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Round The States
Historic Poll In J&K
OMAR TO HEAD NC-CONG GOVT
By Insaf
New Delhi, January 03, 2009
The Jammu & Kashmir election clearly marks a watershed in
India’s democracy. The seven-phase and 73-day free and fair
poll exercise has brought the anti-secessionist party, the
National Conference back to the helm of affairs. Its
President, third generation Abdullah and the youngest Chief
Minister today, Omar is all set to form a coalition Government
with the Congress, a tie-up first witnessed 20 years ago. NC
patriarch Farooq Abdullah will strengthen the party at both
the local and national levels. Former Chief Minister Mufti
Mohd Sayeed and his pro-separatists People’s Democratic Party,
will now sit in the opposition. The Bharatiya Janata Party,
which increased its tally from one to 11 seats, is expected to
take up grievances of the Jammu region, starting with removing
a strong sense of alienation amongst its people viz the
Valley. Be that as it may, all political parties in the State
need to respect the poll verdict. The people mainly yearn for
peace, good governance and all-round development.
The message to the newly-elected people’s representatives
couldn’t have been more loud and clear. The high voter
turnout, a record 62 per cent despite the biting cold, was a
big rebuff to the separatists and their call for poll boycott.
Hurriyat leaders such as Syed Gilani, Sajjad Lone and Mirwaiz
Farooq have openly admitted that they would need to “rethink
strategy”. At the same time, Pakistan too should realize that
the Kashmiri has said a big no to gun culture and the cry of
‘azadi’ has been drowned by that for pani, sadak and bijli.
However, the verdict has a darker side too. There has been a
clear polarization of J&K along communal lines. Jammu voters
have pitched in for the BJP, instead of the Congress against
the backdrop of the violent Amarnath shrine land controversy.
Jammu refuses to be taken for granted by the Valley and its
leaders any more. The NC and Congress coalition will need to
tread carefully.
* * * *
NDA CMs To Meet
Chief Ministers and Home Ministers of NDA-ruled States are
gathering in New Delhi on January 5, a day before the meeting
convened by Union Home Minister P Chidambaram, to discuss
steps to fight the battle against terror. BJP’s Prime
Ministerial candidate L K Advani has convened the meeting not
only to formulate a thorough response to the steps taken so
far, but to fine tune a common NDA stance. It may be recalled
that some CMs had taken exception to the tone of Chidambaram’s
letter directing them to do this and that. However, BJP
leaders, in consonance with their core constituency, want to
be seen ready to do whatever is expected of them to improve
national security. Thus, it’s a challenge for the BJP to take
along its alliance Chief Ministers, Parkash Singh Badal of
Punjab and Naveen Patnaik of Orissa, who are wary like some
others of any attempt by the Centre to impinge on the autonomy
of the States under the garb of national security. Advani
hopes to keep his flock of nine States together at
Chidambaram’s meet.
* * * *
Peaceful Xmas In Orissa
Christmas in Orissa and importantly in Kandhmal district was
calm and peaceful, amidst tight security arrangements. The
celebrations were sober in the 60-odd churches and four relief
camps in Kandhamal, which had witnessed the worst-ever
communal carnage in August-September last year. While it would
still take time for complete normalcy to return, Chief
Minister Naveen Patnaik not only kept his word to the European
community of a safe Xmas in the State, but successfully
persuaded the Sangh Parivar to call off its bandh that day.
This follows investigations zeroing in on Congress Rajya Sabha
member and former bureaucrat, Radhakanta Nayak for his alleged
role in the conspiracy to kill 84-year-old Swami Lakshamananda
Saraswati. The CID is learnt to be preparing a case against
Nayak and may even arrest him, notwithstanding his strong
denial. Nayak is considered to be the most high-profile
Christian political leader in the State. In 2004 he was close
to becoming Union Cabinet Secretary during the Deve Gowda
regime.
* * * *
Mayawati’s Extortion Terror
Birthday celebrations of BSP supremo and UP Chief Minister
Mayawati have come under a shameful and scandalous cloud,
following the brutal murder of PWD engineer MK Gupta in
Auraiya District allegedly by her MLA and his henchmen. The
engineer is said to have refused to cough up “Rs 50 lakh” for
the party coffers for Mayawati’s birthday, which is celebrated
as “arthik sahyog divas” on January 15. Given the popular
outrage, the Chief Minister failed miserably to palm off the
ghastly act as a case of “departmental rivalry between two
engineers.” Eventually she was forced to order the arrest of
MLA Shekhar Tiwari and four others. Another MLA and Auraiya
district’s BSP President is also accused in the incident,
which has provided both the Samajwadi Party and Congress
enough ammunition against Mayawati. The two are busy working
on a strategy to sharpen the accusation that for the BSP
maverick governance is all paise ka khel. Both have announced
their decision to observe Mayawati’s birthday as a “Day of
Shame.”
* * * *
Massive Loot in Arunachal
Arunachal Pradesh is increasingly facing the challenge of
stopping its residents from crossing over to the Chinese side
in search of livelihood. While State officials deny any such
movement, they admit to cases of ‘crossing sides.” The reason?
The Chinese have developed good infrastructure across the Line
of Actual Control, whereas border areas in India still lack
development and income-generating activities. Of late, the
Centre has no doubt woken up to the challenge and a special
package has been announced by the Prime Minister. Some 513
habitations along the 1080-km India-China border have been
identified for infrastructure development. Roads are to be
laid in 22 of 30 border blocks of 10 districts bordering China
at a cost of Rs 550 crores. However, the UPA Government at the
Centre will need to ensure that funds are not pocketed by
those in power. Itanagar and other towns are buzzing with talk
of massive loot. Not just that. Rice disbursed under the PM’s
relief scheme is, for example, being sold in the open market
to the highest bidder. Worse hefty commissions are being
brazenly charged.
* * * *
Stalin Will lead DMK
Feudalism continues to flourish in Tamil Nadu. Its ruling
party, the DMK zeroed in last week on the successor to Chief
Minister M Karunanidhi. In fact India’s south is no different
from the north. Like the Gandhi family, Karunanidhi is keen to
pass on the mantle to his son M K Stalin. Recently, Stalin was
elected as the Party’s Treasurer, which makes him number three
in the hierarchy after his father, who was re-elected
President, and General Secretary K Anbazhagan. It may be
recalled that Karunanidhi held the post of Treasurer before
becoming President in 1969, following the death of DMK founder
C N Annadurai. While Stalin is seen as the heir apparent, he
could well lead the party when the time comes. He came into
limelight way back in 1976 when he was imprisoned under MISA
for a year. Barring 1980 elections, Stalin has had successive
wins since 1984. He was instrumental in forming the youth wing
in 1980 and was Chennai’s mayor in 1996.---INFA
(Copyright India News & Feature Alliance)
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