NEW POWER PROJECTS: A NEW WIll-O’-THE-WISP
After a gap of three years, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik is back again to his old job of approving projects through the High level Clearance Authority (HlCA). Among others, he cleared four projects to generate 4,663 MW of power at a total investment of Rs 25,467 crore. But his make-believe plan for power generation no longer fascinates us. We have seen his Government signing 28 MoUs between 2006 and 2011 to set up power projects with a total investment of Rs 42,000 crore to generate 37,000 MW of power. But they are all castles in the air. So much so, we are now having unseasonal power cuts without any foreseeable end to them. It is a standing joke that the more Patnaik approves projects, the more the State regresses in economic development. The stench of failure around the stalled projects will take one’s breath away. It will hence be foolish to count the chickens before they are actually hatched. The staggering, almost picturesque, incompetence of his Government to lift the marooned power projects from a sea of uncertainty dashes all hopes of a better tomorrow. Failure to get them started is like a cruise missile aimed at the heart of the State’s development. Only someone estranged from reality would have faith in Patnaik’s plans for the State’s economic growth. Any lingering impression of his ability to pull the State from underdevelopment is now permanently removed. For long 15 years, we have seen an astonishing display of his incompetence. Was his love for the State’s economic development anything more than a highly successful image-building exerciseIJ His lack of belief in anything but his own political aggrandisement is at the root of the State’s backwardness. His ever-increasing political strength is underwriting his irresponsible behaviour on economy. The tragedy is our opposition leaders who love the title of leader more than the practice of leadership can’t galvanise the people to vigorously protest against the widespread power cuts. They are only looking for scams to hound Patnaik, not in-the-face public suffering. So, the Patnaik juggernaut rumbles on.
ACHE DINIJ HA! HA!!: AIYAR’S SPlENETIC VITRIOl IN BOOK FORM
Mani Shankar Aiyar’s book Ache DinIJ Ha! Ha!! is a work of vituperation from an established master in the dark art. The book is an insider’s guide to the Congress party’s closely guarded hatred of Narendra Modi before the last general elections. Aiyar was one of the most animating forces in the party’s anti-Modi tirade. In the lok Sabha election, the BJP made hay out of the gaffe-prone Aiyar’s all-time stupid comment that Modi could, if he liked, sell tea outside the party’s AICC sessions. Aiyar was uncontrollable in his fury against Modi. From his ever-eruptive mouth, he did everything to do him down. His sulphurous philippics before the general elections were early signs of the Congress party’s desperation. He almost developed a stalker-like fixation with Modi. His hair-trigger temper has often landed him in the soup. His unerring ability to generate controversy has done more harm to his party than his opponents. But when he lampooned Modi for his lowly origin, the latter earned the underdog sympathy he desperately needed to win the elections. Aiyar’s impudent comments proved fatal, and the Congress paid a heavy price for being snobbish. The book is a pathetic attempt to defend his monumental mistake. The trenchant Modi critic is now frothing at the mouth for being completely upstaged by the BJP victory. Before and after the elections, he had always treated Modi with contemptuous insolence. But with Modi firmly entrenched in power, his book is like howling at the moon in rage. He has only himself to blame for contributing to his party’s fall from power. His book is a vitriolic anti-Modi diatribe rather than a work of serious study. Aiyar’s principal skill is ruthless hostility to the BJP and Modi. His book is clearly the political equivalent of mugging. His hatred of Modi, coupled with his undying admiration for the Gandhi family, makes the book more a political pamphlet for free distribution than a priced publication worth possessing.
CONGRESS CHICKENS OUT OF RAllIES
OPCC president Prasad Harichandan chickened out of his planned rallies. He was scared by the frightening sound of too many political mortars crashing down at the same time. Why did the party first announce the rallyIJ Didn’t it know that any last-minute pullout would be viewed by the public as the party ducking for cover in the intense battle of ralliesIJ The Congress’s sinuous opt-out is widely seen not as a change of plan but the people’s verdict on the party’s combat-readiness. The truth is the fissiparous party is in a state of utter disrepair. At the grassroots level, the party remains hopelessly disorganised. District-level and block-level presidents are yet to be appointed by Harichandan, notorious for his chronic temporising on vital organisational matters. The jumbo-sized team he assembled after much dithering is incapable of bestirring itself. His new plan for a six-month-long Padayatra is even more farfetched and fanciful. He should show more practical leadership than is immediately evident. His personal ratings are in freefall. Has Harichandan run out of ideasIJ His most obvious skill gap is in leadership. Under him, the party seems to be stuck in neutral. It requires a leap of imagination that he can lead the party out of its present wilderness. He has clearly put his party in the wrong side of public opinion. Confidence in his leadership is on the line.
(saratpattanayak@hotmail.com (M) 9437962121)