Round The States
New Delhi, 15 February 2007
Punjab Assembly Poll
CLOSE RACE BETWEEN
MAIN RIVALS
By Insaf
A record voter turn-out of 72 per cent for the Punjab Assembly poll on Tuesday, despite rain and chilly
weather, leads to two predictions: a decisive popular verdict or a nail-biting
finish between the ruling Congress
and the Opposition Akali Dal (Badal)-BJP combine. The true picture will be clear only on
February 27, the counting day. Various exit polls differ in their projections
at the end of the day of largely peaceful polling. One assessment favours the Congress,
which could win 53 to 63 seats in the 117-member Assembly
against the Akali Dal’s 47 to 53 seats. Two other exit polls give the Akali-BJP
combine a decisive lead. These have, however, estimated the Independents and
others winning upto ten seats. The close predictions have prompted the main two
contestants to claim victory with their spin doctors coming out with various
theories and possibilities.
Whatever the outcome, much of the credit for a peaceful and largely free and
fair polling at the end of an hectic campaigning goes to the Election Commission which took tough measures to implement the
model code of conduct from the start. It banned the presence of political
functionaries from outside the constituency once campaign ended. It strictly enforced the voter identity cards
at each and every polling booth. Even
the CM’s wife, Preneet Kaur, M.P. from Patiala
who came without her ID card was refused voting. It also kept a check on
consumption and sale of liquor on the polling day in a State which is known to
be a tipler’s delight. It is another matter that the candidates amassed their stock well in time. Alcohol sales during
January showed a nine-time high increase over the corresponding month last
year---from 2.5 lakh litres to 22 lakh litres.
Added to this was the import of sexy bar girls from Mumbai, Bangalore
and elsewhere, each dancer making anywhere Rs.500 to Rs.5,000 per performance.
* * * *
Naga Interest In
Manipur Poll
The outcome of the Manipur Assembly
poll, two phases of which have already been held on February 8 and 14 and the
last phase is scheduled for February 23, is being watched with great interest
for two reasons. First the “Naga Cause” (demand for Greater Nagalim) in five
hill districts having 19 of the 60 Assembly
seats. For them the main issue is
“Manipur integration versus Naga integration”.
Manipur’s apex Naga body, the United Naga Council (UNC) has fielded its own
candidates in the Naga-dominated districts of Senapati and Ukhrul, who will be
expected to defend the interest of the Naga people through integration of the Naga
majority areas, as demanded by NSCN-IM in its decades-old talks with the
Centre. In the four valley districts
with 41 Assembly seats, the ruling
Congress-led Secular Progressive Front (SPF) is hoping to romp home easily on
the valid plea that its present Government in the State is the first to last
its full term in office.
* * * *
BJP Hopes In
Uttarakhand
In Uttarakhand, the present poll “hawa” favours the BJP and
its Chief Ministerial candidate, former Union Minister B.C. Khanduri prior to
the second Assembly poll in the hill
State on February 21. The present Congress Government, led by N.D. Tiwari, undoubtedly has
an unquestioned record of progress
and development during the last five years. Nevertheless,
the BJP is going all out to nail the Tiwari Government. It claims that the Congress won the last Assembly
poll in 2002 because of a swing of less
than two per cent of the popular vote. But the BJP is now all set to reverse
its fortunes. Its hope is based mainly on the fact that the ruling Congress is fighting the election as a divided house. Several
of its leaders denied party nominations are contesting the poll as
Independents. Moreover, other smaller parties have also launched an aggressive campaign against both the Congress and the BJP.
* * * *
Rahul’s Plan For
U.P.
The Election Commission
has now turned its attention to U.P.. Final touches are being given to its
plans for ensuring a free and fair Assembly
poll, proposed to be held in five phases, starting in mid-April and spread over
almost a month. The main political parties too have started working on their plans.
Rahul Gandhi has already worked out the Congress
strategy at a high-level meeting in New
Delhi last week, attended by Sonia Gandhi and AICC
General Secretary Incharge for U.P.
Accordingly, the party’s plan is to concentrate on 165 of the 403 Assembly seats.
These constituencies include the seats of 15 sitting MLAs, 26 in which
the party finished second in the 2002 Assembly
poll, 47 of the Parliamentary constituencies where the party won in 2004 Lok
Sabha poll and those where its nominees polled more than 8,000 votes. Some
senior national level leaders, like Salman Khurshid and Mohsina Kidwai, are
also being sounded for contesting the poll.
* * * *
Bengal’s SEZ Plan
On Hold
All is not well with the industrialization model of the Left
Front Government in West Bengal, headed by
Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee of the CPM. It
is not only the Trinamool Congress
Chief Mamata Bannerjee, who has been breathing fire against the acquisition of
farmlands for industries, but also the Left allies CPI, RSP and Forward Block.
They are dead against the Special Economic Zones (SEZs) projects. After a
resolute fight to bring the Tata Motors at Singur, Bhattacharjee is showing
signs of cracking and has gone on record to say that he would not set up any
SEZ “if that is what the Left parties want”.
After a CPM Politburo meeting at Kolkata over the week-end, General
Secretary Prakash Karat announced that all SEZs, including the one at Nandigram
have been put on hold. However, the Singur project of Tatas is on, notwithstanding
Mamata‘s threat to continue the stir against it.
* * * *
Farmer’s Suicides:
6 in 3 Days
Even though the suicide spree of the cash-starved farmers in
Maharashtra’s Vidarbha region continues; with six of them ending their lives in
three days last week, not more than 10 per cent of the promised relief is
reaching the sufferers. According to
Maharashtra’s Finance Minister Jayant Patil, a paltry sum of Rs.248 crore has
been released by the Centre out of the relief package of Rs.3,750 crore, which
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had announced in July last. Patil has now disclosed that most of the
Centre’s share has been earmarked to complete the pending irrigation projects
in the area, with the stated objective of increasing agriculture productivity
in the suicide belt. This has been
communicated to the Planning Commission
by the State Government last week. The Commission
was told that only 17.8 per cent of the net sown area in the State has access to irrigation, as against the national average of
38 per cent.
* * * *
ULFA Wants To
Restart Talks
Assam’s Chief
Minister Tarun Gogoi has reason to feel elated, thanks to successful conduct of the National Games at Guwahati
which end on February 18 and getting the dreaded ULFA first to withdraw its
boycott of the Games and then to strike the right chord with them for
re-starting the peace talks. During the Games, some ULFA leaders established
contact with the Chief Minister and other political leaders. Gogoi, on his
part, made it clear that a direct approach by the ULFA’s C-in-C Paresh Barua or
“Chairman” Arabinda Rajkhowa would be required for the Government to re-start
the talks process which was scuttled
last year. This development clearly
indicates that the militant group is now keen to revive the peace talks with
the Centre since public opinion in Assam
has largely swung against them. More and more people are beginning to see the
ground reality that ULFA and its leaders are shameless
paid agents of Pakistan’s
ISI and of Bangladesh!
* *
* *
J&K Probe On
Rights Violations
The sensitive issue
of human rights violation has taken centre-stage in J&K at a time when the peace
process between India and Pakistan is on the fast track. Massive demonstrations have taken place in the last
few days following an exposure of anti-militancy Special Operation Group (SOG)
killing civilians and dubbing them as foreigners for rewards and
promotions. The protest against such
killings has forced the State Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad to act fast,
particularly because the issue took
a political turn when it was taken up by the National Conference Chief Omar
Abdullah. The CM announced on the floor of the State Assembly
that all incidents of human rights violations in the State since 1990 would be
probed. A number of cops, including a Superintendent and Deputy Superintendent
of Police, have been arrested. ---INFA
(Copyright,
India News and Feature Alliance)
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