Round The States

New Delhi, 15 March 2007

Congress Fourth Front

MULTI-CORNER CONTESTS IN UP

By Insaf

Political activity is fast hotting up in U.P. for the crucial seven-phase poll from April 7 to May 8.  As the nominations for the first round of polling in 62 constituencies in 13 districts close next week, all parties in the fray are preparing for intense multi-corner contests for all the 403 Assembly seats. The ruling Samajwadi Party of Mulayam Singh, the BJP and Mayawati’s BSP have finalized their strategies and pre-poll understandings with smaller parties. While the Congress, which presently stands fourth in popularity reckoning, is desperately trying to stage a come-back in the State politics. Sonia Gandhi has personally worked out a Fourth Front with the support of some of the Congress partners in the UPA at the Centre, Lalu Prasad’s RLD, Sharad Pawar’s NCP and Ram Vilas Paswan’s LJP. Electoral adjustments are also being negotiated with Ajit Singh’s RLD, the CPI and Jan Morcha of V.P. Singh and Raj Babbar.

The BJP is now a front-runner, having considerably improved its chances of regaining power in the State, thanks to the impressive showing in Punjab and Uttarakhand.  It has already tied up a pre-poll alliance with its NDA partner, Janata Dal (U) of Sharad Yadav-Nitish Kumar-George Fernandes as also the Apna Dal. The party is hoping to get the support of a majority of the Brahmins, who constitute about 11 per cent of the State’s population , as also of the other upper castes namely Rajputs and Banias comprising 12 and 13 per cent respectively. It is hoping to get the support of non-Yadav OBCs through the JD(U) and Apna Dal.  The party is also expecting full support of another OBC, the Lodhs to which Kalyan Singh belongs. He is being projected by the BJP as its chief ministerial candidate. The ruling SP is counting mainly on Yadavs, the CPM and Muslims, who constitute 16-17 per cent of the State’s population. In fact, even the Congress MP, Obaidullah Khan is reportedly campaigning for the SP.

*                                   *                                               *                                       *

EC Shifts Top Cop

Meanwhile, the Election Commission has taken some unprecedented steps to ensure free and fair poll in U.P. These include marching orders to nine senior IAS and IPS officers, including the Director General of Police, his Deputy and the Principal Secretary Home, who, the Commission thought, were “admirers” of Mulayam Singh and had attended a Government function at Samajwadi Party headquarters in late June last year.  The EC is said to have been watching closely the activities of the bureaucracy since the poll was announced on February 21. But it chose to wait for action until the Governor’s poll notification when the State administration came under the EC’s “superintendence”. The entire bureaucracy is upset and the top cop, DGP Bua Singh has already put in his papers, seeking premature retirement. He was due to retire on June 30. More officers may follow suit. They feel one with Bua Singh who has stated: “The EC has been unfair to me. I have an unblemished service record…”

*                                    *                                               *                                      *

Assets Case Vendetta, Says Badal

Within days of taking over the Chief Ministership of Punjab for the fourth time, Parkash Singh Badal faces criminal charges against him during his earlier stint as the CM from 1997 to 2002.  A Special Judge at Chandigarh ordered framing of charges against him, his wife, son Sukhbir Singh and others for amassing wealth disproportionate to their known sources of income. The case was filed during the reign of Amarinder Singh. Badal has reacted sharply to the charge and claimed that nothing has been established against him. He stated during his first visit to the Union Capital as the fourth-time CM that he was a victim of political vendetta and blamed Amarinder Singh for “employing the Government machinery to frame him. He asserted: “It must be the first case of its kind when allegations have been made quoting reliable sources… I committed no wrong and amassed no wealth disproportionate to my known sources of income”.

*                                 *                                               *                                       *

Coalition Problems In J&K

Relations between the ruling coalition partners in Jammu and Kashmir, the Congress and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), are increasingly soaring. Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad has been advised by the party High Command to lie low and leave the “first strike option” for breaking up the alliance to the coalition PDP. This advice was given to Azad who air-dashed to New Delhi over the week-end, following the PDP Ministers’ decision to boycott the Cabinet meetings until their demands were conceded. The coalition’s erstwhile Chief Minister, Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, and party Chief Mehbooba Mufti have been demanding drastic troop withdrawal and repeal of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act.  Azad has rejected the demand and asked the PDP leaders to surrender their personal security first!

*                                 *                                               *                                       *

Nitish’s Plan For Bihar’s Progress

The NDA Government in Bihar, led by Nitish Kumar of the Janata Dal (U), has adopted several good ideas from the Centre and implemented them in the State, Bihar became the first State in the country to have laid in the State Assembly its “Economic Survey” prior to the budget presentation. Some of the fiscal initiatives which Nitish Kumar adopted in his budget proposals as the Finance Minister were also inspired by the Centre’s model. If the Centre has identified 23 districts of the State for implementation of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), the State Government has decided to extend the scheme to the remaining 15 districts with internal funding. Ditto with the National Horticulture Mission (NSM) which the State Government has implemented in 19 districts uncovered by the Centre with its own resources.

*                                  *                                               *                                       *

New Industrial Policy For NE

A new industrial policy has been worked out for the north-eastern region by the Union Government to replace the existing which expires on March 31. According to the Minister for the Development of the North Eastern Region, Mani Shankar Aiyar, the new policy will ensure that capital subsidies and the viability gap funding are made easily available for small hydro-electric project and biomass fuel projects. The new policy reflects the Government’s keen desire to provide to the people of the distant region power on priority. At present only about 24 per cent of the households in the region get regular power supply, even though 62 per cent of the villages in the region have been electrified. Power generation is proposed to be more than doubled in the next five years, from 2000 MW to 5000 MW.

*                                   *                                               *                                       *

Bloodshed In Nandigram

West Bengal’s Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s bold declaration that his Government’s policy on industrialization and Special Economic Zones (SEZs) was “irreversible” has taken an ugly turn. Even though the CM had indicated at a massive farmers’ rally that shifting of the SEZ venue of the Nandigram project could be considered, the people of the area and those opposed to the SEZ policy revolted. When a land acquisition notice was put up, local villagers and some political activists cut off the entry point to the area. This led to the deployment of a large contingent of the police force which opened fire on the protestors, killing at least eleven people. The police has, however, clarified that they fired in self-defence only after the teargas shells and rubber bullets failed to control the protestors at the entry point. The villagers, they claimed, were carrying fire arms.

*                                  *                                               *                                       *

RWAs in MCD Poll Fray

Delhi Chief Minister Shiela Dikshit’s much publicized “Bhagidari” concept that her Government introduced in 2000 to involve Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs) in civic issues has now gone beyond the “participatory and responsive governance”. The RWAs are now demanding a direct role in governance and are fielding their candidates in the Municipal Council elections on April 7.  The move is intended to give voice to their dissatisfaction with their ward Corporators. The RWAs feel that the presence of their own representatives in the Municipal Corporation would strengthen the “Bhagidari” concept. Actually Bhagidari’s failure was evident last year when the citizens’ bodies throughout the Capital forced the Government to roll back the hike in power tariff. ---INFA

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)