Is there any relation between Mamata Banerjee and Arvind Kejriwal’s politics with NoidaIJ The answer would be ‘no’. Both Chief Ministers usually keep a safe distance from the city. Several incidents have taken place in Uttar Pradesh, but neither leader displayed any interest. There was no reaction either from Mamata or Kejriwal over the Saharanpur issue. However, when a controversy erupted over a domestic help in a Noida society, they both became active.
Recently, Mahagun Moderne society in Noida was in the news; a domestic help’s employer alleged that she stole money from the house, while she claimed she was held hostage by her employee. The matter escalated when the help’s relatives and other acquaintances vandalised the society for hours. The residents of the society alleged that the slumdwellers were Bangladeshis, who instead claimed that most of them are from West Bengal and hence Indian citizens.
As soon as the row turned into Hindu vs Muslims and the Bangladeshi angle emerged, leaders of the Aam Aadmi Party sprung into action. Several AAP leaders reached the spot, keeping the slumdweller vote bank of Delhi in mind. They started talking about the rights of domestic helps. At the same time, Mamata announced that she would send a team to investigate the matter.
Old notes, new problem
The Central Government has said to the Supreme Court that permission can’t be granted to deposit the scrapped notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000. On the direction of the Apex Court, the Government filed an affidavit, stating that if permission is granted again then the purpose of the operation would be defeated. The Government also said that black marketers of currency would benefit with the help of others.
Now the question is how many old notes are currently out of the system which are to be deposited in banks taking the benefit of the concessionIJ This fact is not being disclosed by the Government. There’s no official version on the deposit of old currency ever since the process started. This is the ninth month of demonetisation and the Government is saying that notes are still being counted. But the reality is different; when the notes were deposited, they were counted, and when the banks sent them to the RBI, they were counted again. It is possible that the process has been delayed due to other factors, such as verification of serial numbers. But there is no doubt that the Government has got the figures. If the Government discloses the number of notes which are still out of the system, the picture would be clearer. In that case, it will be easier for the Supreme Court to decide.
Many experts feel that most of the Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes have come back to the system. If this is true then very few notes would be hidden elsewhere. The Government must take into consideration the people who are still left with old currency due to genuine problems. But if a lot of currency is still out of the system, the Government must think of other ways to retrieve it. And for that, it is imperative that it releases the currency data.
Cong woes in Delhi, WB
In the case of the ruling party of Delhi, the Aam Aadmi Party, the Congress is riding a raging bull and holding onto its horns, unable to jump off. There’s a similar situation in West Bengal. In both States, the PCC and central organisation are playing different politics. In West Bengal, State president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury is protesting against the State Government, but the central leaders are not participating as Rahul and Sonia Gandhi are trying to keep Mamata on their side.
In Delhi, on one hand, the president of DPCC has declared an all-out war against Kejriwal, and on the other hand, the central leadership has taken his support in Presidential Election. Under pressure from the Delhi committee, the Congress kept mum for many days, but when the kshatrapas started extending their support to the NDA candidate, the party needed the AAP’s help.
Meanwhile, the AAP backed Meira Kumar as it was strategically beneficial for the party. The CPM leader Sitaram Yechury wished to invite Kejriwal to the meeting of the Opposition parties, but the Congress wasn’t ready. When Kejriwal made an announcement on his own, the Congress high command’s stand turned soft and Meira Kumar went to meet Kejriwal at his house. After the meeting, leaders of the DPCC kept mum. They think Meira couldn’t have called upon Kejriwal without informing the party high command. This clearly means that the Congress high command is changing its stand towards Kejriwal. Even if that is not the case, the AAP vote bank has again consolidated after supporting Meira. The Congress made many efforts in the past two years, but now things seem to be slipping out of its hands.
Nitish clings onto power
Amidst the prevailing tension with the RJD, Bihar Chief Minister and president of the JDU, Nitish Kumar, can take any decision barring two — he will not leave the chair and hand over the power to someone else, and he will not go into elections alone. The reason is simple — he has experienced both situations and is well aware of the damages they can pose. So, he will try to hold onto power and ensure that an alliance is forged before the elections.
After launching his party, Nitish has fought on his own twice and faced disaster. In 1995, when he formed the Samta Party, he went into elections with the ‘lav-Kush’ equation (Kurmi-Koeri brotherhood). At that time, there were 324 seats in the Bihar Assembly, and he had won only six. The second time around, he fought the lok Sabha Elections in 2014 without any alliance as he had parted ways with the BJP just before the polls. He had left two seats for the left. The JDU ended up winning just two seats, and around two dozen candidates could not even save their security deposit. Nitish is well aware of the ground reality, his image, and strengths. Hence, it is almost certain that he will go for a tie-up.
His party spokesperson claimed that Nitish would leave power in no time, but that seems to be just exaggeration. He has good experience of leaving his chair for someone else. After his defeat in the lok Sabha Elections, he had handed over his chair to Jitan Ram Manjhi. After working hard for a couple of months, Nitish was successful in taking his throne back. So, he is not going for this experiment again. Interestingly, the BJP and lalu Prasad Yadav are aware of Nitish’s compulsions.