Congress demands President’s rule in Uttarakhand

DEHRADUN - Claiming that the internal rift within the ruling BJP is hampering the development of Uttarakhand, the Congress has demanded President’s rule in the state.

“The BJP Government is facing severe crisis. In such a scenario, President’s rule is the best option,” said State Congress chief Yashpal Arya in the wake of BJP dissidents seeking the removal of Chief Minister B C Khanduri.
After the BJP failed to win any of the five Lok Sabha seat in the state, demands from MLAs loyal to former Chief Minister B S Koshiyari are growing louder.
While the dissident camp is claiming support of nearly 20 of the 35 party MLAs in the 69-member state Assembly, Khanduri has claimed support of over 25 MLAs.
According to sources, state party chief Bachi Singh Rawat is likely to be replaced to revamp the state unit.
Meanwhile, BJP’s coalition partner Uttarakhand Kranti Dal advised the party to end its “internal feud” in the interest of the state.
The UKD was concerned over infighting in the BJP saying it was creating a “stumbling block” to development. (ANI)

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Rahul's birthday in UP, Cong eyes Dalit votebank

New Delhi: BSP supremo Mayawati may face some challenge in her turf as Congress is planning to make inroads into the BSP's Dalit votebank in Uttar Pradesh, seeking to exploit to the hilt Rahul Gandhi's birthday on June 19.

The Uttar Pradesh Congress is organising community feasts in Dalit-dominated areas on that day which will be celebrated as 'Samrasta Divas' (day of harmony), PCC chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi said.

Buoyed by the Lok Sabha election results, the Congress has already declared that it would leave nothing to chance and would walk the extra mile in its efforts to capture power in Lucknow in the next assembly elections scheduled in 2012. The 'sahbhoj'(community feasts) to mark the day would have participation of party workers and sympathisers from all communities and is being seen as a sort of social engineering by the Congress.

Congress has hit upon the idea at a time when the party is on a revival path in the key state of Hindi heartland where it was down in the dumps for the last 20 years. The party's showing was significant in view of the fact that Mayawati single-handedly won the Assembly elections held two years ago, a development that was seen then as a defining moment in Indian politics.

Rahul Gandhi had once remarked "if Congress wants to come to power at the Centre on its own, it needs to win most number of seats in Uttar Pradesh." Other programmes planned for the day include a roadshow by the Youth Congress which is celebrating the day as 'Yuva Prerna Divas'. The NSUI will organise roadside debates on 'youth and democracy' using a motorised 'rath'. "They will distribute prizes to the winners," said Joshi. The Sewa Dal is observing the day as 'Sankalp Divas' and plans to hold various programmes. The Mahila Congress, however, is yet to come out with its programme.

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Gogoi meets PM, Sonia, Chidambaram

In the wake of recent terror incidents in Assam, Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Wednesday met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and apprised him about state's law-and -order situation and steps being taken to check violence.
Gogoi, who also met Union Home Minister P Chidambaram, said that barring some incidents of violence in North Cachar Hill district and Bodo-dominated areas, the law and order situation in the state was "by and large peaceful".
"Except in North Cachar Hills and some Bodo areas, situation is by and large peaceful," he told reporters in New Delhi.
Gogoi said he had apprised the Prime Minister about the flood situation in Assam and requested for liberal financial aid.
During his meeting with Chidambaram, the chief minister briefed him about the steps being taken to tighten security in the areas where several violent incidents have taken place in recent past.
During the day, Gogoi met Union Surface Transport and Highways Minister Kamal Nath and urged him to speed up the construction of East-West corridor in Assam.
He also met Sonia Gandhi and discussed with her holding of organisational elections of Assam Pradesh Congress Committee.

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Sonia directs to conduct elections in Assam Congress

Guwahati: Congress president Sonia Gandhi has asked Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi to hold elections within the state Congress, which have been due for more than a year.

This was communicated to the Chief Minister when he had called on Ms Gandhi last evening, his aides informed today.

Bhubanewar Kalita is currently the state Congress president and according to party insiders the long drawn process of election in the party will start from the end of this month.

It is not yet clear who are the likely contenders for the top post of the Congress in Assam. The party is in power for second successive term in Assam and has not lost any election since 1998.

Buoyed by the Congress'' success in the Lok Sabha poll, Ms Gandhi is keen that the party holds proper election in every state to encourage new leadership which will take the party forward.

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Congress intensifies pressure on NCP for merger

Ahead of the Maharashtra Assembly polls later in October this year, the Congress high command seems to be intensifying pressure on the NCP to form an alliance. So far, however, no formal proposal has been put forward..

IN TUNE with its grand strategy to go at it alone in the 2014 general elections, the Congress has started strengthening itself by pressurising its crucial ally in Maharashtra, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), headed by Union Agriculture Minister, Sharad Pawar.

Although the Congress has informally approached the NCP, so far, no formal proposal has been put forward. The induction of former Lok Sabha speaker PA Sangma’s daughter and youngest MP, Agadha, into the Union Cabinet, seems to be its first step to woo the NCP leadership.

Incidentally, the NCP will complete 10 years on June 10 this year. The party was started after Pawar, former Lok Sabha speaker Sangma, and Tariq Anwar, were expelled from the party for raising the issue of party president Sonia Gandhi’s foreign nationality.

Later, after the 2004 polls, the Congress succeeded in getting Pawar’s support to form the UPA government at the Centre, and he was made Agriculture Minister in the Union Cabinet. For the first time, the Congress and the NCP contested together in Maharashtra in the recent Lok Sabha elections, and achieved substantial gains, thus weakening the Shiva Sena-BJP combine’s stronghold.

Till the coming out of the Lok Sabha results, Sangma was carrying guns against the Congress for destabilising his government in Meghalaya and openly campaigned for BJP-led NDA candidates in the North-eastern states. However, a sea change in his attitude was seen after his daughter was inducted into the Cabinet. Putting an end to the decade old enmity with Sonia Gandhi, Sangma, for the first time, went to her house along with his daughter on the pretext of inviting her to the wedding of his son. This has given rise to speculations that Sangma is ready to join the Congress.

Strongly reacting to reports that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had extended an invitation to him to join the party, Sangma said that he met the Prime Minister in the Parliament, and extended an invitation to him for the reception of his son's wedding, and the issue of his joining the Congress did not figure in that. "I am fully with Sharad Pawar. He is my leader," he said. However, Pawar dismissed reports of the NCP’s merger with the Congress as a media creation.

Sangma asserted that now the NCP has its own identity and has emerged as a national party. “Sharad Pawar is a leader in his own right. So, where is the question of the NCP merging with the Congress?" he asked. Sangma said that the NCP, with its separate identity, will continue to support the UPA government and cooperate with the Congress.

"We are with the Congress at the Centre, we are with the Congress in Maharashtra, as well as in Goa. Though our attempt to join hands with the Congress did not click in Meghalaya, we will continue to cooperate with them," he added.

Meanwhile, the Congress leaders in Maharashtra are bringing indirect pressure on the NCP to merge with the Congress by openly stating that they will contest alone in the coming Assembly elections, indicating no intention of having any pact with the NCP. However, the NCP leaders don’t seem to be worried.

The arrest of NCP MP and close associate of Pawar, Padamsinh Patil by the CBI in a murder case, is also likely to be used by the Congress to bring pressure on the Congress. Now the Congress has realised that Patil can’t move forward without the NCP in Maharashtra, the largest state after Andhra Pradesh, under its rule. Instead of having a poll alliance, it feels that it would be better to encourage the party to merge with the Congress.

Clearing the clouds over the fate of his party in the wake of Sangma warming up to Sonia Gandhi, NCP supremo Sharad Pawar ruled out a merger of his party with the Congress, declaring that it would maintain its separate existence. At the same time, he emphasised that the NCP's attitude has been one of understanding and cooperation with the Congress and “will continue to be so.”

Pawar also said that his party favoured working with the Congress in the coming Assembly elections in Maharashtra and said, "We feel that the party's (Congress) leadership feels the same way, whatever some leaders in the state may be saying."

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‘Jai ho’ old Congress campaign buzzword: poet

NEW DELHI - As “Jai ho” makes news again - it is in the race to be the millionth English word - few know that it has always been used in the ruling Congress party’s election campaign songs, says well known Hindi poet Ashok Chakradhar.

In fact, Chakradhar was the man tasked with writing the lyrics for the Congress’ poll campaign song which had the words “Jai ho” and the tune for which was based on the Oscar winning song from the movie “Slumdog Millionaire”.
“I wanted to check what kind of campaign songs had been written in the past. And this search took me to Indore where Suman Chaurasia runs a museum. He has 25,000 gramophone records and his collection also included Congress campaign songs since the time of (first prime minister) Jawaharlal Nehru,” Chakradhar told IANS.
“I heard eights songs of the earlier campaigns and was surprised that all songs had ‘Jai ho’ or “Jai jaikar” mentioned in it,” he added.
Chakradhar is pleased that “Jai ho” could become the millionth English word. It is among 73 words like ‘cuddies’ and ’slumdog’ that are competing for the honour.
“If the word is included in the English lexicon, then the importance of Hindi will be recognised worldwide. English will also be enriched.
“Hindi will not only get recognition but would be accepted far and wide. The youth, which these days identifies themselves with English, will feel proud of Hindi too,” said Chakradhar, who specialises in satire and comedy and was earlier head of department in the Hindi department of Jamia Millia Islamia.
About Congress campaign songs, the poet said although there are no dates mentioned, the Congress’ first campaign song was sung by famous Bollywood singers Asha Bhosle and Mahendra Kapoor.
The words were - “Nehru Ki Sarkar Rahegi, Hind Ki Jai Jai Kar Rahegi”. (Nehru would be governing again, India would be praised again and again).
Another campaign song was sung by Mohammed Rafi and the music was given by Shankar Jaikishan. The song was “Kabhi Na Toot Payga, Yeh Unnati Ka Silsila, Yeh Vakt Ki Pukar Hai, Ki Congress Ki Jai Ho”.
“What is interesting is that none of these songs had any negative connotations, or any sort of arrogance. They are all positive campaigns. This struck me and I followed it when I penned the campaign songs this time,” he said.
Chakradhar wrote six campaign songs, of which two were sung by Sukhvinder, who had also given his voice to the original score in the movie.
The “Jai ho” song for the film was written by noted Bollywood lyricist Gulzar and the Congress bought the rights of the song. It earned A.R. Rahman the Oscar for best song and musical score. Gulzar shared the award.

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Congress Must Not Waste This Mandate!

by RK Misra


I was happy to see the possibility of a stable government which is essential to provide a clear direction to our country in these times of economic uncertainty. Though my party has taken a beating in this election, but I was happy nonetheless and hoped that Congress will use this mandate to push forward the economic and inclusive development agenda, given that they will not have worry about the left and opportunistic allies.
However, the drama which unfolded prior to and during government formation is worrying me. DMK washed their dirty family linen in public and shamelessly jockeyed for ministerial births for family members. They also made brazen attempts to include inefficient ministers who had serious corruption allegations against them. Balu and Raja were amongst the worst performing ministers in the previous government. National Highway program was brought to a halt under inefficient Balu and Raja gave away GSM spectrum causing huge revenue loss to the exchequer.
I had hoped that Mr. Manmohan Singh will not relent to pressure tactics of DMK and will keep such non-performers out of the cabinet, but that wasn’t to be. Raja is back with a bang in the same ministry. We all can only hope that PM will make him perform this time around.
Another disturbing aspect of this cabinet is it’s dynastic nature. One in every 4 minister comes from a political family and has been accommodated to placate the father, uncle or mother. Nothing wrong in having capable MPs as ministers who happen to come from political families, but making them ministers because they come from political families certainly does not augur well for efficiency and accountability.
One family inclusion, which I am happy about, is young Agatha Sangma, daughter of NCP leader and ex-speaker Mr. P Sangma. A 28 year old becoming a minister is a good first step towards inducting young and energetic MPS into the government. As MoS in Rural Development Ministry, I sincerly hope that she performs well. I would like her pay special attention to the development of the North East and set a good example for other young MPs who aspire to become ministers.
Arjun Singh and Shivraj Patil’s exclusion are certainly worth mentioning and PM must be congratulated for doing the right thing.
We hope that HRD Ministry under Kapil Sibbal will bring about fundamental change in the mindset of HRD ministry mandarins. Access and Quality continue to be the major challenges as far as Primary Education is concerned. In higher education, we have been trying to maintain the quality by controlling the supply side, which is counter intuitive in this era of open and competitive economy. Hope Foreign Universities are allowed entry to India and are encouraged to offer quality education given that huge number of our bright students struggle to go abroad for education putting tremendous financial strain to their parents.
Another area of concern has been stalled infrastructure projects. Under Kamalnath, we hope that this sector get required policy direction and time-bound delivery of infrastructure projects is ensured.
Finance ministry has got an able administrator and hopefully they will be able to push ahead with pending reforms given that left will no longer be breathing down their neck.
Judicial reforms, police reforms and internal security overhaul are other areas of concern.
Overall, Dr Singh has done a reasonable job of picking his ministers and now we look forward to results. First 100 days will give a fairly good idea on where they are headed. Lets hope they deliver and don’t disappoint the electorate who have voted for a stable and performing government.

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Congress promotes its Dalit women to tip scales against Mayawati

NEW DELHI: A pattern that has emerged through the meticulous process of government making is difficult to escape: Congress has sought to showcase its dalit women to tip the scales in its battle against Mayawati for the dalit vote.

First, Congress bosses promoted Selja from an insignificant department in the previous term to the high profile tourism portfolio as cabinet minister in addition to housing and urban poverty alleviation. Her hands are more than full.

Krishna Tirath, one of the seven Congress MPs from Delhi, was not even remotely in the race when she was picked to be minister of state for women and child development.

Panabaka Lakshmi, who returned from Andhra Pradesh as an MP, continues to be a member in the council of ministers, this time as minister of state for textiles.

Then came the surprise choice of Meira Kumar for the office of the Lok Sabha Speaker. She is set to make history as the country's first woman Speaker.

Now, what is in common among the four Congress MPs? They are all dalit women -- a new political category which seems to be carrying a high premium.

Determined to reconstruct its dalit vote-bank and regain the political heartland of Uttar Pradesh, Congress is eying BSP boss Mayawati as its first target. Its win of 21 Lok Sabha seats from UP has clearly whetted its appetite for power in the most populous state. On the party's calendar, the year 2012 is marked with red. That's when Congress will take on Mayawati in the UP assembly elections.

The windfall that has happened to the party's dalit women in Parliament is not a mere accident but part of Rahul Gandhi's preparations for the Armageddon in UP three years down the line. The party has sought to project the dalit women in its ranks as a subtle comparison with Mayawati's persona.

After the Lok Sabha election results were out, party general secretary Digvijay Singh had a detailed discussion with Rahul for the party's next step in UP. They see 2012 as the date for a decisive battle. But much before that, Congress will have to reckon with Mayawati's might in 11 assembly byelections -- the date for which will be announced by Election Commission soon.

When contacted, Singh confirmed that he indeed had discussed the UP roadmap with Rahul. "We have decided to keep all the shells charged and ready for 2012," he told TOI. Asked if promotion of dalit women leaders was a step in that direction, Singh quipped, "Well, that's an interesting observation."

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