress
The worst enemy of the Congress
at election time is the Congress
itself. This is holding good once again prior
to the Assembly poll in Tamil Nadu
on May 8. Widespread protests by several
State leaders seeking party tickets followed the choice of candidates for 48
seats which the DMK has left for the Congress.
With key faction leaders and Union Ministers from the State Congress carting away bulk of the seats for their
respective supporters, long-time aspirants and deserving candidates have been
deprived of tickets. A delegation of more than a dozen aspirants jostled PCC
Chief Krishnaswamy, demanding to know why only the Congress
Union Ministers from the State – Chidambaram, Vasan and Elangovan – were
allowed to take care of their followers. Threats of rebels putting up
candidates face the Congress in a
dozen seats.
* * * *
Poll Scene In Pondicherry
The ruling Congress
in Pondicherry, which is presently comfortably placed in the Union Territory
with 16 MLAs in the 30-member Assembly,
has accommodated its other alliance partners in the DMK-led Democratic Progressive Alliance (DPA). It has left eleven seats for the DMK, two for
the PMK and one to the CPI. The DMK
supremo, Karunanidhi, who has declared himself as the Chief Ministerial
candidate for Tamil Nadu, had earlier demanded 12 seats from the Congress
in Pondicherry
in exchange for 48 seats in Tamil
Nadu. Karunanidhi has now got his way
even though his party has only seven seats in the Assembly. But the task for the Congress and the other DMK-led allies seems difficult, as
Jayalalitha’s AIADMK which had supported the Congress
in 2001, is contesting this time with its own allies: MDMK of Vaiko, Dalit
Panthers and the PMC.
* * * *
PM Praises Hooda’s
Policies
Haryana’s Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has reason to
feel elated. The performance of his Government at the end of one year in office
has been widely appreciated, especially by those who matter most: Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh and senior Congress
leaders at the Centre and in the State.
Manmohan Singh openly heaped praise on Hooda at a public meeting at
Panipat last week and, appreciated his multi-pronged approach in an effort to
transform Haryana into the country’s Number One State. This includes blending agriculture and
industrialization. Hooda has reportedly got assurance
from the PM for early clearance and assistance
for several development projects, including the establishment of an atomic
power station in Haryana, setting up of a medical college and construction of
dams over the Yamuna.
* * * *
Rajasthan Bans
Conversions
Vasundhara Raje, BJP’s energetic Chief Minister in
Rajasthan, has added another feather to her saffron cap. She has implemented
another of the BJP’s basic policies by banning religious conversions through
“use of force, allurement and fraudulent means”. She got the State Assembly to pass
the Rajasthan Dharam Swatantrya Bill, 2006, last week in the face of stiff opposition
from the Congress. Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje has been under
mounting pressure for long for such
a legislation to stop increasing cases of “forced conversions” by some
Christian missionaries. The Bishnoi community
of Kota,
‘greatly hurt by the practice’, virtually spearheaded the battle against
conversions. The Bill provides for jail upto five years and a fine of Rs.50,000
for the offenders. No punishment is,
however, provided for “reconversion into the religion of one’s ancestors.”
---INFA
(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)
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