Round The States
New Delhi, 1 March 2007
Three Assembly Polls
CONGRESS ROUTED OUT
IN TWO
By Insaf
The outcome of the three Assembly
elections in Punjab, Uttarakhand and Manipur
has clearly shown once more that the voter now understands the value of his
vote and wants good, clean governance.
If the Congress Governments
have been routed out in Punjab and
Uttarakhand, the Manipurians have retained the party in office for another term
in the interest of moderation and stability. In Punjab where no party or
combine has been voted consecutively for a second term during the last 20 years
or so, the Akali Dal-BJP combine has this time romped home with a clear
majority, bagging 67 seats in the 117-member Assembly
and leaving the ruling Congress
behind with 44 seats. However, despite
the defeat, the Congress has
recorded in its favour a swing of five per cent of the votes polled in 2002. It
has also improved its position in the rural areas, thanks to considerable
development under the outgoing Amarinder Singh Government.
The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD)-BJP combine improved its vote
percentage by seven and fourteen per cent respectively, mostly in the urban
areas. However, the Akalis won six seats less
than its tally of 54 in 2002. But the BJP has improved its position
considerably, to the surprise of even
its Central leadership. The party has
won 19 of the 23 seats it contested, against only three in 2002. This gives Prakash Singh Badal, fourth-time
Chief Minister of the State, a comfortable majority in the Assembly and a greater clout to the BJP in the
Ministry. Their victory is attributed to
the fact that Sikh and Hindu votes combined in the urban areas and, what is the
more, a large number of Sikh workers actively campaigned for the BJP
candidates. This was well reflected in
the victory of the BJP’s Navjot Sidhu against Finance Minister Surender Singh
Singla. The combine’s declared economic policies, especially plans for farmers
and Dalits, also helped. Surprisingly, BSP’s Mawayati received a major rebuff.
All her 113 candidates lost.
* * * *
BJP Wins In
Uttarakhand
The BJP’s victory in Uttarakhand has indeed brought back the
party to the centre-stage of national politics.
It has won 34 seats against 21 of the ruling Congress. The BJP has gained 16 seats with a vote swing of
seven per cent in its favour over its 2002 performance. But, unlike the Congress,
the saffron party has failed to secure an absolute majority in the 70-member Assembly. Much
would depend on the three independents, who are Congress
rebels. The Congress’ loss of 15 seats against the 36 it won in 2002 was mainly
due to acute infighting in the party. This led to the presence of several rebel
candidates in the fray as Independents and, significantly, an ineffective poll
campaign that failed to project the Narayan Datt Tiwari Government’s many
achievements during the last two-three years.
* * * *
Consolation In
Manipur
In Manipur, the Congress
has something to cheer about. Although the party fell short of an absolute
majority by two votes with 29 seats in the 60-member Assembly,
it should have no difficulty in forming the Government for the second time in
succession. It has the support of the current coalition
partner, the CPI, which has won four seats. In fact, the stability of the Okram
Ibobi Singh-led Ministry, which became the first Government in the State to
complete its full five-year tenure, was one of the main reasons that prompted
the people to vote it back to power. Another reason for popular support to the
Congress was its reputation for
moderation and its decision to keep away from the several underground groups
that are known to be receiving active support from politicians of other
regional parties. Significantly, the pro-NSCN United Naga Council succeeded in
sending to the Assembly six of its
eleven candidates for pursuing its demand for the creation of Nagalim or
greater Nagaland.
* * * *
Poll Pitch Moves To
U.P.
Poll campaigning in UP has jazzed up with the rout of the
Congress in adjoining Uttarakhand,
once the hilly part of the larger State. The BJP and the BSP of Mayawati,
emboldened by their success in
Uttarakhand, have moved their crack troops into U.P. for the poll in seven
phases, starting April 7. Adding to the excitement is the ruling Samajwadi Party
supremo Mulayam Singh’s success in
winning the seventh vote of confidence in his Government (the second in two
months) on Monday in a near-empty House. The BSP, Congress
and the RLD stayed away and the BJP walked out of the Assembly,
leaving Mulayam Singh to sail through comfortably. The trust motion was passed by a voice vote after which the Speaker Pandey adjourned
the House to meet again on March 12.
* * * *
Madhya Pradesh
Towards Progress
Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan of Madhya Pradesh has
reason to celebrate. He and his Government received a major compliment the
other day from the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission,
Montek Singh Ahluwalia. Madhya Pradesh, he said, was moving in the right
direction on the economic development front. The occasion was the Chief
Minister’s discussion with the
Planning Commission for finalising
the State’s annual plan for 2007-08. The
plan has been pegged at Rs.12,011 crore, a hike of Rs.2061 crore in the current
year’s allocation. Considering the State’s progress
roadmap, the Commission has
allocated a one-time additional Central assistance
of Rs.111 crore for projects of special benefit to the State, which has made
appreciable progress in the social
sector, especially education and health. The Commission
has also appreciated the continuous efforts to improve irrigation and women
empowerment. The Commission has,
however, advised acceleration of efforts for employment generation and poverty
reduction.
* * * *
Special Central
Grant For Orissa
Orissa, too, has
been given an additional one-time grant of Rs.80 crore for projects of special
interest to the State. This was announced by the Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Ahluwalia while finalizing
with Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik the State’s annual plan for 2007-08 in New Delhi last week. Ahluwalia complimented the State for its
economic performance, pointing out that Orissa
had developed potential to go for a higher plan size for the Eleventh Plan
(2007-12). There has been a substantial
improvement both on revenue deficit and fiscal deficit. The Commission has noticed that the State Government has
created an investor-friendly environment and a large amount of foreign
investment has been indicated. Several foreign companies have shown interest in
setting up industrial projects in Orissa.
* * * *
Gujarat’s Tax-Free
Budget
Gujarat’s Finance Minister Vajubhai Vala
has presented a tax-free budget for 2007-08. He has also announced in his
proposals an additional tax relief of about Rs.400 crore, leaving a deficit of Rs.70
crore which he hopes to meet by reducing Government and non-development
expenditure. Chief Minister Narendra
Modi has described the budget as “pro-people”, benefiting more than 90 per cent
of the poor and middle-class
families. The Finance Minister has also announced a massive
Rs. one-lakh crore outlay for the State’s Eleventh Plan (2007-08). It will be
more than double the Tenth Plan outlay of Rs.47,000 crore. The State Government
is hoping to achieve a 10.62 per cent growth rate at the end of the Tenth Plan.
* * * *
Fresh Trouble In
Singur
Fresh trouble has arisen for the West Bengal Government and
its Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee over the farmland acquired for the
Tata car project at Singur. Over 350 protestors tried to force their way into
the village on Saturday last in a bid to damage the fence around the project
site. Most of the protestors are
marginal land owners who are dissatisfied
with the compensation package. To make matters worse, the Calcutta High Court
has pulled up the State Government on a batch of public-interest litigations
(PILs) for following two sets of compensation rules for the acquisition of
land. The Court has directed the Government to show it all the documents and
agreements in this regard. Nevertheless,
the Tatas are pushing ahead with their plans for manufacturing a people’s car
of Rs. one lakh---and keeping their fingers crossed.
---INFA
(Copyright,
India News and Feature Alliance)
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