A golden opportunity has been presented to DMK chief M Karunanidhi. He hopes to change the political equation in Tamil Nadu. In fact, he wants to bring back the political scenario that existed in the 60s and 70s. By withdrawing support to the UPA-II, he has portrayed himself as the martyr willing to sacrifice for the good of others.
He is well aware of the limitations that the Centre has with regards to the plight of Tamils in Sri lanka. In fact, India can’t do much when it comes to its stand on what is happening in Sri lanka. But by taking a stand, some political analysts feel, he will get political mileage.
In the last Assembly elections, he had faced a big defeat. He didn’t get the sufficient numbers of seats. This meant that his daughter Kanimozhi couldn’t get a seat in the Rajya Sabha. His chances of improving the seat tally for the 2014 lok Sabha elections are dim.
Therefore, his son Stalin, with a few other DMK leaders, have raised the issue of the Tamils. The issue is very close to the hearts of the locals. By withdrawing support in the name of Tamils, he may have increased his votebank a little.
The dilemma
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has put the Centre in a dilemma. The Government wants to give special status to Bihar but to do so it will have to make changes in the Gadgil formula (evolved in 1969 for determining the allocation of Central assistance for State plans).
If changes are made in Bihar, other States will demand special status as well. So, the solution lies in giving a special economic package to the State. But there is a problem here as well. If Bihar is given special package, it would be impossible for the Centre to reject West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s demand. Even Uttar Pradesh has demanded a special package of Rs94,000 crore.
Meanwhile, at a rally held at Ramlila Maidan in Delhi last week, Nitish Kumar said that the key to power in the 2014 lok Sabha will be in his hands. He said that the Centre should give special status to Bihar now or, it will be forced to do so in 2014.
Interestingly, a similar statement was made by Ram Vilas Paswan some time back. In 2004, no party had got a majority in the lok Sabha elections. Paswan had won 29 seats out of 40 and said he held all the cards. Sadly, nothing happened. Consequently, his MlAs left him and, in the election held in December the same year, he got only nine seats.
likewise, after the lok Sabha elections of 2004 and 2009 Samajwadi Party had said the same thing. In 2004, SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav had 37 MPs but nobody gave him any importance. The Congress which had only 145 MPs ran the UPA-I Government without Mulayam Singh. In 2009, SP got 23 seats and BSP got 18 but the Congress formed the UPA-II Government without them again.
No changes
Congress president Sonia Gandhi has made it clear that there will be no changes in Karnataka and the present team will be incharge of the upcoming Assembly elections in May. And although a committee has been made with Defence Minister AK Antony as head, other members include former Minister of Information and Broadcasting Ambika Soni, Overseas Affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi, former Goa Chief Minister luizinho Faleiro and Minister of State for Youth Affairs and Sports Jitendra Singh. Falerio has been entrusted with the task of naming the list of probable candidates.
Once the committee was formed others changes were put on hold. This was a big jolt for former External Affairs Minister SM Krishna who was expecting to become either the State president or at the least head the election committee.
It is said that Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president G Parameshwar, Congress legislature Party (ClP) leader Siddaramaiah, labour and Employment Minister Mallikarjun Kharge and Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Veerappa Moily, who had been Krishna’s appointees, have opposed any changes in the present set up.
Krishna had started lobbying for State president post as soon as he was removed as Minster for External Affairs. But he didn’t succeed due to the opposition from the local leaders. With the Congress achieving a convincing victory in local elections, Krishna’s opponents have got the perfect excuse to keep him at bay.
The confrontation
Shahi Imam of Jama Masjid Ahmed Bukhari is in direct confrontation with Mulayam Singh and his son UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav. Bukhari will hold a rally in Etawah on March 25.
Etawah is Mulayam Singh’s stronghold. So, speculation is rife on what Mulayam’s reaction will be. Mulayam has Mohd Azam Khan on his side. But even he is not attacking the way Bukhari has been after he snapped ties with the SP. But to counter Bukhari, Mulayam has been courting Maulana Touqeer Raza of Bareilly.
In the net
Many people were not in favour of Prithviraj Chavan being appointed as Mahatashtra Chief Minister. His style of working is different. He spends more time in Delhi than in the State. Many state unit leaders had complained against him to the Congress High Command. But, now, the same people are singing his praises since he has managed to rein the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).
Before Chavan, all the Chief Ministers had kept friendly relations with NCP. But, when Chavan became the Chief Minister many files on the work done by NCP MPs were stopped. The NCP leaders became worried and criticised Chavan.
But Chavan ignored all and verbally attacked Ajit Pawar and linked his name to many corruption charges. Now, the Congress opines that the only reason why the NCP was against Chavan is because he was trying to root out corruption of NCP leaders. Due to this, the NCP has become isolated in the State.
Key masters
Political parties were aware that if Raja had been called before the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probing the 2G scam, many more names may have been revealed. A newspaper report says that it has proof that the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) was not only well aware of each and every move of Raja, but on many issues, it gave him its nod too.
Citing a few documents, the newspaper has claimed that before allotting the licence on January 10, 2008, Raja had written to the PMO on December 26, 2007 giving all the information. On December 29, the Prime Minister had given instructions to consider it immediately.
Then Principal Secretary TKA Nair and present Principal Secretary Pulok Chatterji had looked into the letter.
In fact, on December 31 Chatterji had written a note on the letter that he had carefully gone through it. Not only this, just a one week before the 2G scam was unearthed Chatterji and the then telecom Secretary and co-accused Siddhartha Behura had had a talk on this issue.
This shows that the PMO was aware of Raja’s first come first serve policy. The newspaper has also revealed that two weeks after the allocation of spectrum, the PMO had prepared documents to prove that the Prime Minister was in no way involved.
Home goes to...
Home Secretary RK Singh is due to retire in June. And already the race is on many officers are vying for the coveted post including two Muslim officers. The name of Javed Usmani, the present chief secretary in UP is doing rounds. It is said that Usmani has good relations with principal secretary to Prime Minister Pulok Chatterji.
Then there is Javed Khwaja a 1976 batch IAS officer. However, a Muslim has been appointed as director Intelligence Bureau so appointing a Muslim as Home Secretary may be a problem. So, if these two officers have to be given a miss, an IAS officer of 1977 batch DRS Chaudhary may be the next Home Secretary.
RAHUl narrows down to amethi
Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi has instructed his party leaders to be discreet. Rahul is surprised about how what is being discussed in his meetings with partymen has regularly been finding its way to newspaper headlines.
He doesn’t want that the strategy being chalked out with his leaders, comes out in media. Meanwhile, party general secretary Janardan Dwivedi, who is also AICC media department in-charge, has been briefing the media about these meetings.
But it appears that many leaders wanting their few minutes of fame, have started briefing mediapersons. So much so that even Rahul’s reaction to his partymen talking to the media was narrated verbatim to a few journalists.
Talking of meetings, during the UP Assembly election campaign in the beginning of 2012, Rahul, at all public meetings, had said that whether the Congress won or lost, it would never give up on the State. Congress lost. In this last year, he has only visited the parliamentary constituency of Amethi. Before the elections, he visited homes of Dalits. He had taken special packages from the Centre for the Bunkars of Varanasi. He had gone to Bhatta Parsaul on foot to see the condition of farmers. Now, he visits only Amethi.