Round The States

New Delhi, 11 May 2007

Crucial UP Election

MAYAWATI WINS HANDS DOWN

By Insaf

Mayawati has won hands down the crucial U.P. Assembly poll, achieving a lot more than what the pre-poll projections had predicted for her Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP): single largest party.  Hers is the first party to have won an absolute majority in the 403-member Assembly after a lapse of 16 years. Her triumph is mainly attributed to the brilliant election strategy she worked out months in advance to regain power. For one thing, she cleverly skipped the civic body elections earlier in the year to avert any fragmentation of her party. For another, she undertook social engineering by building bridges with the Brahmins, non-Yadav backward castes and Muslims. Initially, it was hard to believe that in a highly caste-ridden structure of the State, the Brahmins would accept Mayawati’s leadership. But the way she distributed party tickets to the Brahmins and Muslims dented the vote-banks of both the ruling Samajwadi Party and the aspiring BJP.

Additionally, Mayawati’s social engineering strategy got a major boost from the anti-incumbency factor. It is now clear that the people desperately wanted to throw out the Mulayam Singh Government. Consequently, they ensured that the non-BJP and anti-Samajwadi Party votes did not get divided. This resulted in the Congress and other smaller parties polling unexpectedly low scores.  Even Beni Prasad Verma, who had left the Samajwadi Party before the polling, and the BJP State Chief, Kesri Nath Tripathi, lost their elections. The Congress Party also finished far behind, despite hectic campaigning by the party Chief Sonia Gandhi and her children---Rahul and Priyanka. Rahul, described by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as the “future of UP”, also failed to convert into votes his popularity in the road shows.

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Free And Fair Poll

Happily, the seven-phase month-long process of polling was peaceful, free and fair, something not seen in the State over the decades. It was virtually free of violence, barring only a few instances involving the CRPF. Unlike in the previous elections, not a single gun shot was fired during the poll, thanks to the adequate superintendence by the Election Commission. Not only did the Commission delete from the electoral rolls names of nearly 22 lakh voters who were either dead or had shifted elsewhere, but also tracked down about 8.5 lakh temporarily absentee voters and marked them for closer scrutiny at the polling stations. Meanwhile, the Chief Election Commissioner, N. Gopalaswamy has come forward with an interesting reason for the low voter turn-out, which recorded an eight per cent drop---from 53.58 in 2002 to 45 per cent this time. This, he claims, was because of strict control over bogus voting!

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The Goa Congress has suffered a major jolt in the run-up to the Assembly poll on June 2. The party’s senior leader Churchil Alemao, who belongs to the Catholic community that accounts for 26 per cent of the State’s electorate, has quit his Lok Sabha seat and joined the regional outfit: “Save Goa Front”. Alemao’s exit from the party may mean for the Congress a great loss in the Salcete region of south Goa, known to be a stronghold of the party which has been wining all the eight seats of the region in previous elections for the 40-member Assembly. Alemao’s quitting has given comfort to the main opposition party the BJP. It has already announced its first list of 32 candidates. For the remaining eight seats, it has decided to wait and see the lists of the other parties. Nominations close on May 14.

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Political Trouble In Andhra

Political trouble is brewing in the ruling Congress in Andhra Pradesh. Some senior party leaders are demanding the Deputy Chief Ministership for a representative from the Telangana region in the State. Their demand is in accordance with an “agreement”, they claim to have signed between the State’s two major regions, Andhra and Telangana, at the time of the formation of the State in 1956. The issue has now been raised once more on the plea that entrusting of the post to an MLA from Telangana would help assuage the sentiments of the people who have been clamouring for statehood for the region. The CM has, however, undertaken the much-awaited Cabinet reshuffle without naming anyone a Deputy Chief Minister, greatly upsetting the party leaders from Telangana.

Interestingly, the Congress High Command, initially endorsed the Chief Minister’s reluctance to have a Deputy CM. But it has changed its tune, stating that it is the Chief Minister’s prerogative to have a Deputy. Over the last five decades, only five of the State’s 14 Chief Ministers have chosen to appoint Deputy CMs. This was more out of political necessity than any respect for the agreement which clearly stipulated that “if the Chief Minister is from one region, the other region should be given the Deputy Chief Minister’s post. Andhra Pradesh’s first Chief Minister Neelam Sanjiva Reddy, declined to have a Deputy CM and so also the Telugu Desam Chief Ministers, N.T. Rama Rao and N. Chandrababu Naidu.

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Badal Gets Centre’s Support

Prakash Singh Badal is going all out to ensure the State’s development in his second stint as the Chief Minister of Punjab. Significantly, he has managed to get a helping hand from the Union Government. To start with, Badal is concentrating on infrastructure development, as per the Akali Dal’s commitment prior to the Assembly poll. During his recent visit to New Delhi, he got the Manmohan Singh Government to clear Rs.3,015- crore worth of road projects across the State. The emphasis is on widening the highways in keeping with the Central policy thrust on infrastructure building. Badal’s next priority is power. He has managed two deals for getting additional power for the State: 395 MW from the Centre’s electricity quota and 500 MW from Chhattisgarh. Badal has also asked the Planning Commission Deputy Chairman, Montek Singh Ahluwalia for grant of Rs.100 crore for rural education.

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Another Setback To SEZ Policy

The Union Government’s policy for encouraging Special Economic Zones (SEZs) in the States has received yet another setback. All the State Governments have unanimously rejected the Centre’s advice to allow tax exemptions to the non-processing (non-productive) areas of SEZs. The Empowered Committee of the State Finance Ministers on VATS, headed by West Bengal’s Asim Dasgupta, has decided that “no one should impose on the States anything relating to their tax structures and exemptions”, especially in any non-processing parts of SEZ.  The empowered Group of Ministers on SEZs, headed by Pranab Mukherjee has ruled that the minimum processing area would be 50 per cent of the total land area. The Group has also constituted a sub-committee to prepare a roadmap for implementation of a common “Goods and Services Tax”, proposed to be rolled out by the Centre from 2010.

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 The Karnataka Government, led by H.D. Kumaraswamy has managed to get the State Assembly pass two contentious legislations to prevent land grabbing. They were vigorously resisted by its BJP ally and the Opposition Congress. The BJP opposed them  on the ground that the new laws would affect the poor. But it supported the legislation only after the Chief Minister threatened to call off the coalition. The Karnataka Land Revenue (Amendment) Bill 2007 outlines punishment for illegally occupying land, sale of agricultural land without conversion and approvals and Government servants facilitating illegalities. The Karnataka Land Grabbing (Prohibition) Bill 2007, is intended to curb organized attempts to grab land whether belonging to the Government, local authorities or other statutory and non-statutory bodies owned, controlled or managed by the Government. .---INFA

 (Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)