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Journalism of Courage
The honeymoon between the Samajwadi Party and the Congress has ended and fresh differences keep surfacing between the two allies. The SP, now reconciled to no ministerial berth, had asked that its nominees be appointed to two key posts, that is, the revenue secretary and the additional solicitor general. The SP has already lost out on the revenue secretary selection and it is to be seen if it gets its way in the appointment of the additional solicitor general.
The heated exchange recently between Digvijay Singh, who is the party general secretary in charge of UP, and SP general secretary Amar Singh over the seat sharing arrangement in UP reflects the uneasy relationship. It8217;s been decided now that each party will prepare a separate list of its proposed candidates in UP and Mulayam Singh and Sonia Gandhi will exchange lists to reach a compromise. Home Minister Shivraj Patil8217;s supercilious suggestion that Amar Singh could consult the police if he had a problem has only added insult to injury.
Wrong signal
A remark by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at the Governors8217; conference that there are conflicting views in intelligence over investigations into the perpetrators of recent bomb blasts has upset the police force. National Security Adviser M.K. Narayanan has indicated to the PM that any transfer of police officers heading law and order and intelligence gathering at this stage would send a wrong signal. Narayanan has also reportedly supported Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi8217;s tougher legislation for detentions, which is pending approval with the Central Government for long.
Lost translation
In the early days of the UPA government, then Communication Minister Dayanidhi Maran, had asked for a translator to be present at Cabinet meetings since many ministers from Tamil Nadu could not follow what was being said when leaders from the north like Lalu Prasad Yadav and Ram Vilas Paswan held forth in Hindi. But for the last year-and-a-half, the translator, brought from Parliament, is missing. A minister from the south acknowledges that this may be for the best. Tempers have been rising in the Cabinet of late, thanks to a series of contentious issues, and at times ministers even get abusive. It was felt that the presence of an outsider was not desirable. It is not just the translator. Once the main issues of business have been dealt with, even senior officials often quietly leave the room on a signal from the principal secretary to the PM.
Lal vs Lal
The BJP has a tough decision on its hands. Whether to ally with Om Prakash Chautala, Devi Lal8217;s son, or with Kuldip Bishnoi, Bhajan Lal8217;s son, for the forthcoming parliamentary polls. The BJP8217;s Haryana unit, as well as the RSS in the state, is overwhelmingly opposed to a tie-up with the INLD. But there are heavyweights like Sushma Swaraj and Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, who are pressing for an alliance with Chautala, a former ally. From a psephologist8217;s viewpoint, an electoral tie-up with Bishnoi8217;s party makes better sense. Chautala8217;s Jats and the BJP8217;s upper caste city voters are not natural allies. And if the BJP backs Chautala, a Jat, as a future chief ministerial candidate, it will not be able to cash in on the anti-Jat backlash. The 75 per cent of Haryanvis who are non-Jats are convinced that the community has hogged all the plum positions during CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda8217;s tenure. Another significant statistic is that Haryana is no longer predominantly a rural state. Fifty-five per cent of the electorate is urban. The negative factor against Bishnoi is that the BJP fears that at some stage he could do a Bhajan Lal on them and switch sides.
Mixed reaction
The BJP has practically reached an agreement with Ajit Singh for sharing of seats with the RLD in western UP but not everyone in the party is ecstatic. In fact, former Chief Minister Kalyan Singh is distinctly unhappy. He believes that the alliance with the RLD will deprive some of his followers of tickets as there are common spheres of influence in western UP. The Congress, which announced that Lucknow airport would be named after Ajit8217;s father8212;in the hope that he would back them on the Parliament trust vote8212;has lost interest in the RLD after Ajit ditched them at the last moment for Mayawati. The Congress-SP tie leaves little space for Ajit Singh.
