Re: All Politics is Local: Sid Harth
Sid Harth
B Sridhar23 December 2009, 10:50pm IST
JAMSHEDPUR: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that was expecting to do
well in the Kolhan region managed to reach near the half way mark by
winning six of the 14 seats in the division. The results delivered
mixed response to the saffron party with two of its candidates
wresting the seats from the opposition's stronghold while two of its
senior party leaders losing their seats to relatively lesser known
candidates.
Of the six Assembly constituencies in the East Singhbhum, the BJP won
the Jamshedpur East with party president Raghuvar Das retaining the
seat for the fourth consecutive term after defeating his nearest rival
Abhay Singh of the JVM by over 20,000 votes. From the Potka (reserved)
Assembly seat, Menka Sardar defeated Congress' Subodh Singh Sardar by
over 15,000 votes.
In the West Singhbhum district, Laxman Giluwa defeated sitting JMM
legislature Sukhram Oraon by merely 277 votes in the Chakradharpur
Assembly constituency while Gurucharan Nayak of the BJP defeated his
nearest rival Naumi Oraon of the JMM by over 6,000 votes in the
Manoharpur constituency.
In the Majhgaon Assembly constituency, seasoned politician Badkunwar
Gagrai trounced sitting JMM MLA Niral Purty by 9,000-odd votes.
Whereas in the Seraikela-Kharswan district, former chief minister
Arjun Munda's magic retained Kharswan seat with political greenhorn
Mangal Singh Soy defeating his nearest Congress rival Basko Besra by
over 25,000 votes. Nevertheless, two of its senior leader Saryu Rai
and Dinesh Sarangi lost their seats in the Jamshedpur West and
Baharagora constituencies, respectively.
The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) that fought the elections alone
managed to win four seats. While senior JMM leader Ramdas Soren won
the Ghatshila seat by 11,000-odd votes after defeating his nearest
rival and state Congress president Pradeep Balmuchu, another senior
leader of the party Vidut Varan Mahato defeated former health minister
Dinesh Sarangi by 17,000 votes in the Baharagora constituency.
Meanwhile, Champai Soren wrested the Seraikela seat for the second
successive term after defeating BJP nominee and close Munda aide
Laxman Tudu by over 3,000 votes. Deepak Biruwa, a senior JMM leader of
Chaibasa, defeated Congress veteran Bagun Sumbari by over 7,000
votes.
Interestingly, Congress supported JVM candidate and strongman Arvind
Singh aka Malkhan Singh won the Ichagarh seat defeating his close
rival Vishwaranjan Mahato alias Kartik Mahato by over 18,000 votes,
whereas senior JMM leader and former deputy chief minister Sudhir
Mahato slipped to third position.
The AJSU, which put up a good show in most of the constituencies in
the Kolhan division managed to win a single seat with its nominee and
political greenhorn Ramchandra Sahis defeating nearest rival BJP
candidate Rakhi Rai by over 3,000 votes and sitting JMM legislature
and former minister Dulal Bhuiyan slipped to third position.
The grand old party had to contain with a single seat albeit a prize
seat as seasoned politician Banna Gupta won the Jamshedpur West
constituency defeating the Chankaya of BJP Saryu Rai by over 3000
votes.
Remarkably, Geeta Koda, the Jai Bharat Samanata Party candidate and
wife of former chief minister Madhu Koda, retained her husband's seat
Jagannathpur by defeating BJP's Sukhram Biruwa by over 25,000 votes.
...and I am Sid Harth
Sid Harth
Rajesh Kumar Pandey, TNN 21 December 2009, 09:00pm IST
DUMKA: Congress seems to be divided over the issue of post-poll
alliance, which seems inevitable due to the possibility of a fractured
mandate, with its former UPA constituents, especially Jharkhand Mukti
Morcha (JMM).
Close on the heels of senior Congress leader and Union minister Subodh
Kant Sahay saying that the Congress-Jharkhand Vikas Morcha
(Prajatantrik) combine would be able to garner the support of various
parties, including RJD and JMM, to form a secular government, former
deputy chief minister Stephen Marandi has categorically denied chances
of JMM becoming a part of it.
Claiming the party has no vision for the development of the state,
Marandi told reporters here that the party has ruined the state's
image by resorting to unfair means to sail through the polls.
"JMM has used money and muscle power to secure its candidates'
victory. So, it cannot become part of the Congress-JVM(P)-led
government under any circumstances," he reiterated.
Marandi's stand, meanwhile, is being largely viewed here in the
backdrop of his personal grudge against JMM, ever since he quit the
party. A former JMM stalwart, Marandi won the Dumka Assembly seat six
consecutive times before turning his back on the party on being denied
a ticket in the 2005 Assembly election.
JMM chief Shibu Soren, instead, gave the ticket to his son Hemant
Soren, which resulted in the emergence of a sympathy wave in Marandi's
favour who managed to retain the seat despite contesting as an
Independent.
The gap between Marandi and JMM widened further this time as
allegations and counter-allegations were levelled by both sides, each
accusing the other of resorting to violence and unfair means to win
the prestigious Dumka seat.
The intensity of the political rivalry can also be gauged from the
fact that Congress and JMM district units organized separate sit-ins
after the polls to press for the arrest of Soren and Marandi, the
respective party candidates from Dumka in connection with the FIRs
lodged by both sides for violence during campaigning.
Yet, some observers believe that Marandi may not stand in the way of a
post-poll alliance between Congress and JMM considering his dubious
credentials like on the previous occasion.
Marandi, who had vowed not to support a state government comprising
JMM, not only became part of the UPA government but also Soren's
deputy on subsequent occasions.
Sid Harth
IANS 23 December 2009, 12:12pm IST
RANCHI: The Congress-led alliance was on Wednesday emerging as the
largest political grouping in the 81-member Jharkhand assembly but a
hung House seemed inevitable with indications that no political party
or combine would get a majority.
In trends available for the 81 seats, for which counting was on, the
BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) was ahead in 18 seats while
the Congress and its partner, the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha-Prajatantrik,
were leading in 24 constituencies.
The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), which was ahead in 18 seats, is
likely to hold the key to government formation in the state, which has
been under the president's rule for almost a year now.
The JMM has already put a rider for supporting any political
alliance.
"We will support only those who will favour Shibu Soren (the JMM
chief) as the new chief minister," JMM general secretary Supriyo
Bhattacharya said.
Independent candidate Geeta Koda, wife of graft-tainted former chief
minister Madhu Koda, won the assembly election from Jaganathpur
constituency defeating BJP’s Sonaram Biruwa.
Geeta Koda secured 28,437 votes and defeated Biruwa by over 8,000
votes. She dedicated her victory to her husband, who is at the centre
of Rs 2,500 crore money laundering scam.
Another former minister Enos Ekka, who too is in jail on graft
charges, also won from Kolebera assembly constitution. He secured
27,327 votes and defeated Mahendra Bhagat of the BJP by over 7,000
votes.
Janata Dal-United (JD-U) state president Jaleshwar Mahto lost to
Jharkhand Vikas Morcha-Pajatantrik's (JVM-P) Dullu Mahto by over
10,000 votes from Baghmara constituency.
Two jailed former ministers, Kamlesh Singh and Harinarayan Rai, were
leading from Hussainabad and Jarmundi constituencies respectively.
Prominent candidates trailing were former deputy chief minister
Stephen Marandi of Congress and JMM's Hemant Soren in Dumka, where the
BJP's Lois Marandi was leading.
Others, including Lalu Prasad's Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), were
leading in 21 seats. The RJD alone was leading in 7 seats.
Counting of votes polled in the five-phased Jharkhand assembly
elections began on Wednesday morning amid heavy security.
There are about 30,000 security forces and 5,200 officials at the 31
counting centres in the state.
The staggered polls to the 81-member Jharkhand assembly were held
between November 25 and December 18. A total of 1,511 candidates were
in the fray and a 58 percent voter turnout was recorded.
The vote count is finally expected to end president's rule in the
state. President's rule was imposed Jan 19 after then chief minister
Soren lost the Tamar assembly byelection.
Sid Harth
IANS 23 December 2009, 08:17pm IST
RANCHI: Jharkhand on Wednesday slipped into more political uncertainty
with a messy, fractured verdict that saw both the Congress and the BJP
led alliances jockey for power as the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) was
pitchforked into the role of kingmaker in the 81-member assembly.
( Watch Video )
The staggered election threw up no clear victor and paved the way for
more political jostling before government could be formed.
The Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led alliances were
virtually neck-and-neck and the JMM followed close behind, making a
hung assembly inevitable.
According to the latest trends (1800 IST) available for the 81 seats,
the BJP and its partner Janata Dal-United had together won 17 seats
and were leading in three, totalling to 20 possible seats.
The Congress had won 10 and was leading in five constituencies. Its
partner, the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha-Prajatantrik, bagged six and was
leading in four seats, adding to 25.
Shibu Soren's JMM got 13 seats and was ahead in five -- its 18
possible seats propelling it to kingmaker in any electoral calculation
in the state that has been under president's rule for almost a year.
Lalu Prasad's Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), which could also play a role
in government formation, was poised to get five seats.
As the Congress and the BJP vied for the JMM's support, the party put
a rider on its support -- make Soren, who was watching the results
unfold on TV from Bokaro, chief minister.
"We will support only those who will favour Shibu Soren (the JMM
chief) as the new chief minister," JMM general secretary Supriyo
Bhattacharya told IANS right in the morning as the trend became
clear.
The Congress played its "secular" card to woo Soren while the BJP said
nobody was "untouchable".
"It is high time that secular forces unite," said union Food
Processing Minister and Congress MP Subodh Kant Sahay.
"It will be premature to say anything at this stage," a cautious
Congress leader Manish Tiwari said in New Delhi.
However, some Congress leaders were buoyed by the fact that the RJD
and the JMM, though estranged partners and not part of the United
Progressive Alliance, supported it from outside.
"They are not part of the UPA as of now but the RJD and JMM support
the central government from outside," Congress Working Committee
member Satyavrat Chaturvedi said.
But it was easier said than done. Though the Congress said it would
initiate talks with the JMM, its ally and former BJP chief minister
Babulal Marandi was less than happy.
"I do not like bargaining. It is wrong if anyone is ready to support
with the condition of getting the chief minister's post," Marandi,
whose party has been targeting the same tribal vote bank as the JMM,
said.
Congress sources added one way out was offering a cabinet berth to
Soren and a deputy chief minister's post to his son Heman as a sop.
BJP was also eyeing its own chances at power.
Key leaders said the party would have no problem in giving Soren the
chief minister's post if it would check the growth of the Congress and
the JVM-P.
Admitting that the BJP would not be able to form the government on its
own, Jharkhand unit president Raghubar Das said no one was
"untouchable" in politics and that the party was "open to an
alliance".
The election also threw up some interesting results.
Among the prominent winners was Geeta Koda, the wife of graft-tainted
former chief minister Madhu Koda, who won from Jagganthpur
constituency defeating BJP's Sonaram Biruwa.
"It is the victory of my husband. This is the victory of the people
and it is also the victory of honesty of Madhu Koda," Geeta Koda said
about her jailed husband.
The five-phased polls to the Jharkhand assembly were held between Nov
25 and Dec 18. A total of 1,511 candidates were in the fray and a 58
percent voter turnout was recorded.
As counting day to drew to an end and the JMM flexed its muscles, the
question was whether it would be third time lucky for Soren who was
close to his dream of becoming chief minister again -- hopefully for a
full term this time.
chhotemianinshallah
TNN 24 December 2009, 03:22am IST
NEW DELHI: BJP, like the Bourbons, seems determined to learn nothing
and forget nothing. After losing the 2009 elections, the party
frittered away what could have been a winning hand, for the second
time after the Haryana polls, by refusing to strike the right alliance
and bungling tickets.
The results of the Jharkhand election amply demonstrated BJP's error
in turning away former CM Babulal Marandi and choosing to go alone
with JD(U) for company. Marandi left BJP in 2006 following sharp
differences with the central leadership and was instrumental in
boosting Congress's performance. BJP has lost 10 seats over its 2005
tally of 20.
If BJP spurned willing allies, Congress did the right thing by
snapping up Marandi. While Marandi's outfit won 10, the BJP alongwith
JD(U) stopped at 20. With Marandi as a partner it might have been in
sniffing distance of power. It is an open secret in BJP that former
party president Rajnath Singh's dislike for Marandi was why the tie-up
never materialised.
As things stand, Singh seems to have been responsible for the Haryana
and Jharkhand goof-ups which might have been much-needed morale
boosting wins for the main Opposition. In the case of Haryana, BJP
"managers" seen to be close to Singh broke with INLD's Om Prakash
Chautala and turned down an alliance with Bhajan Lal and his son
Kuldeep Bishnoi. Chautala turned out to be the surprise packet, and a
BJP-INLD alliance would have won comprehensively.
While suspicion lingers whether the Haryana alliances were
deliberately messed up, the party has again shot itself in the foot.
Not only was a crucial ally turned away, the ticket distribution was
deeply flawed. The hand of sections with strong business interests is
seen in candidate selection and party sources aver that seats
considered "good" for BJP have been lost this time around.
The loss only highlights the steep challenges new party president
Nitin Gadkari faces as he takes charge of a faction-riven outfit.
Apart from the defeat in Jharkhand, there are immediate problems in
Rajasthan where the Vasundhara Raje group wants to put up a candidate
against Arun Chaturvedi for the state chief's post. In Orissa, one of
BJP's most effective MPs in the previous Lok Sabha, Kharabela Swain,
has revolted over being passed over for the state chief's post and
lashed out at RSS "interference" in party matters.
In Jharkhand, BJP is aware that it may have few options but to sit in
the Opposition even as it says it will watch developments. All of a
sudden, fevered talk of whether Yashwant Sinha or Arjun Munda will be
chief ministerial candidates is over. Their ambitions pruned, Munda
can now look to being leader of Opposition while Sinha can expect to
be made chairman of the PAC in Parliament.
chhotemianinshallah
TNN 24 December 2009, 01:06am IST
RANCHI/NEW DELHI: If the people of Jharkhand, reeling under
corruption, extremist violence and the near-total absence of
governance, had hoped that the elections would lead to a stable
government, they must be acutely disappointed. The outcome on
Wednesday was a verdict more fractured than the one five years ago
which rendered Ranchi vulnerable to politics of manipulation and
blackmail, leading to the plunder of state coffers.
JMM leader Shibu Soren defied predictions of doom to return a tally of
18 seats and has emerged as the pivot for government formation in the
81-strong House but cannot realise his chief ministerial aspirations
without support from either Congress or the BJP.
The four-way split -- with 'others' including Rashtriya Janata Dal,
All Jharkhand Students Union and Madhu Koda groupies accounting for
another bloc of 18 seats -- immediately set the stage for furious
jockeying for power, reviving fears of uncertainty and skullduggery.
Congress, which escaped a mauling thanks to its last-ditch alliance
with former chief minister Babulal Marandi's Jharkhand Vikas Morcha
is, as of now, opposed to supporting Soren's claim for a third term as
chief minister.
Besides allegations of corruption against Soren, reports that Maoists
supported JMM and RJD is also acting as a deterrent. Congress would
want Soren to settle for compensation in the form of a berth for him
or his son at the Centre and even deputy chief ministership for one of
his nominees.
Soren, who played a role in the formation of the state and, therefore,
feels entitled to rule it, has demanded the top job, refusing to
acquiesce to an alternative power-sharing arrangement.
But while it is holding firm on its "no" to Soren's demand for chief
ministership, Congress cannot hope to form the government without the
support of JMM. The party, along with its partner JVM, has won 25
seats. It can also hope to enlist the support of five more MLAs
belonging to the regional outfit, All Jharkhand Students Union led by
Sudesh Mahato. And that's about it.
It is loath to touch not just the "tainted" group identified with
disgraced former CM Madhu Koda but even the MLAs of Lalu Prasad. Four
associates of Koda have made it while Lalu's RJD has won five seats.
To get the vote of the MLA who is to be nominated to the House to
represent the interests of the Anglo-Indian community, a chief
minister has to be sworn in first.
BJP, which yet again threw away its chance to turn in a disappointing
tally of 20 -- 22 with ally JD(U) -- has signalled its intent to do
business with JMM. For Soren, however, a partnership with BJP cannot
be the first resort since it is fraught with the risk of annoying
Congress when it controls the levers at the Centre and is on the
ascendant.
BJP's manoeuvre to deny Congress the chance to form the government
offered little solace for those in the ranks who felt aggrieved by the
failure to cash in on incumbency, inflation and, above all, the sordid
saga of corruption during the chief ministership of Koda who was
supported by Lalu, JMM and Congress. The results mean that there is no
end to the winless spell the party has had to endure since its defeat
in Lok Sabha elections under former party president Rajnath Singh.
Congress, which was resigned to worse, has reasons to feel satisfied.
Its fear that price rise and corruption under Koda would singe it have
not come to pass, if also because of BJP's bunglings. Its decision to
align with Marandi -- opposed by many in the party -- has paid off.
After it won Haryana "on points", the outcome in Jharkhand will ensure
that the perception about the party being on a roll continues.
But it is Lalu who must be feeling acutely disappointed. Excluded from
power in Bihar and Delhi, the RJD leader was hoping to play the
kingmaker. His hopes have been rudely dashed.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Jharkhand-House-hung-jockeying-on/articleshow/5371570.cms
chhotemianinshallah
chhotemianinshallah
Sanjay Ojha, TNN 23 December 2009, 10:57pm IST
RANCHI: The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) hit rock bottom in the
election, securing only 20 seats and accounting for less than 25% in
the 81-member House.
The alliance was not even in a position to stake claim to form
government and left it to the parliamentary board to take a decision.
While BJP's tally fell to 18 seats from the 30 it had secured in the
2005 Assembly election, JD(U)'s plunged to two from six. With this,
NDA lost 16 seats in all since last time.
Admitting defeat as voter's choice, state BJP president Raghubar Das
said there was some mistake in choosing the candidates that led to the
debacle of the alliance. He also held the "illiterate" voters
responsible for the fragmented mandate. "Our campaign and the news
reports on corruption in the state probably did not reach the
illiterate voters and they did not realize the implications of a
fragmented mandate," said Das.
Former chief minister and BJP leader Arjun Munda also admitted that
though voters have not given them the mandate to form government, they
would take every possible step to form a coalition government with all
like-minded parties. "We are ready to sit in the Opposition. But
efforts would be made to save the state from corrupt and opportunist
political parties," said Munda.
BJP suffered a setback in form as some of the big leaders like Saryu
Rai from Jamshedpur West and former minister in NDA government
Ravindra Rai, who had returned to the party fold after a small stint
with Jharkhand Vikas Morcha.
Sitting MLAs Tala Marandi from Borio, Ashok Bhagat from Mahgama,
Loknath Mahato from Barkagaon, Satyanand Bhokta from Simaria,
Yogeshwar Mahato from Bermo, Dinesh Shadangi from Baharagora and Samir
Oraon from Sisai lost the polls.
Among the JD(U) candidates, while party president Jaleshwar Mahto lost
from Baghmara, sitting MLAs Khiru Mahato and Kameshwar Nath Das lost
from Mandu and Deoghar, respectively. The two seats were wrested by
newcomers Sudha Choudhary from Chhatarpur constituency and Raja Peter
from Tamar.
Though some of the BJP bigwigs had to bite the dust, the party got
some new faces and clinched some untouched seats. Satyanand Jha from
Nala, Uma Shankar Yadav Akela from Barhi, Menaka Sardar from Potka,
Badkunwar Gagrai from Majgaon, Gurcharan Nayak from Manoharpur, Laxman
Gilua from Chakradharpur, Kamlesh Oraon from Gumla, Bimla Pradhan from
Simdega, Harekrishna Singh from Manika and Mangal Singh Soy from
Kharsawan are not only the new faces but also new seats for the party
with the exception of Kharsawan, which was otherwise held by Arjun
Munda.
Among the traditional seats, C P Singh retained Ranchi, Amit Yadav won
Barkatha vacated by the death of his father Chittaranjan Yadav, Kunti
Devi bagged Jharia, Raghuvar Das Jamshedpur East and Neelkanth Singh
Munda Khunti. And, Baijnath Ram made a comeback from Latehar after
losing it last time.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ranchi/BJP-nosedives-losing-12-seats/articleshow/5371241.cms
chhotemianinshallah
STAFF WRITER 16:17 HRS IST
Ranchi, Dec 24 (PTI) Without ruling out exploring possibilities of
government formation in Jharkhand, BJP today said for the time being
the party is adopting "wait and watch" policy and prefer to see a
stable government in the state.
"We are in a wait and watch situation. There should be a strong and
stable government in Jharkhand," BJP's state unit spokesman Sanjay
Seth told PTI here.
Replying to a query if the party is exploring the possibilities of
government formation in the state, Seth said, "Now we can't say on
that, but we are not ruling out such a scenario."
The BJP-JDU alliance, which had got 36 seats in the 2005 Assembly
elections, finished with just 20 seats this time.
http://www.ptinews.com/news/438923_BJP-is-in-wait-and-watch-mode
chhotemianinshallah
STAFF WRITER 15:35 HRS IST
Chandigarh, Dec 24 (PTI) Police have arrested Chhotu Ram, who worked
as a security guard at Ashreya here, in the Nari Niketan rape case
after his DNA sample matched with the mentally challenged victim's
newborn baby.
32-year-old Ram's DNA sample matched with that of the baby girl and he
has been remanded to judicial custody till December 26 after his
arrest here yesterday, police said here today.
Police had earlier arrested five persons for their alleged involvement
in the case.
Ashreya, an institute for the mentally challenged is being run under
the aegis of Government Medical College and Hospital here. Ram is
presently working at the hospital as an attendant.
After the DNA report was received, Ram had admitted that he had raped
the girl.
The 19-year-old mentally challenged rape victim had given birth to a
girl child on December 2.
http://www.ptinews.com/news/438851_Former-Ashreya-guard-arrested-after-DNA-match
Sid Harth
PTI 24 December 2009, 12:38pm IST
BOKARO (Jharkhand): JMM President Shibu Soren, who has emerged as
kingmaker after the Jharkhand assembly elections threw up a hung
House, on Thursday said he would "settle for nothing less" than the
chief minister's chair.
"I will settle for nothing less. There is no compromise on the chief
minister's post," Soren, who was earlier chief minister for two short
periods told reporters here.
With 18 Assembly seats in his kitty, Shibu Soren said the results
indicated his popularity and wanted his party to be allowed to form
the government in Jharkhand which has given a fractured verdict.
Asked whether he would settle for a berth in the Union Cabinet or the
post of deputy chief minister for his son, Hemant, he replied, "I will
meet my new MLAs and leaders this afternoon before taking any
decision."
"Guruji (Soren) has always been the king and not the kingmaker ... the
JMM holds the key," claimed Suprio Bhattacharya, the party's
organisational secretary, indicating that nothing less than the chief
minister's post for Soren would satisfy the rank and file.
The Congress-JVM(P) alliance with 25 seats has emerged the single
largest alliance. Congress has got 14 and JVM-P 11. On the other hand,
the BJP-JD(U) alliance had 20 seats in the 81-member House.
Sid Harth
TNN 24 December 2009, 03:48am IST
HYDERABAD: Incensed with the Union government's apparent move to put
the separate Telangana issue on the backburner, spontaneous protests
broke out in various parts of the city late on Wednesday night with
protesters damaging public property.
Chief minister K Rosaiah held an emergency meeting with director
general of police (DGP) R R Girish Kumar and other senior officers to
assess the situation. Police were told not to be lenient with anyone
who tries to create law and order problems.
"Legal action will be taken against those who give inflammatory
statements provoking people to resort to violence," the DGP said. All
districts SPs and police commissioners in the state have been asked to
stay alert .
Prohibitory orders, including Section 144 of CrPC, were imposed in all
Telangana districts. Hyderabad police commissioner B Prasada Rao
issued orders imposing a ban on rallies and public meetings in the
city from 6 am on Thursday to 6 am on Wednesday next.
Similar orders were issued by Cyberabad police commissioner S
Prabhakar Reddy from Wednesday evening to January 1, 2010 morning.
High alert has been sounded in Telangana districts, specifically
Hyderabad and Warangal regions.
Minutes after Union home minister P Chidambaram read out the statement
seeking more consultations on Telangana, Osmania University students
took out a rally towards NCC gate. However, they were intercepted by
police and sent back. Nizam College students also staged a protest
shouting slogans for a separate state near LB stadium.
Suspecting violent reactions from the student fraternity, heavy police
bandobust has been provided at OU campus.
Two buses were set ablaze and stones were pelted on seven more RTC
buses on the Lalaguda-Tarnaka stretch. Two fire tenders were rushed to
the spot from OU and Malkajgiri fire stations with police protection.
An RTC bus and a truck were set ablaze by students at Chaitanyapuri
area.
chhotemianinshallah
PTI Thursday, December 24, 2009 20:30 IST
New Delhi: With Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) chief Shibu Soren
insisting on chief minister's post, options before Congress appear to
be shrinking in leading a coalition government in Jharkhand after the
fractured electoral mandate.
Assembly Elections 2009Sources say Congress is considering various
formulations on the issue, including supporting Soren for chief
ministership without its participation in the government.
Those advocating this formulation say chief of Jharkhand Vikas Morcha
(JVM), Congress' poll ally, Babulal Marandi should be inducted into
the Union cabinet, while Soren should be allowed to run the government
in the state with Congress supporting it from outside.
They also suggest formation of a monitoring committee "with overriding
powers" to formulate policy and programmes to closely scrutinise the
functioning of the government in the state.
This will give Congress some sort of leverage on the way the
government functions in the state as the party has learnt hard lessons
from its support to independent Madhu Koda-led government.
Koda is currently facing a Rs4,000-crore money laundering scam and the
party had to face criticism for having supported his government.
However, there is another view in the party that Congress should keep
off from the entire exercise of government formation if it does not
succeed in having its own chief minister.
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_as-soren-digs-heels-cong-s-options-in-jharkhand-shrink_1327157
chhotemianinshallah
Sonali Das, TNN 25 December 2009, 03:42am IST
RANCHI: With Congress-JMM talks reached stalemate on who should head
the new arrangement in Jharkhand that will also involve Babulal
Marandi's JVM,
BJP is trying to carve out space for itself. Sensing an opportunity,
the BJP has approached JMM chief Shibu Soren for a power-sharing
agreement.
It is learnt that though the BJP and JMM are still negotiating the
issue of leadership, the saffron party has made up its mind to leave
the chief ministership for Soren if it comes to that.
BJP is banking on Soren's resentment against the Congress for not
standing by him during the UPA-1 regime. The BJP got a boost with the
All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU), which won five seats in the just-
concluded elections, saying it was okay with a BJP-JMM coalition. This
sets the stage for furious jockeying after Christmas holidays.
While BJP's offer virtually assures chief ministership — the sole
ambition of Soren — the JMM boss also has to take into consideration
the hostility of the Centre should he switch over to the saffron camp.
Soren's revolutionary ardour waned long ago and he is widely
considered to be vulnerable to the regimes in Delhi and Ranchi because
of several pending cases against him.
The JMM has bagged 18 seats out of 81 and its support is crucial for
any party hoping to form the government. The party, however, is
adamant on having Soren as the chief minister.
Soren indicated in Bokaro on Thursday that he was inclined towards the
BJP, asserting that all allegations of the party being communal were
false. "The BJP is not a communal party," Soren is reported to have
told reporters on Thursday. Soren even went to the extent of saying
that if things did not work out in his favour, he would like elections
to take place again.
The BJP, along with JD(U) and JMM, could easily reach the magic figure
of 41 in the 81-member House and support of five AJSU MLAs could take
its tally to a comfortable 48.
chhotemianinshallah
December 25th, 2009 - 3:14 pm ICT by IANS -
Ranchi, Dec 25 (IANS) The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) and the
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) seem to be moving closer to each other in
the scramble for allies in Jharkhand’s post-poll scenario.
JMM chief Shibu Soren arrived here Thursday night and said he would
stake claim to form the government in the state and spoke about the
BJP in a positive light.
“I never termed BJP a communal party. BJP is not a communal party,” he
maintained.
When it waas pointed out that the BJP had, in the past, made
statements against him, Soren quipped: “Who remembers the past?”
The BJP had stalled parliament in July 2004 when a 30-year-old arrest
warrant pending against Soren surfaced.
A meeting of JMM legislators is scheduled later Friday, after which
the party may formally seek support from the BJP. The BJP and JMM have
18 seats each, making it 36 together. The Janata Dal-United (JD-U) has
two seats, which could take the tally to 38.
According to informed sources, the JMM has started talks with
Independents and the All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU), which has
five seats in the state assembly.
The AJSU has, however, kept its options open. According to sources, it
wants key portfolios, including the deputy chief minister’s post for
party president Sudesh Mahto.
The BJP says it is waiting and watching.
“We are in a wait and watch position. We will not initiate the
government formation process,” Jharkhand BJP president Raghubar das
told IANS.
Asked about JMM approaching the party for support, he said: “If JMM
approaches us for support then we will apprise the central party
leaders. They will take a decision.”
http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/politics/jmm-bjp-inching-closer-in-jharkhand_100294551.html
chhotemianinshallah
Indo-Asian News Service
Ranchi, December 25, 2009
First Published: 19:29 IST(25/12/2009)
Last Updated: 19:35 IST(25/12/2009)
A coalition seems to be in place in Jharkhand after two days of
political uncertainty as the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) on Friday
announced it will form the next government with the Bharatiya Janata
Party (BJP).
Hemlal Murmu, a senior JMM leader and legislator, said: "We will form
the next government in Jharkhand with BJP."
Efforts to cobble up a coalition in the state had been stuck as the
JMM refused to accept anything less than the chief minister's post for
its chief Shibhu Soren.
Assembly polls result on Dec 23 threw up a fractured mandate with the
Congress and its ally, the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha-Prajatantrik (JVM-P)
together winning 25 seats, while the JMM and the BJP won 18 each.
The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the All Jharkhand Students Union
(AJSU) have five seats each. The Janata Dal-United (JD-U), a BJP ally,
has two seats. The state assembly has 81 seats and the simple majority
mark is 41.
According to informed sources, the BJP has demanded minimum seven
cabinet berths, including the deputy chief minister's post, to support
Soren as chief minister.
The AJSU, on the other hand, has demanded at least three cabinet
berths and a post of deputy chief minister for its party president
Sudesh Mahto.
Both the BJP and AJSU have also demanded key portfolios like power,
rural development, mines and geology and roads.
Sources said that the JMM has agreed to give deputy chief minister's
post to both BJP and AJSU and five and two cabinet berths,
respectively.
JMM sources said that Soren is likely to meet the state governor on
Saturday to stake claim to forming the new government.
Meanwhile, the Congress and JVM-P held their own round of political
slugfest to stitch together a coalition keeping the JMM out.
JVM-P president Babulal Marandi said Soren's demand was unacceptable.
"There could be a government without the JMM," Marandi told reporters
in Ranchi.
A Congress leader told IANS: "In the given scenario, it is difficult
to form the government as the JMM sticks to its demand of the chief
minister's post. We have not given up hope of government formation but
at the same time, it is not an easy task. We are exploring the
possibilities of a government without JMM."
The Congress could form a government without JMM by seeking support of
the RJD and the Independents.
The JMM started to show conciliatory moves towards the BJP Thursday
night when Soren said he did not term the saffron party as
"communal".
"I never termed BJP a communal party. BJP is not a communal party," he
maintained.
When it was pointed out that the BJP had, in the past, made statements
against him, Soren quipped: "Who remembers the past?"
The BJP had stalled parliament in July 2004 when a 30-year-old arrest
warrant pending against Soren surfaced.
Earlier Friday, the JMM elected Soren, a Lok Sabha MP, as the leader
of its legislative party.
Champai Soren, a JMM legislator, said: "Shibu Soren will take the
decision regarding formation of the government. The JMM has the clear
view that Shibu Soren should become the next chief minister."
http://www.hindustantimes.com/JMM-BJP-set-to-form-government-in-Jharkhand/H1-Article1-490523.aspx
chhotemianinshallah
Press Trust Of India
Patna, December 25, 2009
First Published: 19:26 IST(25/12/2009)
Last Updated: 19:29 IST(25/12/2009)
BJP Lok Sabha member Shatrughan Sinha on Friday said "failure" to
project chief ministerial candidate and nomination to several
"undeserving" candidates were responsible for the party's poor show in
Jharkhand assembly polls and cautioned against repetition of the same
mistakes in Bihar polls next year.
He attributed the party's failure to project senior leader Yashwant
Sinha as BJP chief ministerial candidate in Jharkhand and giving
tickets to a large number of "undeserving candidates under pressure"
from different camps as the main reasons for BJP's poor show in
Jharkhand.
"We should take lessons from mistakes like failure to project a party
chief ministerial candidate and faulty distribution of tickets in
Jharkhand and should refrain from repeating the same in 2010 assembly
polls in Bihar," he told PTI here.
"It is a matter of serious concern that the party's tally sharply
declined in Jharkhand in the elections," Sinha said.
"I am sure new BJP president Nitin Gadkari and senior party leaders
will analyse the shortcomings that prevented BJP from capturing power
on its own in Jharkhand and prepare for the acid test NDA will face in
assembly elections next year," he said.
Sid Harth
Governance may suffer again in Jharkhand.
Aditi Phadnis / New Delhi December 26, 2009, 0:04 IST
Governance may suffer again in Jharkhand.
The lion of Santhal is roaring again. Shibu Soren, the best known mass
leader of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), has said that he will be
the chief minister of Jharkhand again. The numbers say he is not
lying. The Congress-Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik) alliance has
got 25 seats while the BJP-JDU alliance has 20 seats in the new 81-
member Assembly. The JMM has won 18 seats. Lalu Prasad’s RJD has won
five seats, while other parties have bagged 13 seats. Obviously Shibu
Soren will decide who will form the government. In this, he has once
again proved that there is no Left, no Right, in Jharkhand. He is open
to discussing offers.
The BJP, which has just got a new president in Nitin Gadkari, is ready
to do business with Soren. Gadkari met his predecessor, Rajnath Singh
and told him that the BJP must form a government in Jharkhand, come
what may. So the party is burying in the archives, the bitter speeches
against Soren it had made during the election and on the floor of
Parliament. The Congress has decided it is better off in the
opposition, making a virtue out of a necessity. The Congress and the
Jharkhand Vikas Morcha(JVM) had contested the election in an alliance.
JVM leader Babulal Marandi is one of the few leaders to still have
some credibility in Jharkhand. The Congress can’t dump Marandi and
plump for Soren — the two are bitter rivals. So, Soren is all set to
become Santhal raja again after fighting for 30 or more years for an
independent state.
Jharkhand has contributed some very famous, proud sons to India —
Birsa Munda’s anti-British struggle is chronicled in history. The
other great leader of the Jharkhand was Jaipal Munda, whose legacy was
inherited by Soren after he died.
Soren’s idea was that Jharkhand was fashioned by an agitation against
the “diku” (outsider). The three hated figures in Jharkhand when it
was part of undivided Bihar were the Chhota (Sikh transporters who
attempted to “colonise” the region); the Sota (the strongmen of
eastern UP who flowed into Jharkhand believing they could hold sway
over an unlettered cowering mass of tribals) and the Lota (the Marwari
trader). In his younger days, Soren was a Scarlet Pimpernel kind of
character for the tribals. This is why, for the Jharkhand tribals, no
matter how outrageous his antics — whether allegation of “bribery”
levelled against the Narasimha Rao regime to which the JMM MPs were
party, or sundry ongoing murder cases — Shibu Soren is blameless. It
doesn’t matter that Jharkhand has some of the lowest Human Development
Index indicators, and tribals continue to be at the receiving end of
both the Maoists and the state.
In his heyday, Soren’s support in Jharkhand had to be seen to be
believed. But like tribals everywhere — whether in West Bengal or in
Nagaland — there was no political strategy in what his colleagues did.
In the undivided Bihar Assembly, JMM always had 40 or 50 MLAs at any
given time. They were the currency of the ruling regime in Patna.
Indeed, Lalu Prasad has had dealings with JMM which have saved his
government at least once, if not on more occasions.
However, like all big leaders, Soren found it impossible to make way
for a new leadership, which led to rebellion against him. Also, the
new Jharkhandi began to realise that though he owed his standing to
the devotion of the tribals, the demographic structure of the state
was undergoing a change.
Several younger leaders saw merit in doing deals with the Church; with
the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)’s Seva Bharati and other Hindu
tribals outfits. The slogan was now not “against the diku” but “with
the diku”.
It was this pragmatic view of politics that has brought the JMM to
what it is today, with leaders like Karia Munda, Arjun Munda and
Babulal Marandi becoming challengers to Soren. The problem is that
Soren —like other tribal outfits — has never leveraged his leadership,
but only his numerical strength, in his politics. And his leadership,
if only he would develop it for his people, does count for something.
Soren is a Santhali. Because of urbanisation, tribal society is
acquiring many of less than wholesome social features of the plains.
Dowry is now not unheard of. Alcoholism is widespread. Soren has led
several movements for social reform: Both against dowry and drinking.
This is why he is called “guruji”.
But when it comes to governance, he needs to be led. Whether Jharkhand
will see one more merry-go-round of graft cases, criminalisation and
defections remains to be seen. In any case, tribals are the ones who
are going to lose.
http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/aditi-phadnis-back-tofuture/380716/
chhotemianinshallah
Subodh Ghildiyal, TNN 26 December 2009, 03:28am IST
NEW DELHI: Congress on Friday moved in to preempt a tie-up between JMM
and BJP, dispatching its managers to open communication with Shibu
Soren after lying low for two days since the results threw up a badly
fractured verdict.
The Congress bid to negotiate the numbers in Jharkhand came as it
became clear that BJP had decided to give primacy to keeping Congress
out of power over any other consideration.
Sources said Congress managers were trying to convince JMM against
tying up with BJP which would be "suicidal" for it. BJP and Congress
were engaged in a neck and neck game for power with each trying to net
Soren and AJSU. BJP's Rajnath Singh and Ananth Kumar have reached
Ranchi and could stake claim on Saturday if all pieces remain on
board. But Congress has despatched its managers to preempt the rival
game.
Congress's energies are focussed on AJSU, which has returned a tally
of five MLAs and emerged crucial to the power arithmetic. If Sudesh
Mahto's outfit says `no' to BJP, Soren would be in a tough position as
he would have to win the smaller outfits besides BJP to cobble the
numbers.
AICC leadership was forced to revisit its strategy of wearing out
Soren by keeping him waiting as BJP suddenly waded into the power
game. Sources said Union minister Subodhkant Sahay has been sent to
Ranchi to do the groundwork.
Ally Babulal Marandi, whose JVM has won 11 seats, arrived in the
Capital at night for discussions with CWC incharge of Jharkhand
Keshava Rao.
The reason for the stalemate is AICC's decision against giving the top
job to Soren while there is also a reluctance to accommodate him in
the Union ministry because of charges against him as well as JMM's
reported links with Maoists. In lieu of CM's post, however, the party
may consider other options. Soren's son Hemant could be made deputy CM
and the Maharashtra formula of giving important portfolios to the ally
while keeping the CM's post for itself is also possible.
AJSU is being wooed actively. If the five-MLA party decides against
forming government with BJP, JMM and BJP would be left with 38 MLAs
and would require smaller outfits and independents. On the other hand,
Congress asserted it could, even without JMM, command a bloc of over
41 MLAs including the assured support from RJD which has five MLAs and
a few independents.
Reflecting Congress's concern, Subodh Kant Sahay warned Soren against
destroying his 25-year-old party for the short-term gain of getting
CM's chair. "He should not rush into giving a certificate of
secularism to BJP when Liberhan commission's report on Babri
demolition is so fresh in collective memory," he said.
There is, however, also a serious view in AICC that Congress should
consider sitting in the opposition if Soren decides to go with BJP.
This school holds that BJP-JMM tieup would result in an unstable
regime vulnerable to coalition contradictions. Soren's joining hands
with BJP, it is felt, would push the non-tribals and fractured
minorities into Congress kitty for future. "It may not be too bad for
us either. That's why we are interested in forming the government but
not very keen on it," an AICC functionary said.
chhotemianinshallah
26 Dec 2009, 0618 hrs IST, Navtan Kumar, ET Bureau
RANCHI: Even as political uncertainty grips Jharkhand, BJP seems to be
inching towards a deal with JMM to form the new government. BJP
general secretary Ananth Kumar was expected to reach Ranchi on Friday
night and offer support to Shibu Soren’s bid to lead the next govt in
Jharkhand.
In a fast-changing turn of events in Ranchi, BJP is reaching at a
consensus within to have truck with JMM to form the next government.
The fresh move follows UPA’s reluctance to accept JMM supremo Shibu
Soren as chief minister of the coalition. Sources said BJP leader
Chandan Mitra has already held preliminary talks with Mr Soren in
Ranchi.
What has changed the political scenario in BJP’s favour is the
announcement by the five-member All Jharkhand Students’ Union (AJSU)
that it was not against a tie wup with BJP. The support of AJSU can
take the tally of BJP-JMM to 43 in the 81-member house.
This development is certain to force Congress to do a rethink on its
stand against allowing JMM to lead the new government. The party is
certain to come under pressure to make concessions for keeping the BJP
out of power.
On Thursday, Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (JVM) had claimed that an UPA
government would be formed sans JMM, which has demanded CM’s post for
Mr Soren for support.
Mr Soren, who arrived here last night, admitted that he was being
approached by BJP. “BJP leader Arjun Munda had called me up. We have
no problem with either UPA or NDA,” he said, but refused to elaborate.
He also said no final decision on government formation has been taken
so far. Mr Soren said BJP was not a communal party.
Though there was no official word from BJP, insiders indicated that
the party has agreed, in principle, to do business with JMM, which has
bagged 18 seats in the Jharkhand polls. BJP’s Jharkhand in-charge,
Karuna Shukla, according to a source, also spoke to Mr Soren this
morning to strike a deal.
Top BJP leaders like Karuna Shukla, Saudan Singh, Arjun Munda and
Ragubar Das remained closeted at state party headquarters at Harmu
since morning. Another round of meeting is scheduled later this
evening to discuss the nitty gritty of the deal. Mr Munda indicated
that a final decision could be taken in the evening meeting.
On the JMM front, the party MLAs, in a meeting held at Guruji’s
Morahbadi residence, unanimously elected him as leader of JMM
Legislative Party and “authorised” him to talk to parties to form the
government. The meeting with MLAs was going on till filing of the
report.
According to a BJP insider, many party leaders are of the view that
NDA should try to explore possibilities of forming the government in
Jharkhand. “When the mandate is fractured, what actually matters is
the numbers. If we are in a position to get the numbers, why should
not we give it a try,” he asked.
The party, he said, is in a shambles, nationally. “BJP is in power in
just a handful of states like Gujarat, MP, Chhattisgarh, etc. It
desperately wants to have one more state in its kitty,” he said,
adding: “A big section of the party leadership is in favour of forming
government in Jharkhand.”a
chhotemianinshallah
Indo-Asian News Service
Ranchi, December 26, 2009
First Published: 13:46 IST(26/12/2009)
Last Updated: 13:49 IST(26/12/2009)
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday extended support to the
Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) to form a new government in Jharkhand.
This was stated by BJP leader and former chief minister Arjun Munda.
The JMM led by Shibu Soren, has sought an appointment with Governor K
Shankarnarayan to stake claim to form the government.
The BJP on Saturday also elected Raghubar Das as its legislative party
leader.
chhotemianinshallah
Indo-Asian News Service
Ranchi, December 24, 2009
First Published: 12:52 IST(24/12/2009)
Last Updated: 14:08 IST(24/12/2009)
As speculation mounted over who would be the next Jharkhand chief
minister, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) chief Shibu Soren clarified on
Thursday that he wanted to be king, not kingmaker, and that no party
was an "untouchable".
Keeping all his options open, Soren, who with 18 seats in the 81-
member assembly is key to forming the next government, said
triumphantly that "everything" depended on him.
"I do not want to be kingmaker, I want to be king. It's not important
now what Arjun Munda (of the BJP) and Babulal Marandi (of the JVM-P)
are stating. Now everything depends on me," Soren told reporters in
Bokaro, a day after the assembly elections threw up a badly fractured
verdict.
Both Munda and Marandi are former chief ministers.
Asked if would accept a central cabinet berth, as some Congress
leaders had suggested, in lieu of the chief minister's post, he said
categorically that there "was no such possibility".
"My role is important for a stable and corruption free government in
Jharkhand."
Soren also made it clear that he could go any which way.
"No political party is untouchable for me. I can go with anyone who
is ready to give a strong and stable government to boost development
in the state as well as a corruption free government."
"I am the key person in formation of the state government. It is now
time to teach some lessons to the opportunists who several times
ditched me, which resulted in unstable and corrupt governments."
While the BJP and the JD-U got 20 seats, the Congress-JVM-P alliance
got 25 seats.
Sid Harth
Press Trust Of India
New Delhi, December 26, 2009
First Published: 19:20 IST(26/12/2009)
Last Updated: 19:22 IST(26/12/2009)
Congress Saturday attacked the BJP's post-poll alliance with Jharkhand
Mukti Morcha dubbing it as "the high point of unprincipled and
unethical politics".
"The alliance between JMM and BJP is the high point of unprincipled
and unethical politics. Neither had they a pre-poll alliance nor do
they have a moral claim to form government," party spokesman Manish
Tewari said here.
Accusing JMM of winning their assembly seats with the support of
Maoists, Tewari wondered how BJP could take a tough line on tackling
Maoist violence.
"It (BJP) needs to introspect as to how a party, which has come to
power on the support of Maoists and naxals, would be able to take a
tough line on the question of tackling naxal violence," the spokesman
said.
Tewari said that till yesterday, Arun Jaitley and BJP were "crying
hoarse" about Shibu Soren's "criminal" past but "today they have no
compunction about aligning with a man who is being tried in three
murder cases, including one which is coming up for hearing as early as
January 5, 2010".
AICC General Secretary Janardan Dwivedi also charged BJP with double
standards. "They (BJP) have a different yardstick when a party is with
them and another when it is not with them," he said.
chhotemianinshallah
SANTOSH K. KIRO
Ranchi, Dec. 26: One of the two newly-elected JD(U) MLAs, Raja Peter
may have been left with no alternative but to back the JMM-BJP
combine, but his decision could make him unpopular among his voters in
Tamar who celebrate him as the “local hero” who dethroned Shibu Soren.
The reference is to the January bypoll in Tamar that saw him defeat
Guruji after he was fielded to do just that by former minister in the
Madhu Koda cabinet, Anosh Ekka.
That defeat cost Soren the chief minister’s chair, pushing the state
to President’s rule on January 18. Today, Gopal Krishna Patar, alias
Raja Peter, is in the JD(U), having spent the last 24 hours wrestling
with his conscience before reluctantly agreeing to support the JMM in
forming a government.
His former boss Ekka is in jail facing corruption charges.
In his talks with Bihar party chief Lallan Singh and Bihar chief
minister Nitish Kumar, who had inducted him into the JD(U), Peter is
understood to have aired his reservations in no uncertain terms.
“I fought against Shibu Soren as a result of which he had to quit as
chief minister. Tamar voted me to oust Soren from the chair. I fought
on a JD(U) ticket, again on an anti-JMM plank, with a pledge to defeat
Soren,” he told them.
“People voted for what I stood for. What will I tell my voters when
they ask me why I was crowning the leader they voted me to defeat,” he
asked.
Ultimately, Soren had to talk to Nitish, who claimed throughout the
day that the NDA was “united”. Not much is known about what transpired
between the two leaders, but it was only after Guruji spoke to the JD
(U) leader that Peter agreed.
Now, he was likely to be rewarded with a ministerial berth.
“The party has decided to support Soren in forming the next
government. I am just a loyal worker of the party,” Peter told The
Telegraph, trying to hide his dilemma.
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1091227/jsp/frontpage/story_11912858.jsp
chhotemianinshallah
- JMM chief stakes claim, says he has support of 42
OUR BUREAU
BJP leader Rajnath Singh and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha chief Shibu Soren
in Ranchi on Saturday. Picture by Manik Bose
Dec. 26: Jharkhand Mukti Morcha chief Shibu Soren today staked claim
to form the state government, handing the governor a list of 42 MLAs
that included members of the BJP, All Jharkhand Students Union and an
Independent.
The Janata Dal (United), which has two MLAs, later gave the Raj Bhavan
a letter of support, raising Soren’s numbers to 44 in the 81-member
Assembly and appearing to end the climate of uncertainty in the state.
“I am going to form the government,” Soren said while leaving the Raj
Bhavan.
Governor K. Sankaranarayanan did not indicate if and when Soren would
be invited to form the government.
The list given to him at 3pm names 18 legislators each from the JMM
and the BJP, five from Ajsu and Independent member Bandhu Tirkey. Two
other Independents, Chamra Linda and Videsh Singh, too, appear likely
to support the government.
Under a proposed power-share formula, whose details are being worked
out, the JMM will keep the chief minister’s post and three cabinet
berths. The BJP will get four berths, Ajsu three and the JD(U) one.
The BJP is likely to get the Speaker’s post.
If sworn in, this would be the 65-year-old Soren’s third term as chief
minister. He will not miss the ironies in what is a dream comeback for
him.
Raja Peter, one of the two JD(U) MLAs supporting him, was the reason
behind Soren losing the top job in January. Peter, contesting on a
Jharkhand Party ticket, had then defeated Soren in the Tamar bypoll
but may now be rewarded with a minister’s post.
The BJP too had denied Soren the chief minister’s post in 2000 — when
Jharkhand was formed and the JMM was part of the NDA — saying the
party with the most lawmakers was entitled to the chair. This time the
“Disom Guru” played his cards well and forced the BJP to accept him as
chief minister.
An unfazed Congress, which believes its refusal to support Soren will
help it in the long run, has begun concentrating on exposing the BJP’s
“opportunism”.
The party expects a JMM-BJP government to be quickly discredited, even
collapse, allowing the Congress-Jharkhand Vikas Morcha to step in with
a stronger claim.
“We want the BJP to form the government with Soren quickly, today
itself, and invite the wrath of the voters,” Congress spokesman
Shakeel Ahmed said.
General secretary Janardan Dwivedi said the BJP’s decision to back
Soren had exposed its doublespeak and hunger for power. “If you recall
what the BJP had been saying about Soren in the past few years, you
will understand the BJP’s character,” he said.
Accusing the JMM of winning with Maoist support, the Congress’s Manish
Tewari wondered how the BJP could take a tough line on the rebels now.
Tewari recalled the BJP was “crying hoarse” about Soren’s “criminal”
past till yesterday.
The BJP had launched a massive campaign against tainted ministers in
2004 primarily because of the presence of the Rashtriya Janata Dal and
the JMM in the Union ministry. It later stalled Parliament for days
when Soren refused to quit the cabinet after being charge-sheeted.
The BJP leaders who accompanied Soren to the Raj Bhavan today were
Yash- want Sinha, Ananth Kumar, Raghubar Das and Arjun Munda. Former
BJP president Rajnath Singh, who arrived in Ranchi last night after
being appointed political manager by his successor Nitin Gadkari, did
not accompany them.
The Congress mounted a last-ditch effort to win over Ajsu chief Sudesh
Mahto, but Soren’s son Hemant had already met him at an undisclosed
location in Ranchi and taken his signature on a letter of support.
State Congress chief Pradeep Balmuchu, who had taken along all 14 of
his MLAs to Mahto’s home, waited for over two hours only to be told he
had pledged support to Soren.
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1091227/jsp/nation/story_11913017.jsp
chhotemianinshallah
Special Correspondent
“Jharkhand will otherwise enter into yet another period of instability
and uncertainty”
— Photo: Manob Chowdhury
JMM supremo Shibu Soren along with BJP leaders (from right) Yashwant
Sinha, Arjun Munda, Raghubar Das and All-Jharkhand Students’ Union
president Sudesh Mahto (left) meets Jharkhand Governor K.
Sankaranarayanan (third from left) on Saturday to stake claim to form
the government.
NEW DELHI: As the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) struck a power-sharing
equation with the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) to form the government
in Jharkhand, the party spokesperson and MP Ravi Shankar Prasad on
Saturday defended the party’s decision.
“Given the fractured mandate in Jharkhand, we have gone for stability
and welfare of the people,” Mr. Prasad said. “This was the only way
out in the interest of the State. Moreover, Shibu Soren has been
cleared by the Delhi High Court in a case and the Dumka court in other
cases.”
He said the coming together of the BJP-JMM and the All Jharkhand
Students Union (AJSU) was the only way out to respect people’s
verdict. Otherwise the State would have entered into yet another
period of instability and uncertainty. The alliance was stitched
together with the efforts of the party’s collective leadership, led by
the new party president Nitin Gadkari. He said the coalition would
have 43 MLAs in an 81-seat Assembly.
Mr. Prasad said the finer details were being worked out by the former
party president, Rajnath Singh, and senior leaders Ananth Kumar and
Yashwant Sinha.
http://www.hindu.com/2009/12/27/stories/2009122755450800.htm
chhotemianinshallah
Subodh Ghildiyal , TNN 26 December 2009, 10:52pm IST
NEW DELHI: The Congress's firm no to Shibu Soren as chief minister and
its refusal to accommodate him at the Centre paved the way for JMM to
clinch the deal with BJP to form the government, in what is a
surprising embrace between two sworn adversaries.
The drama seems to be only beginning, with Congress confident that it
would be an unstable regime with many members vulnerable to "anti-
corruption crusade" and ideological issues over the ruling alliance.
Sources said there will be members in the state government who may
face the heat in corruption cases. Also, Congress is banking on
resentment which may arise among Muslim and Christian MLAs in JMM.
Some legislators in the saffron outfit may also be uneasy over the
alliance with Soren.
Congress tried late to dissuade Soren from joining hands with the
"communal forces" but was categorical that he could not head the
coalition government with it. Sources said the leadership also put in
the condition that "tainted legislators" could not be part of state
ministry, another stumbling block for the regional outfit.
Soren's adamance on being given the top job prompted the five-MLA AJSU
-- which Congress focused on to pre-empt rivals from forming the
government -- to realize that BJP-JMM combine was the only realistic
alternative. Hemant Soren, who came to Rajya Sabha in partnership with
Congress last year, played a role in holding his father against
conceding CM's post to Congress.
Congress feels it would make political gains from the alliance which
has put together two mutually exclusive social groups. The party feels
that minorities, who vote for JMM, and the middle-class, which
preferred BJP because of its anti-JMM stand, would shift loyalty to
Congress.
Congress is waiting to see how the marriage unfolds. AICC spokesman
Manish Tiwari, in a question to BJP, asked how could the party which
had received support from naxalites in elections be expected to fight
the menace. He underlined that BJP had targeted Soren all along and
was now forming the state government under his leadership. Union
minister Subodh Kant Sahay called it "an unethical and opportunistic
alliance".
Kesava Rao, AICC incharge of state, said, "From the beginning, we have
been aiming at a stable government with an honest team which can
deliver. The condition of Jharkhand is well known. We had allies but
we could not do much as we were not sure of stability and clean
governance which we needed to give. We will play a constructive
opposition and voice the true demands of people, particularly the poor
and tribals."
chhotemianinshallah
STAFF WRITER 14:21 HRS IST
Ranchi, Dec 27 (PTI) The Congress lost the battle to BJP in the
numbers game for the second time in five years after the saffron party
threw its weight behind JMM chief Shibu Soren in his bid to form a
government in Jharkhand.
The game began in 2005 when the elections left a hung assembly and the
Congress and RJD had lent support to Soren for government formation.
Soren's government, however, lasted only nine days as the BJP cobbled
up the numbers to put the NDA government in power.
The BJP secured support of two MLAs of AJSU and five Independent MLAs
as well.
This time the BJP remained silent for the first two days after
announcement of election results on December 23.
Former BJP president Rajnath Singh was camping here here yesterday
when the the Congress, reacted a bit too late to secure support.
http://www.ptinews.com/news/442140_Game-of-numbers-for-the-5th-time-in-Jharkhand
Sid Harth
Posted by admin on Dec 27th, 2009
Ranchi, Dec 27 (Inditop.com) As he prepares to rule Jharkhand for the
third time, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) chief Shibu Soren will hope
he does not land into trouble again.
Soren first took over as the state’s chief minister after the March
2005 assembly elections despite the numbers being against him. He had
to step down within ten days as he could not prove his majority in the
assembly.
He next became chief minister of the state Aug 27, 2008, though he was
not a member of the state assembly. This proved to be his undoing as
he lost the Tamar assembly bypoll in January, and had to step down as
he could not meet the constitutional requirement of becoming a member
of the state legislature within six months.
This time around Soren’s party won 18 seats in the 81-member assembly.
He Saturday staked claim to forming the government with the support of
Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) 18 members, the All Jharkhand Students
Union’s (AJSU) five, the Janata Dal-United’s (JD-U) two and two
independents. This gives Soren 45 members – four more than required
for a majority.
Soren, currently a Lok Sabha MP, now needs to get elected to the state
assembly within the stipulated time.
Soren’s record in power as a minister in the central government is
equally chequered. He became a minister in the Manmohan Singh
government in May 2004 when the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) came
to power. He, however, had to quit two months later as a warrant
against him in the 1975 Chirudih massacre case resurfaced.
He went into hiding but had to surrender in the Jamtara district court
following a Jharkhand High Court directive and remained in jail for
two months.
Guruji, as Soren is known by his supporters, was again given a berth
in the central ministry in October 2004. He quit in March 2005 to
become chief minister of Jharkhand for the first time but was in power
for less then 10 days.
Soren returned to the central cabinet in 2006, and also became
chairperson of Jharkhand UPA when Madhu Koda became chief minister in
September 2006.
However, Soren was again forced to resign in October 2006 after he was
convicted and awarded life term for the murder of his personal
secretary Shashinath Jha.
The Delhi High Court acquitted him in the Jha murder case in 2007, and
he was also acquitted in the Chirudih massacre case. But there is one
more murder case pending against him in the Giridih district court.
Soren’s next opportunity came when the Left parties withdrew support
to the UPA government, reducing it to minority and necessitating a
trust vote. In the July 22, 2008 confidence motion, JMM supported the
Manmohan Singh government and soon, Soren took over as Jharkhand chief
minister for the second time in August 2008.
In the 2009 general elections, the JMM was reduced to two seats. Soren
won but was denied a cabinet berth in Manmohan Singh government.
The JMM had fought the 2009 assembly polls alone and Soren sought the
chief minister’s post for himself from any party who wanted his
support.
This time, with the BJP and AJSU’s backing and independent legislators
making up the necessary numbers, Soren should not have any trouble in
completing the term. However, his supporters will be keeping their
fingers crossed.
http://www.inditop.com/politics/will-luck-favour-shibu-soren-the-third-time
Sid Harth
Posted by admin on Dec 27th, 2009
Ranchi, Dec 27 (Inditop.com) Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) chief Shibu
Soren will be sworn in as Chief Minister Dec 30 at the Marabadi
grounds here.
Soren met Governor K. Sankarnarayanan Sunday afternoon and expressed
his desire to take the oath Dec 30 and the governor accepted his
request.
“Now Soren will be chief minister and I appeal to the people to remain
awake,” Soren told reporters after the meeting.
Earlier, the governor asked President Pratibha Patil to revoke
President’s rule in the state to allow a new government to be formed,
Raj Bhavan sources said Sunday.
The governor sent a report to the president on the political situation
in Jharkhand after the Nov 25-Dec 18 assembly elections, a source in
the governor’s house told IANS.
Soren Saturday staked claim to forming the government with a list of
45 legislators supporting him in the 81-member house.
He is being supported by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), All
Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU), Janata Dal-United (JD-U) and two
independents.
The BJP and JMM have 18 legislators each.
Jharkhand came under President’s Rule Jan 19 after no party came
forward to form the government following Soren’s resignation following
his defeat in the bypoll to the Tamar assembly seat. Soren, who took
over as chief minister Aug 27, 2008, had to get elected to the state
assembly within six months in accordance with the constitutional
provisions.
http://www.inditop.com/politics/shibu-soren-to-take-oath-dec-30
chhotemianinshallah
C P SURENDRAN
28 December 2009, 12:00am IST
Though the people of Jharkhand have braved the Naxal strictures and
turned out in strength a little over 60 per cent of the electorate
cast votes the verdict for the 81-seat assembly is hazy. Jharkhand
supplies 50 per cent of India's minerals and coal-based needs. Nearly
30 per cent of its 25 million population is tribal. Another 12 per
cent of the people belong to scheduled castes. Most of them live in
fear of being displaced from their land by developmental politics.
The mainstream parties exploit this fear and insecurity, though
everyone Congress, BJP, JVM and JMM is "for the people". The language
they have spoken before and after the elections has a uniformity of
phonemic emphases.
Which is why the voters have turned in a verdict that indicates they
want change, but are not sure who to trust as the agent of that
change, since all mainstream parties speak more or less the same
language. There is nothing in the language to distinguish between
Shibu Soren from his rival Babulal Marandi of JVM or the local
Congress leaders, or the BJP, or for that matter another ex-CM, Madhu
Koda.
Soren, a tribal himself, sees the answer to all the ills of the state
in his own hirsute person. In 2006, he had to quit as minister for
coal in the Union cabinet because of his involvement in a case in
which he was accused to murdering his private secretary Shashi Nath
Jha in 1994. The life term that he was awarded was later set aside by
a Delhi district court because the court said the CBI had "miserably
failed" in proving Soren's involvement in the crime. He is also
involved in other criminal cases. Soren was sworn in as the Jharkhand
CM in 2008 the sixth in eight years only to lose his chair in a by-
election in January.
The Congress party, which morally disowned him since his alleged role
in the murder is now guardedly trying to form a government in the
state with the support of the JMM, as is the BJP. Three years and an
election victory is all that has taken the mainstream national parties
to see Soren in a new light. Expediency, as ever, is the solution to
all problems.
One irony sets off another. Soren, on his part, is ready to join hands
with the Congress or the BJP clearly, it is all the same to him if he
is sworn in as CM: "I do not want to be kingmaker. I want to be king.
Only i can give the state a stable and corruption-free government."
As an enraged Hamlet said, "Words. Words. Words." Indian politics is a
balloon swelling with hot air. Just about anyone can use words like
honesty, efficiency, corruption-free government and a thousand other
words which have emptied themselves of meaning, but still
unquestionably sound right, and hope to be taken seriously.
The necessary condition of politics is survival. These right sounding
words are the basis of that survival. The use of familiar sounds in
the language empowers Soren and others like him to be an active choice
for the more morally-pretentious mainstream parties, just as it gives
the latter a valid excuse to slide sideways towards him on the nuptial
bed of politics.
One of Mahatma Gandhi's great contributions was to enrich political
discourse with a new, experienced language. The language of his
politics was personal, charged with the discovery of himself. His
voice was distinct. Poor Jharkhand may have turned out in strength at
the polls, but if the results spell confusion, it is only a reflection
of a political discourse awash with clichis. Everyone from murderers
to movie stars, politicians to policemen has come to use the same
sound bites, entirely free from the responsibility of authenticating
his language with his individual experience. The real problem that the
Jharkhands of India face is not elections. The democracy-gene of the
native is likely to take care of that. It is the old question of
authenticity of leadership and the related problem of language.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/opinion/subverse/Sounds-of-Soren/articleshow/5385303.cms
chhotemianinshallah
Sabyasachi Bandopadhyay
Posted: Monday , Dec 28, 2009 at 0302 hrs
Kolkata:
BJP spokesman Rajiv Pratap Rudy has criticised his party over its
decision to back JMM chief Shibu Soren as Jharkhand Chief Minister.
“An effort is being made to form a government in Jharkhand with the
help of BJP and it will not be good for our party. The BJP should not
do it because it does not have the mandate. This will hamper the
progress of the party. I hope my party’s senior leaders ponder over
it,” Rudy told a conference of the ABVP, the student wing of the BJP,
at Sodepur in North 24 Parganas on Saturday.
BJP West Bengal president Rahul Sinha seemed embarrassed when Rudy
said: “Rahulji, aap mere saath sahmat honge (Rahul, you will agree
with me).”
Sinha later said: “I am concerned only with my state, not other
states. What the BJP should do in Jharkhand is the business of the
party’s central and state leaders, not mine.”
When contacted, Rudy said: “What I said at Sodepur was my personal
opinion, not my views as BJP spokesman. It was an ABVP training camp,
I said this for my party people.”
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Spokesman-Rudy-says-not-good-for-BJP-if-it-props-up-Soren/560479
chhotemianinshallah
IANS 28 December 2009, 02:14pm IST
RANCHI: Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) chief Shibu Soren, who is set to
form the government in Jharkhand with support from the Bharatiya
Janata Party (BJP) and the All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU), on
Monday left Ranchi for Mumbai to meet BJP president Nitin Gadkari.
"Soren left for Mumbai along with AJSU chief Sudesh Mahto, BJP state
president Raghubar Das and senior BJP leader CP Singh by a chartered
plane," Supriyo Bhattacharya, general secretary of JMM, said.
Soren was accompanied by his son Hemant. Soren will be sworn as
Jharkhand chief minister for the third time on Wednesday at the
Morabadi ground at 2 pm.
JMM sources said that Soren is likely to discuss the formation of the
state cabinet with Gadkari. Officially, however, JMM leaders
maintained that it was just a courtesy meeting.
Soren had on Saturday staked claim to forming the government with a
list of 45 legislators supporting him in the 81-member house.
He is being supported by the BJP, AJSU, Janata Dal-United (JD-U) and
two independent legislators. The BJP and JMM have 18 legislators each,
AJSU has five and JD-U has two.
As per their understanding, BJP will have four ministers, JMM and AJSU
three each and JD-U one. In Jharkhand, there can be a maximum 12
ministers including the chief minister.
Soren is likely to return to the state capital by Monday evening.
chhotemianinshallah
Aligning with Shibu Soren is the biggest mistake that the BJP has
committed. It shows lack of commitment to principles when political
power is in sight. I’m sure very soon it will be regretting its
decision. What has happened to the party that once upon a time swore
by principles? Someone rightly said,” Hamam mein sab nange hain”
- R J Khurana (via email)
Soren was a BJP opponent inn the past. Now Soren becomes friend. In
politics friends and fores are only for enjoying power and committing
crimes and this is bad. It is a shame to change colours only with
selfih ebnd. Soren had criminal records also. Might have been erased
due toi his political power. India badly wants politicians who serve
and sacrifice for the country and its common people and not making
common people suffer for the prosperity of politicians.
- B S Ganesh, Bangalore
In the peculiar circumstance of the split mandate and no party is in a
position to form the government on its own and Congress backtracking
to support JMM, there was no alternative than extending support to
avoid Governor’s Rule or another election and if BJP has confined only
its support to that extent there is no harm. They can play the role of
controlling the JMM going astray in governance. But the majority is
very thin and political manoeuvring cannot be ruled out.
- Shantanu (via email)
Mr. Soren was rejected by his constituents in the bye-election last
year; seven general elections in nine years. Indian Politics is
becoming an expensive joke. A non member, Mr. Soren will become the CM
which will necessitate another bye-election; what a waste of Tax
payers’ money. Either President Rule should be imposed for five years
or as suggested by Mr. Shatrughan Sinha (reported in major news papers
on May 13, 2009) a Congress-BJP (with their pre poll allies) Govt
should be formed. Perhaps, it is time for the media to take up this
issue and prevent politicians from forcing unneeded, cumbersome and
expensive recurrent elections in different States.
- Sam (via email)
Shame on BJP. And as a matter of fact shame on us that we the people
have murderers and rapists run our country as leaders. How difficult
is to pass a law that any convicted or charged person cannot run for
the public office. The fact is that all leaders are dirty and no one
really wants this law to pass. Where is the power of the people?
- Pratap Ahuja (via email)
http://www.indicpost.com/letters/what-is-bjp-doing-with-soren/
chhotemianinshallah
TNN 28 December 2009, 06:11pm IST
KATHMANDU: Nepal’s former Maoist guerrillas have found an unexpected
ally in a party that once criticised its effort to abolish the world’s
only Hindu monarchy and transform Nepal into a secular republic.
Bhagat Singh Koshiyari, former BJP chief minister of Uttarakhand and
an RSS ideologue, has assured Maoist supremo Pushpa Kamal Dahal
Prachanda that he would convey to India’s external affairs ministry
the furore created by Indian Army chief Gen Deepak Kapoor’s reported
statement about Nepal’s army and would seek a clarification from the
Manmohan Singh government.
The 67-year-old Kumaoni politician, who became Uttarakhand’s chief
minister in 2001 but was forced to resign the following year after his
party lost the state assembly election, Monday met Prachanda at the
latter’s residence in Kathmandu as part of his interaction with
Nepal’s politicians during his short Kathmandu visit.
After the meeting, the Indian politician told journalists that he
would raise before the MEA Gen Kapoor’s reported statement that
Nepal’s army should not induct combatants from the Maoists’ People’s
Liberation Army as it would lead to the politicisation of the state
army. The Maoists have condemned the statement, saying the merger of
the two armies is guaranteed by the comprehensive peace agreement they
signed with the ruling parties in 2006 that ended the 10-year
"People's War". At a public meeting last week, Prachanda flayed the
Indian general’s remark as “naked intervention in Nepal’s internal
matters” which, he said, exposed the current ruling alliance as a
“wooden puppet” remote-controlled by India. The BJP, though once
opposed to the Nepal Maoists and supporting deposed king Gyanendra,
could now try to embarrass the Indian government by cashing in on
Kapoor’s reported statement.
Prachanda, who has also asked the Nepal government to clarify its
position vis-a-vis the general’s remark, is now asking the Manmohan
Singh government too to clarify if it is Kapoor’s personal opinion or
the official position of the Indian government as well. When the
Indian ambassador to Nepal Rakesh Sood met Prachanda Sunday on the eve
of his departure for Delhi, the Maoist supremo took up the issue with
Sood as well, saying if it was the official Indian stand, then his
party would have no other option than start a protest movement against
India.
Meanwhile, the Maoists have also begun a legal battle against Nepal’s
army, that they believe has been drawing strength from Indian support.
Three Maoist student leaders – Krishna KC, Bina Magar and Himal Sharma
– Sunday filed a writ in Supreme Court against the promotion of a
controversial army general whose troops ran the infamous Bhairabnath
Gan torture camp in the army barracks in Kathmandu during the Maoist
“People’s War”. Hundreds of people were illegally arrested and
tortured on the suspicion they were Maoists or had helped the
insurgents and according to a UN report, 49 people disappeared from
the camp never to be seen again.
The three Maoists were detained in the camp and administered
systematic beatings to extract information. They were also given
electric shocks, had pins driven under nails and heads immersed in
filthy water. They were released only after protracted battles by
lawyers and human right organisations. But despite the allegations,
the government last week promoted Major-General Toran Jung Bahadur
Singh to lieutenant-general, who is now the second in command of the
Nepal Army.
chhotemianinshallah
PTI 26 December 2009, 01:58am IST
KATHMANDU: Deposed king Gyanendra and his son Paras were involved in
the 2001 palace massacre that killed ex-monarch Birendra along with
most of his family, a Nepalese prisoner, who claimed to be a former
royal bodyguard, has alleged.
Gyanendra has been at the centre of many conspiracy theories,
including the palace massacre that killed his popular elder brother
Birendra along with most of the royal family by the then crown prince
Dipendra, who was allegedly fuelled by a cocktail of drugs and
alcohol.
Lal Bahadur Magar, who is serving a jail term Birgunj jail on charge
of killing a couple, claimed that he was an eye-witness to the royal
massacre, according to a report in eKantipur, the online news portal
of Kathmandu Post newspaper.
Magar claimed that former crown prince Paras was behind the killing of
the former king's family, said the report, which quoted the news
agency RSS as saying.
According to the report, Magar, who claimed that he was one of the
bodyguards of Deependra at the time when the massacre took place,
accused Paras of involvement in the killing when Maoist
parliamentarian Leela Kumar Baga went to meet him in the jail on
Thursday. The prisoner alleged that Gyanendra had a hand in the
massacre, the news portal reported.
Gyanendra, who for the first time acquired a passport in his name at
the age of 64 last month, is in India on a personal visit since the
first week of December.
64-year-old Gyanendra vacated the royal palace in the heart of the
capital in June 2008, two weeks after the 601-member constituent
assembly's abolished the monarchy.
Mass protests against Gyanendra that began in April 2006 finally
culminated in the abolition of the 240-year-old monarchy soon after
the CPN-Maoist emerged as the largest party in the constitutional
assembly polls last year.
Many ordinary Nepalese were delighted to see the back of the dour,
unpopular king as well as his son Paras. Gyanendra, who has become a
commoner after being forced to step down in May last year, will now
pay tax under proposals cleared by the Nepalese cabinet.
chhotemianinshallah
Agencies
Posted: Monday , Dec 28, 2009 at 1533 hrs
Updated:Monday , Dec 28, 2009 at 1542 hrs
Mumbai:
Gadkari said it was Congress and not Soren who was responsible for
corruption in politics.
BJP president Nitin Gadkari on Monday defended the party's decision of
supporting Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader Shibu Soren to form the
next Government in Jharkhand saying that stability and interests of
the people of that state were the only concerns.
Talking to reporters in Mumbai, Gadkari said it was Congress and not
Soren who was responsible for corruption in politics. "The Courts have
also taken a decision in his favour," he said.
Gadkari said BJP had no option but to support Soren to provide a
stable government in the interests of the people of the state.
Meanwhile, Soren who is set to take oath as Jharkhand's chief Minister
for the third time, arrived in the city to meet Gadkari at the BJP
state office in South Mumbai to discuss the nitty gritty of government
formation.
13 Comments |
Gadkari Defends
By: Pravartan | Monday , 28 Dec '09 19:02:52 PM
As has been addressed by Gadkari all the criticism he is facing is
because of the stage where earlier Gadhas and nerds from congress have
brought India. And to keep these imbecile people away from doing more
harms to the nation this has to be done.
Nothing special , as usual
By: ashraf | Monday , 28 Dec '09 19:01:07 PM
2009 ends by as usual BJP's joke by supporting shibu soren, ha ha ha
'Something is better than nothing' is the real justification
By: Jas | Monday , 28 Dec '09 18:17:23 PM
But the same people whose interest Gadkari is talking about, decided
not not to put his party in government. But this Gadha won't
understand the finer nuances of democracy and let the verdict of
people stand in his way to satiate his lust for power-just like the
old bad boy Advani. By the way, what Mr. Advani doing these days? Let
me guess-mentoring Ms Sushma and training her how to ride a his rath
to crush congress.
Will 'O the Wisp
By: Jem Hassan | Monday , 28 Dec '09 17:54:04 PM
This shows the true colour of BJP's hunger for power.Soren was outcast
by other parties including congress as they couldn't compromise on
making CM who is so corrupt.Where is the quality of the national party
like BJP lies in this subject where it has agreed to share power with
a politician like Shibu who was involved in a scam that actually
triggered the nation?...the people who would support BJP for this also
should clarify what they find outstanding with this group of nerds...
Jharkhand
By: Vasudev | Monday , 28 Dec '09 18:56:06 PM
If you are a congress supporter please remember Shibu was made as
union minister by congress party.Murder cases were pending against him
by then.It was a shame that ministers ship was offered by the congress
party that too by Mr. Clean PM.Politics is only for convenience and
everybody is selfish.
Jharkhand
By: Vasudev | Monday , 28 Dec '09 18:55:56 PM
If you are a congress supporter please remember Shibu was made as
union minister by congress party.Murder cases were pending against him
by then.It was a shame that ministers ship was offered by the congress
party that too by Mr. Clean PM.Politics is only for convenience and
everybody is selfish.
marriage of convenience
By: Gumnam Singh | Monday , 28 Dec '09 17:47:35 PM
Dont worry Gadkari the marriage between JMM and BJP will last a few
months during which Honrable Sibu Soren will make a few hundred
crores.
Shameless BJP
By: Anant | Monday , 28 Dec '09 17:44:10 PM
It was disgusting to see Gadkari giving a bouquet of flowers to Soren.
BJP is definately a shameless party. It is surprising to see how low
they will go to get power. So the new face of Gadkari is the same old
wine in a more dirty bottle.
Jharkand is a disaster
By: Pratap Nair | Monday , 28 Dec '09 17:26:49 PM
The BJP has supported the JMM and its crooked leader Shibu Soren only
to be in power. It is a shame and proves that they are no different
from the Congress. Rajiv Pratap Rudy raised his objections, but was
asked to shut up. Where is this country heading?
Gadkari defends...
By: Pritamsurti | Monday , 28 Dec '09 16:57:52 PM
Gadkari is mistaken. It is NOT the stability and interests of the
people but of BJP for which BJP supported JMM and Shibu Soren. BJP's
lust for power and position made them to extend this support.
Gadkari Defends Shibu Soren
By: Pravartan | Monday , 28 Dec '09 17:48:14 PM
Being party president Gadkari has already cleared his and BJP's
priorities. There should not be any confusion about the message given
by him "Country's and her citizen's interest are BJP's interest".
Shame on you
By: Boby Mehta | Monday , 28 Dec '09 17:41:15 PM
Laloo, Mulayam, Commies and Mayawati joined Congress to keep BJP out
of power, why BJP should not do the same ? Your type appriciated those
crap parties to keep BJP out but you blame BJP for doing the same
thing, have you any shame ?.
Gadkari Defends
By: N Gulati | Monday , 28 Dec '09 17:27:42 PM
These are standard answers. If BJP had not supported Congess would
have grapped the opportunity. Congress friendly English media would
have never called it opportunistic. Please recall what happened in
Haryana where whole Haryana Janhit Party was gobbled by Congress. All
parties are same.
Gadkari Defends
By: Pravartan | Monday , 28 Dec '09 19:02:52
As has been addressed by Gadkari all the criticism he is facing is
because of the stage where earlier Gadhas and nerds from congress have
brought India. And to keep these imbecile people away from doing more
harms to the nation this has to be done.
Nothing special , as usual
By: ashraf | Monday , 28 Dec '09 19:01:07 PM
2009 ends by as usual BJP's joke by supporting shibu soren, ha ha ha
'Something is better than nothing' is the real justification
By: Jas | Monday , 28 Dec '09 18:17:23 PM
But the same people whose interest Gadkari is talking about, decided
not not to put his party in government. But this Gadha won't
understand the finer nuances of democracy and let the verdict of
people stand in his way to satiate his lust for power-just like the
old bad boy Advani. By the way, what Mr. Advani doing these days? Let
me guess-mentoring Ms Sushma and training her how to ride a his rath
to crush congress.
Will 'O the Wisp
By: Jem Hassan | Monday , 28 Dec '09 17:54:04 PM
This shows the true colour of BJP's hunger for power.Soren was outcast
by other parties including congress as they couldn't compromise on
making CM who is so corrupt.Where is the quality of the national party
like BJP lies in this subject where it has agreed to share power with
a politician like Shibu who was involved in a scam that actually
triggered the nation?...the people who would support BJP for this also
should clarify what they find outstanding with this group of nerds...
Jharkhand
By: Vasudev | Monday , 28 Dec '09 18:56:06 PM
If you are a congress supporter please remember Shibu was made as
union minister by congress party.Murder cases were pending against him
by then.It was a shame that ministers ship was offered by the congress
party that too by Mr. Clean PM.Politics is only for convenience and
everybody is selfish.
Jharkhand
By: Vasudev | Monday , 28 Dec '09 18:55:56 PM
If you are a congress supporter please remember Shibu was made as
union minister by congress party.Murder cases were pending against him
by then.It was a shame that ministers ship was offered by the congress
party that too by Mr. Clean PM.Politics is only for convenience and
everybody is selfish.
marriage of convenience
By: Gumnam Singh | Monday , 28 Dec '09 17:47:35 PM
Dont worry Gadkari the marriage between JMM and BJP will last a few
months during which Honrable Sibu Soren will make a few hundred
crores.
Shameless BJP
By: Anant | Monday , 28 Dec '09 17:44:10 PM
It was disgusting to see Gadkari giving a bouquet of flowers to Soren.
BJP is definately a shameless party. It is surprising to see how low
they will go to get power. So the new face of Gadkari is the same old
wine in a more dirty bottle.
Jharkand is a disaster
By: Pratap Nair | Monday , 28 Dec '09 17:26:49 PM
The BJP has supported the JMM and its crooked leader Shibu Soren only
to be in power. It is a shame and proves that they are no different
from the Congress. Rajiv Pratap Rudy raised his objections, but was
asked to shut up. Where is this country heading?
Gadkari defends...
By: Pritamsurti | Monday , 28 Dec '09 16:57:52 PM
Gadkari is mistaken. It is NOT the stability and interests of the
people but of BJP for which BJP supported JMM and Shibu Soren. BJP's
lust for power and position made them to extend this support.
Gadkari Defends Shibu Soren
By: Pravartan | Monday , 28 Dec '09 17:48:14 PM
Being party president Gadkari has already cleared his and BJP's
priorities. There should not be any confusion about the message given
by him "Country's and her citizen's interest are BJP's interest".
Shame on you
By: Boby Mehta | Monday , 28 Dec '09 17:41:15 PM
Laloo, Mulayam, Commies and Mayawati joined Congress to keep BJP out
of power, why BJP should not do the same ? Your type appriciated those
crap parties to keep BJP out but you blame BJP for doing the same
thing, have you any shame ?.
Gadkari Defends
By: N Gulati | Monday , 28 Dec '09 17:27:42 PM
These are standard answers. If BJP had not supported Congess would
have grapped the opportunity. Congress friendly English media would
have never called it opportunistic. Please recall what happened in
Haryana where whole Haryana Janhit Party was gobbled by Congress. All
parties are same.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/gadkari-defends-bjps-decision-to-make-soren-jharkand-cm/560610/
chhotemianinshallah
Posted by Vamban on Dec 28th, 2009 19:53:02
Bhopal, Dec 28 – Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj
Monday said there was nothing wrong in the Bharatiya Janata Party’s
(BJP) decision to support a Shibu Soren-led Jharkhand Mukti Morcha
(JMM) government in Jharkhand, as he had been absolved of murder
charges by the high court.
‘The party’s parliamentary board was unanimous on the decision of
joining hands with Soren and there were no differences in the party
over forming a government with him in Jharkhand,’ she told media
persons during her first visit to the city after taking over from L.K.
Advani.
‘There were three options before us. One to let president’s rule
prevail which would have meant UPA (United Progressive Alliance)-rule
through the governor, second to allow the Congress to form the
government, and the third option was to form the government with the
JMM,’ Sushma Swaraj said.
In this age of coalition politics, the BJP would do everything
appropriate to keep the Congress out of power, she added.
Sushma Swaraj said she agreed to be the leader of opposition in the
Lok Sabha on the assurance that she would continue to get guidance
from Advani, who is now the chairman of the BJP parliamentary board.
The BJP will play the role of ‘patriotic opposition’, she said.
‘We will not oppose any government move just for the sake of opposing
it but will support any move which would be in the interest of the
nation and its people. However, we will also not allow the government
to make any such policy or programme which is not in the interest of
the country,’ she said.
Sushma Swaraj also denied that the name of Nitin Gadkari to head the
party was proposed by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). ‘It was
wrong to say that Gadkari has been imposed on the party by the RSS
leadership. His name came from within the party. Otherwise also, RSS
does not command the goings on in the party,’ she said.
She also assured the people of her constituency (Vidisha) and Madhya
Pradesh that despite her new responsibility, she would continue to be
in touch with them and meet them regularly as earlier.
http://www.vamban.com/nothing-wrong-in-supporting-shibu-soren-sushma-swaraj/
Sid Harth
TNN 28 December 2009, 10:24pm IST
RANCHI: A reshuffle is on the cards as NDA constituents, BJP and JD
(U), have decided to set their houses in order.
Although BJP has to change its state leadership as the party
constitution bars a leader from holding dual responsibilities, JD(U)
has made up its mind to change the leadership as a corrective measure
following the party's poor performance in the polls.
BJP state president Raghubar Das has been chosen by the party for
deputy chief ministership in the NDA-JMM-AJSU coalition government and
accordingly, he has to vacate the post of state president. As per
tradition followed till date, the position of state president is to be
occupied by some tribal leader.
So, discussions are on to appoint former chief minister and BJP
parliamentary board member Arjun Munda as state president. But some of
the party insiders feel that someone with an RSS background would be
given the responsibility of heading the Jharkhand BJP. The assumption
gains ground after Nitin Gadkari was appointed national president as a
corrective measure following the party's poor performance in the Lok
Sabha election.
Though BJP has managed to form government in the state along with old
allies AJSU and JD(U) by tying the knot with JMM this time, it has
lost heavily as far as the numbers game is concerned. Compared to the
2005 Assembly election, BJP lost 12 seats and most of its bigwigs had
to bite the dust. Blame is partially on the state organization in
general and the leadership in particular for this loss.
Raghubar Das admitted that there indeed was a mistake in the selection
of candidates. "There was some mistake in giving tickets to the
candidates," he said. This admittance, along with the failure of the
state president in controlling the inner bickering in the party, has
resulted in an unofficial decision of the central leadership to
reshuffle the state organization.
JD(U), too, has suffered the fallout of a weak leadership. Though the
party has managed to retain two seats, both candidates are newcomers
and none of the JD(U) leaders practically succeeded in retaining their
seats. State president Jaleshwar Mahato not only lost his Baghmara
seat but also failed to mobilize workers in 14 constituencies that the
party contested.
JD(U) insiders said had Mahato taken up campaigning in the areas where
Lalu Prasad virtually camped during the polls, at least a couple of
more seats would have been in the kitty. State spokesperson Pramod
Mishra told TOI that there is an urgent need to introspect as to what
went wrong with the party in the past five years. "Though it is
getting stronger in Bihar, the party has become insignificant in
Jharkhand," he admitted.
The demand for a change in leadership has started emerging from within
and workers have expressed resentment because of inaccessibility of
the incumbent state president. Workers have also started complaining
about Mahato's callous attitude even during polls.
"Our state president wants to sit in an air-conditioned chamber and
regulate the party through remote control which has made it
insignificant," said a JD(U) leader, adding that a detailed report
would be sent to the central leadership about the way elections were
tackled here.
Sid Harth
Jaideep Deogharia27 December 2009, 10:35pm IST
RANCHI: Politics is a place where strangers become bedfellows. But
when enemies are forced to tie the knot, the situation becomes really
tough which is evident from the helplessness of CM-in-making Shibu
Soren.
If things go against his wishes and JD(U) picks up Tamar MLA Raja
Peter for induction in the state Cabinet, Soren would be forced to
gulp down the bitterest pill of his life.
Peter was the person who led to the fall of the Soren-led government
by defeating him in the by-elections in January. At that time, Peter
had contested on a ticket of Jharkhand Party and defeated the then
chief minister Shibu Soren who had to seek people's mandate as a
member of the Assembly to continue in office.
The Soren government fell not because of running short of a majority
in the House but because of the "leader" failing to win the confidence
of voters of one constituency. The year-long President's Rule followed
the event that is likely to be revoked now.
Soren managed to resume his position but under changed circumstances
and the same Raja Peter is now supporting his government and also
expects a ministerial berth from the JD(U) quota. Considered one of
the most powerful MLAs in Jharkhand's political history to have
toppled a government, Peter this time is running from pillar to post
to ensure that he bags the lone ministerial berth allocated to his
party under the alliance norms of the BJP-JD(U)-JMM and AJSU
combination.
He rushed to Rajgir in Bihar on Saturday to seek the blessings of
Bihar CM and JD(U) stalwart Nitish Kumar so that he is picked up for
the ministerial berth in preference of the other MLA, Sudha Choudhary.
While the state JD(U) has left it over to the central leadership to
select one out of the two MLAs, party insiders are divided in their
opinion about who should become a minister.
Sid Harth
Divy Khare, TNN 26 December 2009, 11:17pm IST
RANCHI: "Everything is fine and our time has come," were the few words
that Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) supremo Shibu Soren spoke to his
close ones before leaving for Raj Bhavan around 1.50 pm on Saturday.
And, those very words spread like wildfire among Soren's supporters
crowding outside his residence. That put an end to the permutations
and combinations going on in their minds. Of course, it was indication
enough for the entire crowd to immediately shift base to the vast
stretch in front of Raj Bhavan which was bathed in a sea of green as
supporters danced, sand, beat drums and raised slogans, working up a
delirium. Surely, it was party time.
Like Friday, the Soren residence remained the centre of attraction for
both mediapersons and people alike since Saturday morning. Apart from
his few party leaders, newly elected Independent MLA Bandhu Tirkey was
the first to come and meet him and announce his support. Later, the
newly elected MLAs of JMM were seen coming in one by one to meet
Guruji. Teklal Mahto, Haji Hussein Ansari, Simen Marandi, Vishnu
Bhaiya and a few others just to name a few.
Most of Soren's supporters were seen busy on their cellphones trying
to know their leader's decision through their contacts perched inside.
Every party leader, coming out after meeting Soren, were trapped by
mediapersons for bites and statements.
Teklal Mahto was the first. He declared that Soren was going to be the
CM. Minutes later, came Haji Hussein Ansari. He said Marandi (Babulal)
cannot be accepted. Only those parties that favour Soren as the chief
minister are acceptable to us. Simen Marandi escaped simply by saying
that the clouds will clear by the evening. Vishnu Bhaiya, who come 15
minutes after Simen left, categorically stated that JMM, BJP and AJSU
would form the government.
Lastly, came out Soren's motorcade. He, along with the newly elected
MLAs, including Hemant Soren, left for Capitol Residency to meet BJP
leaders. They reached there around 2.10 pm and had a meeting with
senior BJP leaders like Rajnath Singh, Raghubar Das, Arjun Munda and
others. It was around 2.20 pm that the newly elected AJSU MLAs,
Chandraprakash Choudhary, Umakant Rajak and Kamal Kishore also joined
them.
The suspense ended around 2.30 pm when Munda came outside and declared
that they were all going to Raj Bhavan to stake claim as there was an
appointment with the governor around 3 pm. A few minutes later, came
the actual moment everyone was waiting for. The legislature party
chiefs of both JMM and BJP, Shibu Soren and Raghubar Das, were seen
coming out of the meeting room clasping each other's hands, followed
by others and headed for Raj Bhavan.
Soon, the teeming throng of JMM supporters borke into a frenzy,
dancing to the beating of drums, hugging, raising slogans and
celebrating Soren's chief ministership in front of Raj Bhavan.
Sid Harth
Manohar Lal, TNN 26 December 2009, 11:19pm IST
RANCHI: Will former science and technology minister Chandraprakash
Choudhary be a minister once again in the new BJP-JMM alliance-led
government?
The question assumes significance as the All Jharkhand Students' Union
(AJSU) chief, Sudesh Mahato, has to choose two from the five MLAs to
become part of the new set-up.
Given the fast changing political equations in the state, AJSU is
likely to get two ministerial posts in the new dispensation. Sources
said both BJP and JMM are likely to settle for five posts each,
including the chief minsiter's post for JMM and Assembly Speaker for
BJP.
Though names of the two Janata Dal(United) MLAs did not feature in the
list of 42 submitted by Shibu Soren to Governor K Sankaranarayanan,
the party is likely to get one minister if it gives its letter of
support.
Sources close to the AJSU chief said while Choudhary was adamant about
retaining his portfolio, Mahato was not keen on it. "Mahato is more in
favour of giving a ministerial post to Kamal Kishore Bhagat, keeping
the organization and party cadres in mind where Bhagat enjoys a very
cordial relationship with most of the youths," said a senior leader of
the party.
"Bhagat is a senior member of the party who actively took part in the
movement for the creation of the state during the struggling days of
the party and is even senior to AJSU supremo Sudesh Mahato," said the
leader.
Now, if Mahato gives in to Chandraprakash, then it might also give
birth to fissures among the party rank and file for nepotism as the
latter is a maternal uncle of the AJSU chief.
Five candidates of the party have been elected this time and in the
numbers game for the formation of government, AJSU has once again
become crucial.
Sid Harth
Sonali Das, TNN 26 December 2009, 11:11pm IST
RANCHI: All efforts of the Congress to form the government in
Jharkhand came to a naught on Saturday after Jharkhand Mukti Morcha
(JMM), BJP and All Jharkhand Students' Union cobbled together the
magic figure of 42 along with the support of an Independent MLA and
staked claim to form government.
Congress, which was working overtime to woo voters of the state ever
since it imposed President's Rule on January 19 and extended it in
July, resigned itself to its failure and gave up all efforts of wooing
MLAs for support. "The Congress has no intention of indulging in horse-
trading just for the sake of being at the helm of affairs," said Union
minister Subodh Kant Sahay, sounding a bit defensive.
The JMM-BJP combine staking claim to form government came sooner than
expected, giving little time to the Congress-JVM alliance to parley
with regional parties or Independents for an alliance though it was
adamant from the beginning that it would not hand over the chief
minister's post to JMM president, Shibu Soren.
"Soren may be a good leader of the tribals but does not have the
capability for governance," Sahay said, adding that the Congress was
never in a hurry to cobble the magic figure. "We prefer to sit in the
Opposition than take any desperate step to form the government," he
asserted.
Notwithstanding Sahay's defence, the fact remains that he did hold
talks with Soren to try and make him see light and stop him from going
over to the BJP. "We did not want the state to become communally
sensitive, burdened as it is with Naxalism," a Congressman said.
Congress legislators, led by state party chief, Pradeep Balmuchu, also
met the AJSU president, Sudesh Mahto, and even offered him the post of
chief minister. They, however, returned empty-handed as Mahato had
already given his letter of support to the JMM-BJP.
Sources in the Congress revealed that though the pre-poll Congress-JVM
alliance had appeared lucrative then (which also paid dividends),
Soren as well as Mahto had made their aversion for Babulal Marandi in
the combine very clear. "This also became a major stumbling block to
government formation," a source said.
Congress has only itself to blame for its dismal performance. In the
first term of President's Rule, Governor Syed Sibtey Razi's aides were
caught in a CBI raid and the governor himself was transferred to
Assam.
Though his successor, K Sankaranarayanan, made all kinds of populist
moves to woo the rural and urban masses like free foodgrain for people
living below the poverty line and agricultural subsidy, free seed,
etc. and Rahul and Sonia Gandhi campaigned extensively apart from the
Congress inviting all kinds of celebrities and chief ministers to bat
for it, it could not get the numbers to form government.
"Sitting MLAs of the Congress, former MPs and a former Assembly
Speaker let us down like never before," a Congressman revealed, adding
that the party infrastructure was never strengthened before the
polls.
chhotemianinshallah
Kiran Tare & Shubhangi Khapre / DNA
Tuesday, December 29, 2009 1:19 IST
Mumbai: Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader Shibu Soren called on BJP
president Nitin Gadkari at the party's Nariman Point office on Monday
and cleared all doubts about forming the next government in the state.
Both leaders agreed to have a common minimum programme and two deputy
chief ministers, including one from the BJP, in the state.
Gadkari and Soren spoke for more than 15 minutes in the former's
office. BJP politicians Gopinath Munde and Vinod Tawde were also
present.
Gadkari said the BJP had no option but to support Soren to provide a
stable government in the state. "It is the Congress and not Soren who
isresponsible for corruption in politics," he said. "The courts have
also decided in his [Soren's] favour."
Gadkari tried to downplay the controversy triggered by the remark of
BJP spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy, who criticised the decision to
support Soren for the post of chief minister. "Rudy's comment has been
misinterpreted," he said. "The decision to support Soren was
unanimous."
Rudy had said that supporting Soren would hamper the BJP's progress in
Jharkhand.
While the state BJP rolled out the red carpet for Soren, the Congress,
whose alliance with the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha emerged as the largest
grouping but failed to form the government, made a dig at Gadkari's
'sermons' of a week ago.
"Gadkari has exposed how hungry the party is to get power in
Jharkhand," state Congress spokesperson Sanjay Dutt said.
Describing the BJP-JMM alliance as 'unholy' and 'unprincipled', the
Congress accused the saffron party of playing the "politics of
convenience and opportunism".
Dutt said, "We are proud of Congress president Sonia Gandhi for taking
a bold and principled stand not to indulge in horse-trading to seek
power."
The Congress recalled how, during the entire election campaign, the
BJP had bitterly fought the JMM and described Soren as tainted,
corrupt, and a politician linked with Maoists.
The party emphasised that the people's mandate was not in favour of
the BJP whose strength had declined from 36 seats in the outgoing
assembly to 20.
Gadkari calls on Thackeray: Before holding talks with the JMM's Shibu
Soren, BJP president Nitin Gadkari met Shiv Sena leader Bal Thackeray
at his residence in Bandra.
Sena executive chief Uddhav Thackeray was not present. Both the Sena
and the JMM have the same election symbol: bow and arrow.
"I respect Balasaheb as much as Atalji and Advaniji," Gadkari, who was
often seen to be against the BJP's alliance with the Sena, said. "We
had a good 45-minute chat. Balasaheb told me that my new assignment
was a big responsibility and he was giving me his blessings. He said
he has faith that I would do well."
http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report_bjp-rolls-out-red-carpet-for-soren-in-mumbai_1328584
bademiyansubhanallah
Suman K Jha
Posted: Wednesday, Dec 30, 2009 at 0426 hrs
New Delhi:
In fresh embarrassment to the BJP over its newly minted alliance with
the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, RSS ideologue M G Vaidya on Tuesday
questioned the move, saying Bharatiya Jana Sangh founding father
Deendayal Upadhyaya would never have given his go-ahead to the kind of
tie-up sewn up in Jharkhand.
He added that “prima facie (JMM chief) Shibu Soren’s image is not
right (unki chhavi theek nahin hai)”.
Speaking to The Indian Express, Vaidya said “there were two views in
the BJP” over the alliance with the JMM, and called party spokesperson
Rajiv Pratap Rudy’s statement (that he has since retracted) expressing
reservations over the same as “brave”. “I learn that he has taken back
his statement. So I’m sure that he must have been explained the
circumstances and constraints which made the BJP tie up with the JMM,”
he said.
At the same time, Vaidya questioned the Congress’s locus standi to
criticise the BJP on the issue of political corruption, saying
“there’s hardly any difference between the BJP and the Congress over
this (probity in public life)”.
Vaidya will devote his column in RSS journal Tarun Bharat (a Marathi
weekly) this weekend to the BJP’s dilemma vis-a-vis Soren.
Several BJP leaders, including Rudy and Yashwant Sinha, had expressed
reservations over an alliance with the JMM for government formation,
saying the mandate for the BJP in Jharkhand “was to sit in
opposition”. However, both Rudy and Sinha have since backed the party
line that circumstances in the state made such a tie-up necessary.
Asked about the BJP’s rationale in forging the alliance, Vaidya agreed
there were serious corruption charges against Soren even if he had
been let off by the High Court in a murder case.
However, the RSS ideologue added that there was a ray of hope. “If
they manage to bring the Soren-led government to provide a clean,
stable and accountable government, it would be an achievement.
Difficult challenges, after all, provide an opportunity.”
chhotemianinshallah
Jaideep Deogharia, TNN 29 December 2009, 11:36pm IST
State BJP president and deputy chief minister in the making Raghuvar
Das understands that under present circumstances, the saffron party
cannot carry out its usual agenda when it has to form the government
along with regional parties such as JMM and AJSU. BJP is prepared for
compromises, the man in the hot seat tells TOI in an exclusive
interview. Excerpts...
Q: What are BJP's plans when its in the government in coalition with
regional outfits such as JMM and AJSU?
RD: The main concern of BJP is stability of the government so that the
state can proceed on the path of development. Fractured mandate has
indicated that the voters refused to give the reins to a single
political party. Accordingly, we have accepted the challenge. There
could be differences in ideology between different coalition partners,
but that would not affect the functioning of the government. The
government will function according to the common minimum programme
drawn up in consultation among the partners.
Q: Is BJP ready to take action against corruption?
RD: Corruption is not only the biggest challenge facing the state, but
also one of the key issues raised in the party's election manifesto.
We have promised to weed out corruption by bringing transparency in
governance and administration. Public representatives would be made
accountable to ensure that funds for government projects are not
misused.
Q: Why did BJP fare so badly in the polls this time?
RD: We need serious introspection to ascertain the reasons and our
leaders would soon come up with the answers. Primarily, selection of
candidates seems to be faulty. The party gave tickets to candidates
with winning prospects, but the outcome was not as per expectation. We
believe that the party should have analyzed and scanned the candidates
thoroughly.
chhotemianinshallah
31 Dec 2009, 0305 hrs IST, ET Bureau
NEW DELHI: In a development that highlighted the party’s predicament
about the political fallout of its decision to join hands with JMM to
form the new government in Jharkhand, the BJP’s top brass on Wednesday
skipped the swearing-in ceremony of Mr Shibu Soren.
When Mr Soren took oath as the chief minister of Jharkhand — his third
stint in power in the state — in Ranchi on Wednesday, the entire top
brass of BJP was missing.
Former union minister Yashwant Sinha, who’s also the MP from
Hazaribagh, and national vice-president Karuna Shukla, who’s in-charge
of the state, were the only exceptions.
The party, nevertheless, took care to deploy a large contingent of
state-level leaders. These included Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman
Singh, his Uttarakhand counterpart Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank,’ and
Bihar’s deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi.
BJP parliamentary party chairman L K Advani, party president Nitin
Gadkari and his predecessor Rajnath Singh, however, decided to stay
away from the oath-taking function, betraying the party’s anxieties
about the political fallout of its decision to forge an alliance with
the “tainted’’ Soren.
Even though BJP, while justifying the move, has taken refuge behind
the fact that Mr Soren had, in fact, been acquitted by the Delhi High
Court in the Sashinath Jha murder case, the saffron leadership is keen
to keep a safe distance from the JMM supremo, at least for the time
being.
Sashinath Jha’s family has challenged Mr Soren’s acquittal in the
Supreme Court. The case is slated to come up for hearing on March 8.
Even while the party wrestled with the proposal to join hands with the
JMM in an attempt to form the next government in the state and pre-
empt Congress from mustering the numbers, a section of the party
voiced its reservations about the plan, arguing that any attempt to
embrace Mr Soren would only recoil on the party.
BJP had, after all, carried out a sustained campaign against the UPA
government for inducting “tainted’’ leaders as union ministers. The
list included the name of the JMM chief.
While this was a deterrent, the overwhelming view in the party was in
favour of doing business with JMM. The alternative was to allow
Congress to wrest the initiative. The formula of having Mr Soren as
the chief minister, with two deputy chief ministers in tow, one of
whom would be from the saffron contingent, was considered the best-
case scenario.
chhotemianinshallah
Neerja Chowdhury
First Published : 29 Dec 2009 12:12:00 AM IST
Last Updated : 29 Dec 2009 12:46:01 AM IST
Guruji Shibu Soren is going to head the seventh government in
Jharkhand in the nine years since the formation of the state, and all
of them have been coalition ministries. The man who had led the
movement for a separate Jharkhand, is going to be enthroned as CM for
the third time. On the earlier two occasions, he was not able — or
not allowed — to last out for long. Soren, who has not excelled at
governance so far, is being given another opportunity to do something
for his people.
However, the significance of the new government in Ranchi, which is
slated to take oath on Wednesday, goes beyond Guruji’s ascent as
Chief Minister. The recent elections have vindicated him, for
experts had dismissed Soren as an old man and the JMM as a spent
force. But people who voted for his party — they gave the JMM 18 seats
and it is going to form a government with the BJP, with its 18, and 5
of the All Jharkhand Students’ Union, two of the JD(U) and an
independent — thought otherwise. Jharkhand is a small state,
accounting for 14 Lok Sabha and 81 assembly seats, but the recent
processes of government formation there point to evolving trends in
national politics.
The first is the decision of the Congress not to back a government led
by the JMM. The Congress might have taken the support of the JMM as
a junior partner to form a government in which it would have exercised
greater control. It would not have been difficult for the Congress to
have cobbled together a majority with Shibu Soren, RJD and the
independents, all too willing to go with whichever combine is in a
position to form a government.
But the Congress is reluctant to join hands with regional parties at
this stage, be it the JMM, and the RJD in Jharkhand, or for that
matter with the SP or BSP in UP. This time, it had not tied up
electorally with the JMM, as it did in 2005.
There is no moral story here — that there are three cases going on
against Soren, or because he was not a pre-poll ally, as is being made
out by Congress spokespersons. The party had supped with Soren in the
past, for all the cases against him, and the JMM chief was a member of
the UPA I, taken back into the government for a second time after he
had resigned following the surfacing of the murder case.
In the past, the Congress has had no qualms about indulging in
politics of “jorh-torh,” which it has resorted to in many states, be
it Goa or Arunachal Pradesh. In Jharkhand, it had supported a
government led by nine independents, something that was both untenable
and unforgivable.
I was in Ranchi soon after the Madhu Koda government was sworn in and
visited the state secretariat. The place looked deserted, as if it was
a holiday. I was told that most of the ministers were visiting their
constituencies because they apprehended that elections were around the
corner. They knew that a government of nine independents, supported
by the bigger parties from the outside, could not last for long and
were concentrating on their constituencies. It used to be said that
coalition imperatives in Delhi kept the government in Ranchi going.
Congress ally Laloo Prasad Yadav had lost in Bihar, so he wanted — and
got — a free hand in Jharkhand. His cases were going on in the Ranchi
courts. The upshot of the last government’s rule was there for all to
see — Madhu Koda charged in a Rs 4,000 crore scam, and that is
probably the tip of the iceberg.
So the Congress’ considerations for shunning Shibu Soren are not
moral, but political. The Congress has decided to go it alone to try
and revive in the Hindi heartland. It has its eyes set on the 2010
polls in Bihar and the 2012 elections in Uttar Pradesh. The party did
better than expected in UP in the Lok Sabha elections and has the
highest score today of all the parties in the state.
Joining hands with the RJD or the SP, both of which gained ground at
its expense over the years, would mean giving them a new life. As they
decline, the Congress will revive. As it is, the minorities, which
formed the mainstay of these regional outfits, are coming back to the
Congress and the recent elections have reflected this movement.
The Congress’ political logic is impeccable. But it remains to be seen
whether its gamble pays off. If it does, and the party does reasonably
well in the Gangetic plain in 2010 nd 2012, 2014 may turn out to be
Rahul Gandhi’s election. He can take over only if the Congress has a
majority or near-enough majority.
As the Congress has set its face towards reviving its fortunes by
going it alone, that is not the case with the BJP. Its decision to
prop up Shibu Soren in Jharkhand stems from a desire to cast its net
wider and acquire another ally, JMM, in the NDA. It would also get
another state under its belt, besides the eight where it is already in
power, and go for a geographical spread. Like the Congress, the BJP’s
decision is also a political one.
There is no moral story here either. The party had shouted down the
tainted ministers in the UPA I in the Lok Sabha, 2004, onwards, taken
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to task for reinducting Shibu Soren in
his government despite the cases against him, and criticised the JMM
chief sharply during the recent poll campaign.
It is an open secret that Rajnath Singh was not in favour of
supporting Soren. The former BJP president has come in for criticism
for his judgment in ticket distribution which cost the party many
seats, as in Godda. Otherwise, the BJP story might have been very
different.
Besides Singh, there are others in the BJP, who feel that the party
would have recovered some of its lost credibility had it remained
aloof from Soren. It was not the BJP’s responsibility to ensure a
government in Jharkhand, given the fractured nature of the 2009
mandate. There could, after all, be President’s rule, as had happened
in Bihar.
And that this was a perfect moment for the new party chief Nitin
Gadkari to establish his authority in one swift move. Had he put his
foot down, he would have demonstrated that he meant business about
restoring values. Obviously, Gadkari, in his first major decision, has
favoured a pragmatic approach over a value-based one.
Clearly, Jharkhand highlights the Congress’ move away from allies
and the BJP’s gravitation towards them. This — a Congress versus
rest scenario — may well be the shape of things to come.
Meanwhile, it goes without saying that the people of resource rich
Jharkhand, where “unseen hands” are very powerful in shaping events,
be it the corporates or the Maoists, deserve a government better than
the ones they have had since the formation of the state.
About the author:
Neerja Chowdhury is Political Editor, The New Indian Express
Comments
Neeraja is upset with non-congress formation in jharkhand?
By congress slave.
12/31/2009 11:04:00 AM
Neerja Chowhdrury, Sonia slave if course would have preferred
presisent's rule in Jharkhand beacuse that woulkd have given control
of the state to the mdadam sonia and her mafia.That is why all
congress supporters and jehadis and christians shouting that BJP has
committed bluner in aligning with corrupt Soren,etc,etc& all such
boolshit. If Soen had agreed to support congress to from the
government suddeenly he would have become a Saint and all channels
including cnn-ibn,times now, ndtv,star news,aaaj tak etc would have
shouted 24 hours that BJP is dead as a prty and congress is going to
sweep all elections,etc. These biased and bribed journalists amd media
forget that Koda did corruption of more than 4000 crores using support
for many years.Our media and journalists are perhaps the most baised
and shallow in the whole world,No wonder we are a super banana
republic.
By True Hindustani
12/30/2009 12:25:00 AM
Sid Harth
PTI Thursday, December 31, 2009 19:16 IST
New Delhi: In the wake of Delhi Lieutenant Governor's Office granting
sanction to CBI for prosecution of Congress leader Sajjan Kumar in a
1984 anti-Sikh riots case, BJP today asked why Jagdish Tytler was
being "spared" and demanded time-bound trial against the accused.
"What about Jagdish Tytler (another Congress leader accused in the
riots)? Why is he not being prosecuted? And why was there so much
delay?" BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said reacting to the Lt
Governor's move.
Both Kumar and Tytler were earlier accused of encouraging mobs to
attacks Sikhs after the assassination of then prime
minister Indira Gandhi on October 31, 1984 by her bodyguards.
CBI had filed a closure report in court in connection with Tytler's
case, saying that no evidence was found against him.
"The people of India want justice in the heinous crimes committed
against innocent Sikhs who were killed and had to face atrocities. The
guilty should be prosecuted immediately and in a time-bound trial,"
Prasad said.
Tytler and Kumar were given tickets in the last general elections by
the Congress but the party had to change its decision after a public
outcry. Sajjan Kumar was replaced by his brother Ramesh Kumar as the
candidate for South Delhi. JP Aggarwal got the ticket from North-East
Delhi in place of Tytler.
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_why-is-tytler-being-spared-in-1984-riots-asks-bjp_1329497
chhotemianinshallah
Ranchi: Within hours of swearing-in ceremony, many senior BJP leaders
met at the residence of former MLA Saryu Rai and expressed their anger
and annoyance on the formation of the new alliance and BJP being a
part of it. The leaders felt that it would send a wrong signal amongst
the public as BJP has always opposed the JMM in every matter after the
creation of the new State. The Party also does not share a perfect
rapport with AJSU though it had been a part of the NDA governments
here.
The leaders also conceded that now it was too late to rake up this
issue as the alliance has already been formed and BJP’s Raghubar Das
sworn in as the Dy. CM. Now the concentration should be focused on
running the government smoothly and implementing the promises made in
the Party manifesto. The leaders demanded a proper enquiry and
assessment for the poll debacle and stressed the need for damage
control measures immediately.
More than 150 leaders and workers present, including Saryu Rai, Sunil
Soren ,Anant Ojha, Sameer Oraon, Gama Singh and others. Saryu Rai
clarified that it was not a official meet as such and these people had
come to attend the Tea-party organized by him in honor of the visiting
CMs from Chhatisgarh and Uttaranchal. The comments passed by the
workers and leaders were their personal views and thus could not be
termed as official. Meanwhile the other Group of the Party favoring
the alliance termed the meet at Saryu Rai’s house as inconsequential
and that such bickering are natural and best ignored. The Group
claimed that the alliance and support to JMM was the need of the hour
and would work in a positive way for the development of the State.
chhotemianinshallah
Ranchi: The nearly month long Assembly elections concluded with the
last phase polling in 16 constituencies. The polling went off
peacefully barring few minor incidents. The people braved the Naxal
threat and nearly 54% voted fearlessly in large numbers. Except for
the first phase the polling percentage has been above 55% in the
remaining phases.
The first phase had 65.32 lakh voters and only 52% exercised their
franchise for 26 seats. Nearly 55% of the 31 lakh voters cast their
ballots for 14 seats in the second phase and for the 11 seats in the
third phase 13 lakh people queued up in the polling booths. For the
remaining 30 seats in the fourth and fifth phase the turnout was even
better with nearly 60% in the fourth and around 55% in the fifth
casting their votes. The security arrangement was so tight that no
major incident was reported from any constituency and the fearless way
the voters cast their votes was ample proof of ballot’s triumph over
the bullet.
This year’s Assembly elections had another side to the story. There
were 321 candidates (32%) with self declared pending criminal charges
contesting the elections. 155 of these have serious charges under the
IPC including murder, attempt to murder, kidnapping, rape, dacoity and
buying minors for prostitution. The ironical part is that all the
major Parties had their share of candidates from this lot. JMM tops
the list with 22 followed closely by AJSU with 14, RJD 13, Congress
12, AITC 9 and BJP 6.
The elections had 997 candidates vying for the 81 seats. Of these 71
are self declared ‘crorepatis’. Congress Party’s Roshan Kumar Surin
and Rameshwar Oraon are amongst the richest with 27.12cr and 14.14cr
respectively worth of assets in their name. They are closely followed
by the same Party’s Saurabh Narain Singh and Suresh singh with both
having above 9cr.assets. On the other hand there were 15 candidates
with assets less than ten thousand rupees and including three with
zero asset. They are JKM’s Lalmati Devi, IND’s Rajesh Kumar and Amrr
Bangalee’s Sunil Das.
JMM’s Bhushan Tirkey was recontesting the 2009 polls and according to
his filed affidavit of 2004 his assets were declared as Rs.6000 only
and within the span of next five years it shot upto a whopping Rs.67,
33,275. Similarly 36 other candidates recontesting have an increased
asset ranging from 5.43% to 2730%! The list includes names of many
high profile leaders like Sudesh Mahto, Aparna Sengupta, Sukhram
Oraon,C.P.Singh, Satyanand Bhokta, Neil Tirkey, Jaleshwar Mahto,
Alamgir Alam, Joba Majhi, Saryu Rai, Sudhir Mahto, Dulal Bhuiyan,
Annapurna Devi, Prakash Ram, Girinath Singh, Ravinra Rai, Kunti Devi,
Raghubar Das and Chhatu ram Mahto.
It is noteworthy that many of the above mentioned leaders were
ministers one time or other in the different governments since the
formation of Jharkhand.
Results will be announced by late evening on 23rd and would present a
clear picture of the new Assembly. The mood of the people could not be
fathomed but one thing was clear that there was no ‘wave’ in favor of
any alliance, however tall their claims may be and undoubtedly the
‘man of the match’ was the Election Commission forsuccessfully
conducting the elections in a free, fair, fearless and transparent
manner as rightfully claimed by them. One only hopes and prays that
all the hard work and sacrifices of many does not go waste with
another ‘hung’ Assembly and leading to the inevitable ‘horse trading’
that usually follows.
- Compiled by P. Vijay Raghavan
chhotemianinshallah
Ranchi: The final and fifth phase of Assembly elections in the State
for 16 seats would witness 64 candidates with criminal background and
charges against them, vying for the seats. 36 candidates (22%) out of
the 64 have serious charges ranging from murder, kidnapping, attempt
to murder, dacoity to procuring minors for flesh trade. The ironical
part is that all the leading Parties in the State have given tickets
to 23 of these tainted candidates. RJD tops the list with 7 followed
by JMM 5, BSP 4, AJSU 3 and both Congress and JD(U) two each.
17 candidates of the total 163 contesting the fifth phase have
declared their assets to be above one crore. The list is topped by
Rameshwar Oraon of Congress and contesting from Manika seat has
declared in his affidavit that he had Rs. 14,13,55,476 as assets.
JVM’s Satyendra Nath Tewary from Garwah has over Rs.5cr., Raj Mohan
Polu from Bishrampur over Rs.3cr. On the other hand there are eight
candidates who have declared that they have assets less than a lakh of
rupees. The lowest being Rs.18, 000 from Seraikela’s Jaimohan Sardar.
It is also interesting to note that four sitting candidates re-
contesting have declared their assets, which in comparison to the
affidavits filed in 2004 elections, show a remarkable increase. The
first amongst the four is BJP’s Satyanand Bhokta. In 2004 he had
declared Rs.11,90,372 as his total assets which has shot upto
45,68,796 in 2009 nomination. A stupendous growth of 383.81% !
Surprisingly the other three are from RJD. Prakash Ram, Girinath Singh
and Ramchandra Ram have a growth ratio of 98.67%, 67.03% and 5.43%
respectively.
chhotemianinshallah
Ranchi: Jharkhand Assembly Result 2009 states that any high profile
leaders from Congress, BJP, JMM, RJD and JD(U) failed to retain their
seats. Congress State president Pradeep Balmuchu, former Speaker
Alamgir Alam, JD(U) State president Jaleshwar Mahto, RJD’s Gautam
Sagar Rana and Girinath Singh, JMM’s Sudhir Mahto, another former
Dy.CM Stephen Marandi, former minister Jobha Majhi, Furkan Ansari,
Rameshwar Oraon, Saryu Rai and Radha Kishan Kishore were prominent in
the list. The people rejected the re elections of tainted ministers
Kamlesh Singh and Bhanu Pratap Shahi.
Sid Harth
Editorial Posted On Friday, January 01, 2010
To curb the crimes and maintain law and order is the responsibility of
a government. While the newly formed government of Jharkhand Mukti
Morcha in Jharkhand under the leadership of the Chief Minister Shibu
Soren is having the notoriety to have criminal cases slapped against
many of its supporting ministers and legislators not barring the Chief
Minister Shibu Soren himself. A case of murder is still pending in the
Supreme Court against Soren. There is also a court case against
Bharatiya Janata party State President and Deputy Chief Minister
Raghuvar Dayal. Another criminal case against Soren's legislator son
Hemant is also pending in the court. Out of all the 44 supporting
legislators, there are court cases against 31 of them. So far, it was
said that the politics is getting criminalized, while in Jharkhand,
the government has been criminalized.
With a view of cases of atrocities against women by the top police
officials which includes former DGP of Haryana, Rathore, DGP of
Orissa, Mohanti and DIG in Rajasthan Madhukar Tandon, one can also say
that Indian Police Services (IPS) is being criminalized. In Jharkhand,
Bharatiya Janata Party's defeat is the real victory of Shibu Soren.
The strength of BJP has dwindled to 18 legislators in the last polls
from the previous number of 30. On the other hand, JMM took its tally
up to 18 single handedly. The Congress and Babulal Marandi coalition
with strength of 25 MLAs has been in a position to deny the Chief
Minister's post to Soren. But the BJP, braving the jolt of defeat,
thought it right to let Soren become the CM. Going by the politics of
rivalry, BJP has put an end to Congress coalition's hopes of assuming
power, but there are voices of opposition to the party's decision in
the party itself. With enormous number of criminal cases, any minister
or legislator can be convicted and sentenced at any time.
There could be no denying that the CM and his son, by hook or crook,
would adopt every possible option to escape from getting convicted in
the criminal cases.
http://www.centralchronicle.com/viewnews.asp?articleID=23246
chhotemianinshallah
Aditi Phadnis / New Delhi January 02, 2010, 0:43 IST
Though CM has shown confidence, Bihar is still not getting private
sector investment.
In November 2005, Nitish Kumar became the chief minister of Bihar. But
for him, 2006 started on a dismal note. On December 31, 2005, one of
the star winners of the Janata Dal-United (JD-U)-Bharatiya Janata
Party (BJP) alliance in the Assembly elections, Navin Chandra Sinha,
died of heart attack. Sinha had won from Patna and had the highest
winning margin among all the MLAs in the Assembly. As a sitting MLA,
he was entitled to a state funeral. Kumar ordered that all the
arrangements be made, including a five-gun salute.
Picture the scene. Sinha’s relatives were sobbing. His supporters
stood grimly as the body lay in state, awaiting the salute. Five guns
were required to fire in the air. The first round went off perfectly.
But in the second round, three rifles jammed and merely responded with
an empty ‘click’ when fired. Policemen scurried to get rifles that
would work. In the third and fourth rounds, only two rifles fired. In
the fifth round, all the rifles jammed, so bystanders ‘saw’ rather
than heard the rifles firing. “I felt so terrible. Many in the crowd
of mourners were laughing at the incident,” said Kumar while
recounting the event.
For Nitish Kumar, that was a function of total absence of governance
in Bihar. The chief minister’s secretariat worked with the help of a
few aged Remington typewriters. There was no facility for conference
call. It needed a meeting of the Cabinet to get departments spend Rs
25 lakh. There was a reason why not to do something. Doing things or
showing initiative was strongly discouraged.
Ever since he has taken charge of the state, Kumar has changed some of
this mindset. The biggest problem was law and order. Bihar’s ‘best
known’ business was the kidnapping industry. Gangs got political
protection and operated with impunity. Safety was a bigger priority
than development — what was the use of development if physically,
people did not feel secure?
Kumar took two steps — he used the Arms Act, under which the testimony
of an SHO is enough to put an individual carrying an unlicenced weapon
behind bars, to lock up strongmen, as they are known in Bihar; and
second, he made sure the rate of conviction went up. In other words,
he made it known that there were no holy cows in Bihar any more.
A team of 11,000 retired army personnel was raised which later
supplemented the state government’s law enforcement efforts. One does
not hear big-scale crime any more. Besides, the migration of the
labour class as well as qualified professionals like doctors and
engineers has been halted.
Four years ago, there were just two flights a day between Patna and
Delhi. Today, there are as many as seven flights between these two
cities. There are five daily flights between Kolkata and Patna now,
against a mere two earlier.
In addition, Bihar has an international airport in Gaya because of its
proximity to Bodhgaya, a major centre for Buddhist pilgrims. Four
years ago, there were practically no international flights — the odd
chartered flight would come once a week. Today, 25 flights touch down
at this airport every week from places like Bangkok, Colombo and
Yangon.
Improved law and order situation is also resulting in development. The
government is spending on roads and infrastructure as well, and has
kept aside Rs 5,000 crore for roads development for just one year.
Bihar has become one of the largest consumers of cement. Its year-on-
year growth in cement consumption is 27 per cent, compared to the
national average growth of 9 per cent.
However, what Bihar lacks is private sector investment. This is
leading Kumar to demand that the state be given special status for tax
sops that will help attract the attention of industry to invest here.
But the Centre has not given its approval yet. Gradually, this seems
to be one of the core issues in the forthcoming Assembly elections, to
be held in the last quarter of 2010.
On the negative side, the chief minister has a lot of political
problems. During the Lok Sabha elections last year, Kumar campaigned
using the helicopters lent to him by ally BJP because his own party
showed neither the initiative nor the foresight to book planes in
advance. Finally, it was a question of either taking the BJP’s help or
not campaigning at all. However, it was Kumar’s personal appeal that
the party managed to win 20 seats in the Lok Sabha elections.
His relationship with the BJP tends to be rocky and this is something
that suits him just fine. Kumar’s plank continues to be winning the
support of the most backward. This includes the most backward Muslims.
Although there have been cases where the Muslims too have voted for
the BJP to ensure Kumar’s victory, he has to maintain a visible
distance, not just from the BJP but its policies and programmes as
well.
Though the Assembly elections are quite far, odds are in the favour of
Nitish Kumar. The question is what he will do in his second innings.
If he returns to power, there is another step that Kumar has to take:
getting the border problems relating to natural resources like water
resolved by ensuring that the Centre acts on the issue. Barely had the
state recovered from the floods of 2008, it was struck by a similar
calamity in 2009. Much of the problem is the lack of water management
in Nepal. This is something that can be resolved only through
diplomatic persuasion.
True, the JD-U’s performance in the September by-elections in Bihar
was less than edifying — it got just three seats against the Lalu
Prasad-led Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), which got eight seats out of
the 18 that went to the polls. But this might not be a trend. For the
sake of Bihar, everyone should hope it isn’t.
http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/changes-visible-butlot-remains-to-be-done/381430/
chhotemianinshallah
2 Jan 2010, 0316 hrs IST, Devesh Kumar, ET Bureau
NEW DELHI: JMM chief Shibu Soren may have walked away with the
Jharkhand chief minister’s chair, but he and the other political
players in the
state, will have to be wary of JVM chief Babulal Marandi in the coming
years.
The JMM confounded political pundits by bagging 18 assembly seats in
the just-concluded assembly polls, emerging, in the process, as the
largest party in the state. It shares the position with the BJP. But
it was the JVM which emerged as the surprise package, announcing its
arrival on the state’s political horizon with a bang.
It not only won 11 of the 25 seats it contested in alliance with the
Congress, but also polled an impressive 28.23% votes, making it clear
that Mr Marandi was the political figure to watch out for in a state
desperately seeking a credible leader.
Statistics, culled from the data compiled by the Election Commission,
lend credence to the view that the JVM had emerged as major player in
the state. Mr Marandi’s fledgling outfit, which was allotted 19 seats
as part of the seat-sharing deal with the Congress, fielded its
candidates in another six seats in “friendly’’ contest with its
alliance partners.
In the 25 seats that it contested in the state, Mr Marandi’s party
secured an impressive 28.23% votes. The figures are startling even in
the case of Santhal Parganas, which have till now been considered a
JMM stronghold. The JVM entered the fray in seven constituencies in
the region (Boreo, Maheshpur, Deoghar, Madhupur, Godda, Poreyahat and
Shikaripara), and cornered a remarkable 27.3% vote-share.
The JMM, by contrast, could only attract 20.16% votes in these seven
constituencies, while the BJP fared only marginally better (20.68%).
The JVM, which entered into friendly contest with the Congress in six
constituencies (Madhupur, Baghmara, Barkatta, Bokaro, Silli and
Icchagarh), polled 27.52% votes in these seats. The Congress’ vote-
share, on the other hand, was a meagre 12.98%, making it apparent that
had the Congress allotted these seats to its alliance partner, the
eventual verdict could have been different.
Mr Marandi’s outfit, in the end, emerged winner in 11 seats
(Maheshpur, Poreyahat, Baghmara, Bokaro, Dhanwar, Garhwa, Giridih,
Icchagarh, Jamua, Simaria and Sindri), while its alliance partner, the
Congress, romped home in another 14 seats.
The JVM founder, during his negotiations with the Congress brass, had
demanded 41 of the 81 seats, but eventually settled for 19 seats,
agreeing to fight another six seats under the “friendly” tag.
Political observers now say that had the Congress leadership shown
more flexibility, the poll outcome could have been different.
The former chief minister had early last year also held talks with the
saffron leadership, with the condition that the two parties enter into
an alliance. The latter, however, turn down the proposal, arguing that
it wanted him back into the party and could not team up with a person
who had quit the party.
A subsequent move initiated by Mr L K Advani to re-induct him in the
BJP was nixed by a powerful faction owing allegiance to another former
chief minister, Arjun Munda.
As the results of the Jharkhand assembly polls have proved, Mr Marandi
has emerged as a key player in the state. The leading political
parties could ignore him at their own peril.
chhotemianinshallah
Express News Service
Posted: Monday , Jan 04, 2010 at 0358 hrs
Who let the steam out?
The Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee witnessed uproar after over 15
Congress MLAs and former ministers issued a statement to criticise the
state BJP government for using Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau
against Union Minister of Steel Virbhadra Singh. Interestingly, since
the statement was not signed by anyone, confusion prevails over who
issued the statement and who authorised them to do so. HPCC President
Kaul Singh and CLP Leader Vidya Stokes are clueless about the source
of this statement. One of the Congress leaders probing the entire
episode called up mediapersons and said, “Would the media also publish
an unsigned statement that alleges that Cabinet ministers have charged
the CM of corruption?”
Ruchika case: media trial?
As the sad tale of Ruchika’s suicide and harassment of her friends and
family unfolds in neighboring Haryana, some police officers in
Himachal Pradesh are sympathising with the accused DGP SPS Rathore.
One of the senior police officers, who was blamed by the son of a
former IPS officer for his father’s alleged suicide, recently said the
media has no right to behave and act in the manner they did in the
Ruchika’s case. “This is sheer media trial and what would come out of
it? Ultimately the court will decide on the basis of facts,” was his
opinion.
Speakers speak
The heavy turnout during Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal’s rally in
Mandi on completion of two years of the government left the local
Congress speechless. Though Union Minister of Steel Virbhadra Singh
had won the parliamentary election from Mandi and HPCC President Kaul
Singh is also from Mandi, the rally witnessed overwhelming support for
the government.
The Congress workers in Mandi were seen sulking, as the BJP ensured
that speakers for relaying the speech of the CM were installed up to a
distance of nearly five km from the venue so that those who did not
come were also made captive listeners.
Shanta missing from BJP ads
Popularly referred to as Parivar ke Mukhiya in the state BJP, senior
leader Shanta Kumar was missing from the party’s advertisements to
celebrate two years of the BJP government. Many within the party
believed the party had forgotten the head of the family for the head
of the government Sarkar ke Mukhiya, as the former has been speaking
candidly on the issue of corruption and assessing the government’s
performance by very categorically expressing his dissent over certain
uneasy decisions.
That is another matter that on one occasion he had written a special
letter to Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal to say that he saw a
reflection of his working in the current government and pat the Dhumal
government for the decision like Pt Deen Dayal Upadhaya Krishi
Samridhi Yojna for constructing polyhouses.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/himachal-confidential/562990/0
chhotemianinshallah
Last Updated: 2010-01-04T18:26:13+05:30
Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator C.P. Singh will be the next
Jharkhand assembly speaker. Both the ruling and the opposition parties
proposed his name for the post on Monday.
Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), the BJP and the Janata Dal-United (JD-U)
of the ruling alliance proposed his and six sets of nomination papers
have been filed in his favour. The opposition Jharkhand Vikas Morcha-
Prajatantrik (JVM-P) and the Congress also extended support to Singh.
In 1995, Singh was elected legislator for the first time from Ranchi
assembly constituency. Again in the year 2000 and 2005 he represented
Ranchi and won the constituency.
BJP and the All Jharkhand Student's Union have formed a coalition
government with JMM chief Shibu Soren as the chief minister of the
state.
http://www.india-server.com/news/bjp-legislator-c-p-singh-will-be-new-18896.html