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Madhya Pradesh
State of Parties: Haryana |
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Ludhiana women reluctant to foray into politics
BJP plays ‘jilted lover’ to perfection
Where business interests override political ideology
Inertia hits Indian voters in Nepal
Lookalikes hog limelight
Graphic: Lok Sabha Poll, Phase II Polling April 23
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In the very heart of India,
it’s Cong vs Cong first
With polling near, infighting puts grand old party on back foot Our Roving Editor Man Mohan
Bhopal, April 18 In the 2004 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP secured 25 out of 29 seats. The Congress got the remaining four. In the Assembly polls too, the Congress suffered a humiliating defeat with the saffron party walking away with 143 out of 230 seats. According to sources, this time, at least 12 Congress candidates are facing ‘stiff opposition’ from local party leaders, making the rival BJP smile. Expecting sabotage from the ‘enemy within’, some of the nominees have even written to the party high-command, complaining about non-cooperation of local party leaders and workers. On their part, the locals are branding them as ‘outsiders’ in the constituency. Prominent among those facing opposition are Raja Pateria from Khajuraho, Aslam Sher Khan (former Hockey hero) from Sagar, Meenakshi Natrajan from Mandsaur, Bhagirath Prasad from Bhind, Ojharam from Betul and Ramnivas Rawat from Morena. Interestingly, the two top guns of the Congress --- former CM Digvijay Singh and state party head Suresh Pachauri --- have shied away from the elections, sending a wrong message among the voters. The state of Congress affairs can be judged this classic case: Union Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh’s daughter Veena Singh is contesting from the Sidhi constituency as an Independent. It has created a very embarrassing situation for the Congress. Also, the Congress candidate in Sidhi, Indrajeet Patel, is known as Arjun Singh’s man. Arjun had approached the Congress president Sonia Gandhi for getting his daughter nominated from Sidhi and MLA son, Ajay Singh, from Satna. The request was ignored. Although Arjun Singh and Ajay Singh have maintained that they would not canvas for Veena Singh and work only for the Congress candidate in Sidhi, the rival party leaders have described it merely as public posturing. Arjun Singh touched Rewa recently but did not go to Sidhi, where the election is taking place on April 23. In Bhopal also, things are not going well for the Congress. The party has given the ticket to Surendra Singh Thakur despite the presence of a major claimant PC Sharma, who said he was assured the Lok Sabha ticket from this city of lakes, when he was denied a nomination for the Assembly polls in November last. Anger against Thakur’s candidature is evident from the fact that no senior party leader came to attend the opening of his first election office. Thakur, however, claims that the resentment against him is dying down. In Sagar too, former Hockey hero Aslam Sher Khan is worried about losing the ‘election match’ as his own ‘team members’ are attempting to post a goal against him.
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BJP’s district leaders struggle to put up good show
Raman Mohan Tribune News Service
Hisar, April 18 The BJP oozed a lot of charm albeit mainly for migrant Punjabis and other business communities in urban Haryana in the past. It acted as a catalyst for sweeping Devi Lal to power in 1987, Bansi Lal in 1996 and Om Parkash Chautala in 2000 when it contested elections in tandem with the trio’s various political outfits. But the three wily suitors mauled it badly. As a result, the BJP failed to forge a stable long-term relationship with any of them. In the interregnum, it gained a lot of avoidable weight by inducting second-rung politicians of various hues. However, the excess weight showed up at all the wrong places. The party now finds itself in a political relationship with Chautala’s Indian National Lok Dal at the insistence of “parivar” elders, but the rest of the family members, “ the grassroots workers,” do not seem to be enjoying the party. In his time, Devi Lal, much like his contemporary Parkash Singh Badal, knew that he could be in power only if he added up BJP’s urban non-Jat vote bank to his own kitty of Jat votes. Based on this premise, he had a great partnership going with the late Dr Mangal Sein, the charismatic BJP leader from Rohtak. This combination romped home to power in 1987. After the death of Dr Mangal Sein, the BJP could not find a leader who could match his political stature and command over party machinery. Nevertheless, in 1996, the party joined hands with Bansi Lal’s Haryana Vikas Party and shared power with him till the government fell in 1999. Om Parkash Chautala replaced Bansi Lal and he, for a change, wooed the BJP assiduously, but only till the 2000 assembly poll. The INLD-BJP combine was swept to power after which the BJP leadership realised it was used as a political tool. The relationship soured and had an unhappy ending. The INLD and the BJP contested the 2004 Lok Sabha and 2005 assembly poll separately. In 2004 the BJP won only the Sonepat Lok Sabha seat and fared badly in the 2005 assembly poll. After that the party struggled to find a foothold. All along it publicly vowed never to have any truck with the INLD. But in the end it chose the INLD over the Haryana Janhit Congress. As of today, the BJP seems to be a rudderless ship. Its state leadership is in disarray. The grassroots workers appear to be confused. The party’s erstwhile stronghold of Rohtak and its surrounding areas has been conquered by the Congress. Nonetheless, its diehard supporters, who comprise mainly district-level leaders, are working assiduously to ensure that the party does well in the coming poll. But the task is anything but easy. There are a few factors which favour it. These include the UPA government’s handling of the terror situation and the damage done to the Congress by inflation and the shortage of essential commodities like cooking gas. In addition to these “negative” factors, it has a positive factor in Lal Krishan Advani, its prime ministerial candidate who stands tall.
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Ludhiana women reluctant to foray into politics
Ludhiana, April 18 Leave apart contesting elections, majority of women voters are absent even during the campaigning period all over the district. It is worth mentioning that the city has had leading women personalities, who have made respectable contribution to their respective fields. Harmeet Kaur remained the principal of Ramgarhia College for more than two decades, Principal Manjeet Sodhia led the command at Government College for Women for 18 years and Principal Harinder Dhillon was the head at Khalsa College for Women for 15 years. Sarbarinder Kaur Grewal is an established name in the field of social service. She came from a politically active family of Pratap Singh Kairon, and yet, chose to abstain from politics. Dr Amrit Tewari, a former fellow of Panjab University and mother of Manish Tewari, the Congress candidate, and Gurpreet Kaur (daughter) and Paramveer Kaur (daughter-in-law) of Gurcharan Singh Galib, the Shiromani Akali Dal candidate, are known to be travelling to different parts of the district. However,there is poor participation of women in the general election. The city has had only one woman Member of Parliament, Rajinder Kaur Bulara in 1979 on the Siromani Akali Dal ticket. Her husband, a PAU professor, was killed during peak of militancy in the state. The other notable contestant has been, Jaswant Kaur, wife of the slain Chief Minister Beant Singh for the Vidhan Sabha polls. Both had entered the political scene by default and not as their first preference. Pawan Dewan, the Congress spokesperson said, “33 per cent reservation for women in civic bodies has not given any desired results. The Bill needs to be restudied and amended in order to ensure more women participation. We even know about elected women councilors, who are managing their kitchen while their husbands run the political affairs on their behalf.”
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BJP plays ‘jilted lover’ to perfection
Bhubaneshwar, April 18 No wonder then that the BJP is playing a jilted lover to perfection, telling people how “unfair” the BJD had been to snap 11-year-old ties for no reason and how the Orissa CM had a history of betraying men loyal to him, his father and the party. In the latter category, the saffron brigade has a host of BJD stalwarts to show - all sidelined by the party and now in the fray on BJP tickets against their former colleagues. Topping this chart are veteran politicians and BJD founders Bijay Mahapatra and Dalip Ray, known for their proximity to Orissa CM’s father Biju Patnaik. Both the leaders were eventually sidelined by Naveen Patnaik and forced to look for other options. Mahapatra moved on to form his own party - the Orissa Gana Parishad, which contested the 2004 Assembly elections in alliance with the Congress. Later, he organised the NCP in Orissa only to be embarrassed further by Naveen Patnaik, who struck a deal with NCP chief Sharad Pawar for the 2009 LS and Assembly elections. The deal hasn’t gone down too well with people, who remember how Pawar had failed to declare a recent cyclone in Orissa as a national calamity. As for Mahapatra, he joined the BJP along with colleague Dalip Ray - the biggest catches for the saffron party in the election season. The two are now united in their fight against the BJD, which has suffered an image jolt due to senior party members deserting its ranks. Mahapatra is now contesting on BJP ticket from Patkura Assembly seat in Kendrapada Lok Sabha segment (going to polls on April 23), while Ray is actively canvassing against the BJD, citing betrayal as the latter’s nemesis. Adding weight to the betrayal issue against the BJD is the recent switching of sides by the party’s tallest leader in Parliament - Braja Kishore Tripati, who was BJD’s parliamentary party leader in the outgoing Lok Sabha. Denied ticket from Puri, which he represented four times, thrice in a row, Tripathi has emerged as the biggest pre-poll victory for the BJP. He is now fighting the BJD candidate - formerly a tall Congress leader Pinaki Mishra in Puri.Another senior BJD leader now on BJP’s side is Archana Nayak, the sitting Kendrapada MP, who was denied ticket by Naveen this time. She is in the fray now from Bhubaneshwar Lok Sabha seat on the BJP’s ticket. “I left the BJD to protest its alliance with the CPI, CPM and the NCP,” she said. Also in saffron ranks now is BJD’s former youth wing president Ratha Das, fighting from the Bhadrak Lok Sabha segment on the BJP ticket. Data shows that in the 147 Assembly segments of Orissa, the BJP has fielded 34 former BJD people, whom it is using extensively for anti-Naveen campaign across the state. Among BJP assembly candidates (formerly BJD leaders) are Uma Ballabh Rath and Ajay Jena, both contesting the Assembly polls from the Puri LS segment this time and Bijaylakshmi Pradhan, sitting Khandapada (Cuttack LS segment) MLA, whom Naveen Patnaik did not oblige with a ticket. The BJP was quick to fill in the gaps.
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Where business interests override political ideology
Ahmedabad, April 18 Sheikh is one of 1,500 families, almost all of them Muslim, for whom elections are good news because it means bulk work and therefore, good money. But this year they have fewer orders. “I don?t know why. It could be due to the financial meltdown,” he says. This is the first election to be held since the recession loomed large on the horizon. “Business for the entire Lok Sabha elections this time is less than what we got during the assembly elections held in six states last year,” says Bababhai Bishorawala, a Muslim contractor who had come to collect flags from Sheikh. Ahmedabad, he says, is the country’s major centre for production of flags and banners for most major political parties during each election. Currently, he has been contracted to work for several political parties from around the country, including the BSP, the Samajwadi Party, the Nationalist Congress Party, Shiv Sena and the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha in addition to the big two --- the Congress and the BJP. “In the past we would begin work six months before the elections. But this time we began getting orders only two months earlier,’ he says. “We make about two lakh flags per day,” he says, revealing that he is paid five paise per flag. Does he have an ideological problem working on flags belonging to parties that he does not like? “For us it is a source of livelihood. What interest do we have in any political party,” says Sheikh. It is predominantly the Muslim community that is engaged in labour, he adds. But like many others, Sheikh is reluctant to get into a discussion on his political leanings. In a factory near the Chandola lake located at one end of the old city, another Muslim dominated area, flags are being printed at the rate of Rs 4 a metre and hundreds of flags belonging to different parties are lying stacked on one side, ready to take their place in the campaigns of candidates with diverse political affiliations. “Businessmen look at money and not to which community they belong or for which party they are making flags,” says a 30 year-old Muslim business associate in this factory who does not wish to be named. Who will he vote for? “The Congress,” he replies, while simultaneously acknowledging that there had been considerable development under Modi’s regime and many Muslim youth have found jobs in the restaurants, call centres and malls that have come up in the current regime. Then what’s stopping him from voting for the party that holds the seat of power in the state? It’s all about ideology, he says.
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Inertia hits Indian voters in Nepal
Kathmandu, April 18 However, the campaign has not trickled down to India’s northern neighbour Nepal; nor has a succession of Indian governments taken any steps to ensure Indians living in Nepal are able to cast their votes in the Himalayan republic itself. Shiva Raj Singh Raghav, former president of the Indian Citizens’ Association (ICA) in Nepal, estimates that there are about 300,000-400,000 Indians and people of Indian origin living in Nepal as long-term residents.
The 50-year-old, a hardware wholesaler from Uttar Pradesh, has himself been residing in Nepal for the last 25
years. “The ICA had petitioned the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu, asking for the government to enable the Indians registered with the embassy to cast their votes in Nepal,” Raghav told IANS. “But the embassy expressed its inability to do so.” In addition to the long-term Indian residents, Raghav estimates there are several thousands of Indians who come and go across the open border.Indians living in Nepal include businessmen, professionals working for Indian organisations or joint ventures like banks, telecom and hydropower companies, embassy staffers, army personnel and teachers. Prem Lashkari, founding president of the Nepal-India Friendship Society, says
one reason for the inertia is that businessmen, whether they live in Nepal or
India, prefer to stay away from politics.His friend West Bengal lad Praksh Dugar, who owns a construction business in Nepal, is a prime example. “The last time I voted in my home constituency Murshidabad was eight years ago,” says
Dugar. — IANS
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Lookalikes hog limelight
Not only “Capt Amarinder Singh” was seen campaigning for the SAD, but “Sonia Gandhi”, “Rajinder Kaur Bhattal” and “Aroosa” were also seen convincing voters to vote for Harsimrat. Members of the Youth Akali Dal from Sangrur were roaming around in the city dressed up as these Congress leaders and others, enacting plays that doled out political messages against the Congress. Jaswinder Singh Akoi, who was clad in a lilac turban, white kurta and churidar, a black sleeveless jacket and spectacles, resembled Capt Amarinder Singh to an extent that people actually got surprised and the mediapersons ran to capture him when he got off a Tavera vehicle at the spot where Harsimrat was to arrive for a rally. Later, everyone realised that it was Captain’s duplicate. The duplicates of Congress leaders said they had been getting a very good response from people everywhere as the SAD was against hiring singers and dancers for entertaining people at rallies. “We entertain people and at the same time we send across a message against the Congress and convince people to vote for Harsimrat,” Jaswinder said. Their play is about a situation when Sonia Gandhi takes Captain to a panditji and asks about him. The pandit tells her that Amarinder is no good and will bring a bad name to her party. She calls up Bhattal and tells her to submit a report about the Captain. Bhattal spots the Captain with Aroosa and tells him that he can’t win votes with such a conduct. Amarinder saves his skin by saying that he is a maharaja and lives life like a maharaja. Even Raninder is not spared in the play. When asked if those duplicates were active members of the SAD, Jaswinder claimed that he was not an artist but an Akali worker.
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Shoe stung
Straight talk
His candour is turning into an embarrassment for his Praja Rajyam Party. Scriptwriter, actor, director and Andhra Pradesh assembly aspirant Posani Krishna Murali has left friends and foes red-faced. He is a close friend of Praja Rajyam president and superstar Chiranjeevi. His bitter attack on actor couple Rajasekhar and Jeevitha, who are campaigning for the Congress, has taken everyone by surprise. But his own party men say Posani is putting his foot in the mouth. “I can’t pay you money or give liquor for being with me. Come if you want to see Chiranjeevi as Chief Minister or get lost,” he reportedly told the party cadre. “I will pull Chiranjeevi’s collar if he asks me to distribute money,” he said.
— IANS Play power
Candidates in Chennai are now trying to woo voters through street plays. “The visit of Yama” (the God of death in the Hindu mythology), a street play, is a new attraction that is being staged in the city. Although, the DMK decries Hindu mythology, the party is adeptly using mythological character for the party’s propaganda. The story line is simple. Yama sends his messengers to Chennai saying that they could claim many accident victims due to the traffic woes in the city. The messengers return empty-handed. They explain to Yama about new flyovers, bridges, subways and newly laid roads in the city and complain that it would not be possible to claim victims through accidents. The play ends with a comment: “If this man (Union Minister TR Baalu) becomes an MP again, it will be difficult to discharge my duty, as the state itself will be free of mishaps.”
— TNS
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Minister slaps woman, booked
BHOPAL: Ranjana Baghel, Madhya Pradesh’s Minister of state for Women and Child Development and Social Justice, has been booked for allegedly slapping a tribal woman and issuing threats after the victim reportedly questioned her about non-fulfillment of promises regarding development and farm loan waivers, the police said on Saturday. Baghel allegedly slapped Ganga Bai on Friday evening while campaigning for her husband, BJP Lok Sabha candidate Mukam Singh Kirade, in Palasi village of Dhar district.
— IANS
Mulayam’s son LUCKNOW:
In a move that could further sour relations between the Congress and Samajwadi Party, the former on Friday declared its nominee for Firozabad Lok Sabha seat against SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav’s son Akhilesh. The Congress announced the name of Rajendra Pal Baghel, an low-key Congress leader, as its nominee from Firozabad seat against Akhilesh, who is also contesting from the Kannauj
parliamentary seat. — PTI
PUDUCHERRY:
It will be a battle between two friends in the Puducherry where Union Minister of State and Congress General Secretary V Narayanasamy is taking on his college mate and PMK nominee M Ramadoss in the May 13 elections. The two, who had shared a close friendship while studying in Government Tagore Arts College here in the 1960s, have turned rivals with the PMK dumping the DMK-Congress led DPA and joining the AIADMK-led front for the elections.
— PTI
Campaign trail BHUBANESWAR:
Film stars Suneil Shetty and Raveena Tandon on Saturday attended three poll meetings in Orissa’s tribal-dominated Keonjhar district seeking votes for an Independent candidate. “Jitu Patnaik is a good man who can bring changes,” both Raveena and Shetty told the gathering at Joda town. Adding glamour to the campaign, both the stars of silver screen also made road shows and shook hands with the people. Patnaik, a Congress rebel, is contesting as Independent candidate for Champur Assembly constituency after being denied a party ticket.
- PTI
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— RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav at an election meeting in Bihar’s Darbhanga district
— Senior Cong leader Kapil Sibbal
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Voter’s guide
EVMs are counted one by one and the voting preference of a particular polling station can be known. Can anything be done about it?
A device called a “totaliser” has been developed by the manufacturers of the EVMs which can, at a time, be connected to several control units. It will then indicate the total number of votes polled in each polling station where these EVMs had been used as well as the grand total of the votes polled in those polling stations. The number of votes polled by each candidate will, however, be shown for the whole group of polling stations in which the EVMs were used and not for a particular polling station. This makes it impossible to know the pattern of voting in any one polling
station.
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Bathinda, April 18
Politicians beware! If a Madhya Pradesh businessman’s campaign succeeds, shoe missiles - typically aimed at high profile leaders - may not miss their target any more. Indore-based youth Rajesh Bidkar, in an effort to get some free publicity, no doubt, has launched a “juta feko (hurl the shoe)” training campaign. Bidkar says the campaign is aimed at helping future shoe-chuckers hit the target. The lessons will be given all across Madhya Pradesh, he says. Home Minister P Chidambaram, BJP’s prime ministerial nominee LK Advani and Congress MP Naveen Jindal this month became victims of shoe missiles that were hurled by various people trying to make a point. Pointing out that in each of these sensational cases the footwear had missed its target, Bidkar said he would train people free of cost in the art of hurling shoes. His campaign will start from Rajwada in Indore on Saturday.
— IANS
Babri Masjid was razed to the ground and the Congress, too, was responsible for it as it did nothing to prevent it. If anyone continues to talk nonsense, I will reveal more.
I do not give it much significance. It’s election time. Some people make such comments in this period. People can say such things sometimes when they face difficulty in elections.