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The country is on the threshold of a national election this summer. Between now and the poll day, voters will occupy centrestage with every party, big or small, national or regional, seeking to woo those who hold the key to their future
This summer, a festival of the people
STOCK-TAKING:
Harsimrat Kaur Badal Bathinda
STOCK-TAKING:
farooq abdullah srinagar |
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Cong, NCP finalise seat sharing in Maharashtra
Congress first list of candidates soon
Brahmpura, Ajnala top contenders for SAD seat
‘Third Front’ gets a push
In Haryana, aam aadmi eyes AAP ticket
Retd employees too want share in pie
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This summer, a festival of the people
New Delhi, February 10 There is one consistent factor in all these elections: the presence of the Indian National Congress and Communists members in successive Lok Sabhas. As for the rest, in the six decades, parties of different ideology and persuasions marked their presence under different names. From the Socialist Party of 1952 to the Praja Socialist Party, the Swatantra Party, the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, the Lok Dal, the Janata Party, the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Bahujan Samaj Party, and a clutch of regional parties such as the Samajwadi Party, the Rashtriya Janata Dal, the Shiromani Akali Dal, all either had a representative or still have members in the current House. The 1952 elections resulted in the Congress under Jawaharlal Nehru winning 364 of the 489 seats with nearly 45 per cent vote share, a result that was bettered in 1957 when the Congress won 371 of the 494 seats with a vote share of nearly 48 per cent. After a decade in power, the 1962 General Elections were the last the Congress fought under Nehru’s leadership. The party won 361 seats with the vote share dipping back to nearly 45 per cent. C Rajagopalachari’s Swatantra Party marked its presence, advocating liberal economic policies as against the Licence-Permit-Quota Raj. Nehru’s passing away in 1964 resulted in Lal Bahadur Shastri taking over the reins of the country, but he did not live to lead the party in the 1967 elections. His sudden death in Tashkent, then Soviet Russia, triggered an inner-party power struggle with senior leader such as Morarji Desai disagreeing with Indira Gandhi, who had graduated from a junior minister in Shastri’s Cabinet to become Prime Minister. The Congress managed to win 283 seats in the 520-member House, with a vote share of slightly over 40 per cent. The 4th Lok Sabha did not last its full term and General Elections were held early in 1971. By then, Indira Gandhi had emerged the undisputed leader. She crafted the party strategy based on the ‘Garibi Hatao’ slogan to win 352 seats with a vote share of under 44 per cent. Subsequent political developments led to the imposition of Internal Emergency in June 1975 and the life of Parliament was extended beyond its usual five-year tenure. It was only when Emergency was lifted and political rights restored in 1977 that elections to constitute the 6th Lok Sabha were held. The mood of the electorate had changed. The sullen voter gave a decisive mandate to the Janata Party, a new formation created by socialist leader Jayaprakash Narayan by merging the Congress (O), Bharatiya Jana Sangh and socialist parties. The Janata Party got 345 seats in the 542-member House. The Congress settled for 189 seats and Indira Gandhi was defeated in her Rae Bareilly pocket-borough by socialist Raj Naraian. Elections to the 7th Lok Sabha were held in 1980, sooner than expected. The Janata Party experiment failed, with its Jana Sangh component falling out on the issue of dual and collapse of the government, first under Morarji Desai and later under Charan Singh, who resigned before facing Parliament. Indira Gandhi bounced back. She created a new party -- the Indian National Congress (Indira) -- which remains to date in Parliament. The INC won 353 of the 529 seats with a vote share of over 42 per cent, but by the time elections to the 8th Lok Sabha were held, she was assassinated and her son Rajiv Gandhi took over. The Congress posted a landslide victory in the December 1984 elections winning 404 of the 514 seats. The Opposition BJP was decimated, but regional parties such as the AIADMK and the Telugu Desam fared better. By the time elections to the 9th Lok Sabha were held in 1989, Rajiv Gandhi’s government was discredited over the Bofors kickback controversy. A new formation – the Jan Morcha -- led by Vishwanath Pratap Singh, a finance minister in Rajiv’s Cabinet, emerged. Results threw up a fractured mandate, with the Janata Dal winning 143 seats. It formed a National Front coalition government with support from the BJP and the Left parties only to collapse mid-way. Attempts to run a minority government with outside support from the Congress by Chandrashekhar, too, did not work. Tragedy struck during campaigning for the 1991 elections to constitute the 10th Lok Sabha. Congress president Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated and eventual results gave the party 232 seats with. PV Narasimha Rao ran the government for five years but the Mandal-Masjid and Ram Janmabhoomi controversy changed the country’s political narrative. Elections to the 11th Lok Sabha in 1996 threw up a fragmented verdict. The BJP won 161 seats and the Congress 140. Atal Bihari Vajpayee formed the minority government, but resigned in 13 days. The Congress extended outside support to the Janata Dal-led United Front Government first under HD Deve Gowda and later under Inder Kumar Gujral. The regime ended in 1998 leading to elections for the 12th Lok Sabha. The mandate again remained fractured, with the BJP emerging as the single largest party yet again with 181 of the 543 seats. Having formed an alliance, Vajpayee ran a coalition government for 13 months leading to early elections in 1999. The BJP by then had consolidated its base and expanded the alliance to capture 299 seats. It went on to form the National Democratic Alliance Government. The NDA dissolved the Lok Sabha months ahead of its five-year tenure, but its political calculations backfired. The Congress-led alliance won 218 seats in the 14th Lok Sabha and formed the United Progressive Alliance Government, with the Left providing outside support with 60-odd MPs. By the time the 2009 elections to constitute the 15th LS were held, the Congress had consolidated. The UPA alliance won 262 seats with Manmohan Singh becoming the second person after Jawaharlal Nehru to become the longest-serving PM.
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STOCK-TAKING:
Harsimrat Kaur Badal Bathinda Jupinderjit Singh Tribune News Service Bathinda, February 10 The daughter-in-law of Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, Harsimrat is credited with the conception and functioning of a Girls College in Mansa and backing construction of the Bathinda Airport. The airport has, however, turned into an embarrassment as it is yet to start functioning. She announced several projects, including an old-age home and a woman hospital in Mansa, which remained on paper only. She flagged off a PRTC-AC bus from Mansa to Amritsar, claiming the facility was for pilgrimage, but the bus plied only for a few days. She announced jobs for youth in the thermal plant at Banawali and Gobindpura. The former failed to provide jobs, while the latter was yet to be constructed. She also announced widening of the Punjab stretch of the Mansa-Sirsa road. While Haryana did widen it to 27 ft from the existing 18 ft, Punjab failed to do so. Though she has been credited with visiting each village of the constituency more than once, she could not be contacted for comment. She was said to be busy reciting “paath” in the Maghi month. She had also courted controversy for staying away from the last two World Kabaddi Cup Championships, which the Badal family claimed to be a huge success. Her attendance in Parliament was about 80 per cent. She had asked 266 questions and participated in 33 debates. MPLADS funds Harsimrat’s usage of the Member of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS) funds is all about construction of dharamshalas, gyms, streets, drains and negligible creation of jobs and providing health facilities. The daughter-in-law of one of the most powerful political families of Punjab, Harsimrat has been seen in all nook and corners of the constituency holding sangat darshans, distributing the largesse of MPLADS funds and enjoying the status not given to any other MP of her time. The government machinery was literally at her beck and call in these five years as she was calling all shots in the region. Riding high on her pet project “Nanhi chaan” in which she has distributed more than 21 lakh saplings while advocating safety of girl child, Harsimrat has been distributing maximum money on 150 dharamshalas with gyms, streets and drains being her next choices. Though the official website states she had spent 76 per cent of the funds till October 31, 2013, officials attached with her claim that entire 100 per cent has been spent by January 31, 2014. Official figures till October last year reveal that of Rs 19.5 crore of her quota, she has spent Rs 10.3 crore in Bathinda district, while remaining were utilised in Mansa district. Some projects announced for Rampura block of Bathinda were cancelled as the block was shifted to Faridkot parliamentary seat for 2014 polls. The usage of Bathinda indicates that lowest amount of Rs 37 lakh was spent in the first year (2009-10), while the highest of Rs 531 lakh was spent in the last year (2013-2014) till October alone. Interestingly, though the belt is infamous as cancer belt, no dontaions were given to any hospital. Her concern for fitness is suggested by donation of money to gyms. She has spent most on construction of inns (dharamshalas) for all communities with money spent on construction of roads in rural areas coming second. The MP has not spent money on any project that generated jobs for youth. Development of a computer centre to encourage co-operative business for women finds no entry in her stock either. In 2009-10, she spent Rs 37.8 lakh on construction of six dharamshalas, three grants for gyms and two for ponds and one each for a school, cremation ground, water supply project, panchayat house and drains. In 2012-13, the distribution was varied and she concentrated on drains, streets, dharamshalas, gyms, water supply and school. In the last year, she gave grants for 90 dharamshalas and covering of drains being her second choice.
Current profile:
Entered LS
Constituency breakup For 2012 elections, some of the segments were redrawn. Maur, Bhucho Mandi, Bathinda (rural) and Talwandi Sabo are the new constituencies MPLAD funds Granted Rs 19.5 crore Utilised 76% (till October 31, 2013) Unspent Rs 5 crore
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STOCK-TAKING:
farooq abdullah srinagar Azhar Qadri Tribune News Service
Srinagar, February 10 His appointment as the Union Minister for Renewable Energy and his deteriorating health seems to have kept him away from his constituency Srinagar for most of the time in the past five years. In the 2009 elections, Abdullah had a face-off with Peoples Democratic Party's Iftikhar Hussain Ansari. With 1.47 lakh votes, Abdullah won by a margin of 30,242 votes.
The Srinagar constituency, which includes three districts - Srinagar, Budgam and Ganderbal - and 15 assembly constituencies, had 11.06 lakh electors in 2009, out of which 25.55 per cent had cast the ballot. On his father's 108th birth anniversary on December 5, 2013, Abdullah, who heads the ruling National Conference (NC) party and is also a minister in the UPA Cabinet, had announced his candidature for the Parliamentary election. "I will myself contest from the Srinagar-Budgam constituency as long as I am alive," Abdullah, who was accompanied by his Chief Minister son Omar Abdullah, had said. This will pit him against PDP's Tariq Hameed Karra, former state finance minister. Next week, Karra will begin his campaigning for Lok Sabha election from central Kashmir's Ganderbal district - a traditional hub of the NC. Karra is confident that his opponent has lost people's support. "All these years, people have been sending NC members to Parliament, expecting them to talk about Kashmir, Kashmiri and Kashmiriyat, (but) they talked contrary to Kashmir and Kashmiriyat," Karra said. "What is needed is a strong voice of Kashmir who would put forth the aspirations and sentiments of Kashmir." Karra accused the NC and its parliamentarians of double speak. "On some occasions they (read NC members) talked against Kashmir and on the others against India and Pakistan. We need to become a bridge for final resolution of Kashmir issue with an honest approach," he said. NC additional general secretary Mustafa Kamal said the main focus of Abdullah's campaign for upcoming Lok Sabha election will be restoration of autonomy, the centre-stage relations, return of power projects, revocation of AFSPA and developmental issues. "We will stress on Indo-Pak peace and settlement of all issues, centre-state relations as per the roadmap given by the state legislative assembly in shape of greater autonomy resolution," Kamal said. Kamal termed Abdullah's performance as "satisfactory" despite hiccups with regard to his health. "He has done a good job and has been in contact with his constituency through representatives as well as directly," he said. MPLAD funds
An amount of Rs 15 crore has been released by the government under Abdullah's Member of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS) fund, out of which 71.60 per cent have been utilized and Rs 4.53 crore are listed as unspent balance. Abdullah has spent the funds to upgrade healthcare infrastructure in hospitals, build sports infrastructure and also fund relief work in Leh which was devastated by floods in 2010. In 2011, Abdullah gave Rs 70 lakh for maintenance of ground at Amar Singh College and Rs 30 lakh for maintenance of ground at Sri Pratap College in Srinagar city. In 2012, he gave Rs 50 lakh each for maintenance of the two grounds. Abdullah has also spent Rs 20 lakh to upgrade healthcare infrastructure in Ganderbal district, Rs 30 lakh to purchase a blood testing machine at GB Pant Hospital and Rs 25 lakh to purchase ventilators at Government Medical College here. In August 2010, Abdullah gave Rs 50 lakh, the maximum amount permissible to be given out from the MPLAD scheme, for relief work in Leh. Abdullah had also released Rs 5 lakh as financial assistance to the intellectuals and artistes who worked for development of Kashmiri language and also funded a research monitoring project aimed at safeguarding the endangered Hangul deer.
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Cong, NCP finalise seat sharing in Maharashtra
New Delhi, February 10 The two parties had contested the last Lok Sabha polls under the same formula in the state. The announcement was made by NCP leader and Union Minister Praful Patel and Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan after hour-long talks between the two sides at NCP chief Sharad Pawar's residence. “Further talks will take place soon,” the two leaders said when asked about reports that the two parties planned to swap some seats. The agreement comes in the middle of a series of statements by Patel and Pawar on Modi that led to speculation about the NCP’s ties with the Congress. They also brushed aside questions on the Kolhapur seat, which had become the bone of contention. The seat which was allotted to the NCP was won by an NCP rebel who had become an associate member of the Congress. Chavan also ignored a question on Patel's recent remarks reflecting softness towards Narendra Modi, BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate. "We have decided to contest the elections together," he said. State Congress leaders were in the favour of giving 19 seats to the NCP, which has been maintaining that the old formula needed to continue. NCP leaders including Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and senior Minister Chagan Bhujbal and state party chief Bhaskarrao Jadhav were also present in the talks.
— PTI
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Congress first list of candidates soon
New Delhi, February 10 Top sources in the party confirmed to The Tribune that Congress president Sonia Gandhi today finalised the CEC meeting schedule for February 13. Sonia chairs the CEC which has Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi among other members. Discussions will be held on the candidates for seats which the Congress does not hold in Punjab, Haryana, Himachal, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Rajasthan, Gujarat and the North-East. Speaking to The Tribune, Congress general secretary in-charge of the ticket distribution process, Madhusudan Mistry said, "The first list should be expected by mid-February. CEC's first meeting will finalise candidates in seats where we do not have sitting MPs. Seats with sitting MPs will be discussed after the Parliament session ends on February 21." Sources indicated that seat announcement for the non-Congress seats of the aforesaid states could even happen as early as February 13 if a consensus is reached on candidates in the meeting. In Punjab, the Congress doesn't have sitting MPs in Bathinda, Amritsar, Ferozepur, Faridkot and Khadoor Sahib. A panel of five seats each for these segments has already been finalised for the consideration of the CEC, with the one from Bathinda including the names of former Punjab CM Amarinder Singh, former Rajya Sabha MP Surinder Singla and former MLA Harminder Jassi. With Amarinder unlikely to contest, the choice could narrow down to Singla or Jassi unless the high command wants Amarinder to contest. From Faridkot, the name of state Youth Congress leader Sukhwinder Danny is mainly in contention while from Ferozepur, legislators Rana Gurmit Sodhi and Raja Warring and former MP Jagmeet Brar are among those in the race. The contest in Khadoor Sahib is primarily between Harminder Gill, who narrowly lost to Akali stalwart Adesh Partap Kairon in the 2012 elections, and Sukhdev Singh Bhullar of the state Youth Congress. In Haryana, discussions on Hisar, Gurgaon and Ambala will take place. Sources said candidates for all Himachal seats could be announced by mid-February with preliminary screening over. There is however a likelihood that the candidate from Mandi segment - represented by CM Virbhadra Singh's wife Pratibha in Lok Sabha - is announced later. For Mandi, only Pratibha Singh's name is currently in
discussion. Top poll panel to meet on Thursday
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BJP says crowds a pointer, convinced Modi ahead
New Delhi, February 10 Claiming that such "mammoth" crowds do not appear out of thin air, Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley said BJP should now try and encash on support for Modi by turning the Lok Sabha polls into a referendum on Modi. "Such mammoth crowds do not appear out of thin air. They indicate a strong undercurrent. It is an undercurrent, which is motivated by anger and hope. People are angry with the status quo. They want a change. Modi signifies that change. The political support behind Modi now needs to convert this election into a referendum on Modi. If he manages to do so, this undercurrent will translate into seats," he said.
— PTI
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Brahmpura, Ajnala top contenders for SAD seat
Amritsar, February 10 However, he continues to share a good rapport with CM Parkash Singh Badal, who makes it a point to pay him a visit whenever he is in the region. Badal has hinted at major responsibility for Brahmpura in future more than once over a few years. He has showered lavish praise on Brahmpura, terming him a key party leader who always stood by him in the hour of crisis. Apart from his proximity to Badal, the fact that Brahmpura has been the party's senior-most leader in Majha region and wields a considerable clout in the constituency works in his favour. Two-time Khadoor Sahib MP Ajnala, too, is a strong contender though his victory margin had dipped considerably in the last Lok Sabha elections to 32,260 as against 56,934 in 2004. What may go against Ajnala is that both he and his Chief Parliamentary Secretary-son Amarpal Singh Bony were accused of sheltering Maninder Singh Bittu Aulakh arrested in the Bhola drug racket. In this scenario, the party may choose to go with Brahmpura with an aim to defeat the anti-incumbency factor against Ajnala. Apart from these two heavyweights, the name of Badal's daughter Parneet Kaur, who is also the wife of Cabinet Minister Adesh Pratap Singh Kairon, is doing the rounds. A source in the SAD dubbed it as mere speculation. Like the SAD, Congress leaders, too, have started lobbying for the party ticket. Leading the race is senior Congress leader from Patti area Harminder Singh Gill, who had given a tough fight to Adesh Pratap Singh Kairon from the constituency in the last two Assembly elections. He lost to Kairon by a meagre 59 votes last time.
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‘Third Front’ gets a push
New Delhi, February 10 Utilising the opportunity of the presence of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in the Capital, the leaders -- including CPM general secretary Prakash Karat and his Forward Bloc counterpart Debabrata Biswas -- met at the residence of Janata Dal (Secular) chief H D Deve Gowda over breakfast. "Although the alternative would emerge after the elections, we have to work together and challenge the BJP. The Left and other secular parties cannot give a walkover," Biswas said. The meeting decided to work on a possible date for the first formal meeting of the leaders of the various constituents to be held after Parliament ends on February 21. The venue would be Delhi and the date would be worked out in consultation with AIADMK chief Jayalalithaa, BJD president Naveen Patnaik and SP president Mulayam Singh Yadav. Plans to organise public rallies to give the message of unity of a non-Congress, non-BJP force in the next General Elections would be discussed at the formal meeting amid offers from JD (S), BJD and JD (U) to host it already on the table. The contours of a new formation of political parties outside the Congress and the BJP fold emerged at the October 30 convention in Delhi that was attended by 14 parties, including the Nationalist Congress Party. On February 5, eleven of these parties that have a presence in Parliament came together and announced the formation of a "bloc" in order to work out a joint strategy and coordinate in both Houses. However, since then Parliament functioning remained stalled on account of several contentious issues, including the creation of a separate Telangana. The JD (U) had walked out of the NDA snapping its 17-year-old ties with the BJP following the declaration of Narendra Modi as the face of the BJP-led alliance in the Lok Sabha polls. The party hopes to play a significant role in the formation of such an alternative, sharing a socialist background with the likes of SP and JD (S).
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In Haryana, aam aadmi eyes AAP ticket
Hisar, February 10 With virtually no political experience, many are trying their luck with a hope to make their political debut. AAP state convener Ashavant said there were 440 aspirants for the party tickets from 10 Lok Sabha seats in Haryana. "We are about to scrutinise all candidates and then the list will be forwarded to the central body," he said, adding that the screening process was on at the state headquarters in Sonepat. State executive member Ramesh Varma said: "The state body has constituted four teams comprising two to three members who are screening the aspirants. We try to judge the commitment, political sense and knowledge of the aspirants. The aspirants are asked to reveal all their details, especially police records." "The candidates will have to undergo tougher sessions after cracking the preliminary session, as the teams of senior party functionaries and independent political experts will interact with them at a later stage," said a source in the party. Sources said highest number of aspirants was from Faridabad where 90 candidates were vying for the tickets. Sonepat has 68 aspirants, while Gurgaon has 30. The lowest number of aspirants is from Bhiwani-Mahendergarh where only 19 applicants reached the headquarters for screening.
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Retd employees too want share in pie
Patiala, February 10 AAP leader Dharamvir Gandhi said: "With many retired officers joining AAP, the party has got a major boost. In a few days, we will begin a jharu yatra to involve as many people as we can." Coming up with new slogans such as "Na Bete Ka Baap Ka, Punjab hai bas AAP ka" and "Sada Punjab Nava Khwab", Gandhi claimed that the membership of AAP had touched 70,000 mark in Patiala district alone and thousands more would join them soon. Meanwhile, just 10 days after Harkesh Singh Sidhu retired, he leveled serious allegations against alleged corrupt practices in the state and political interference in the working of bureaucrats. He alleged that the bureaucracy was helpless since there was political intervention in everything that happened in the state. "Even if an officer wants to work, he has no option but to relent to the political bosses. These corrupt practices have not only made many bureaucrats corrupt but has also captivated all officers - right from patwaris to secretary-level officers," he alleged. Sidhu said the senior district administrative officers had no say when compared to the halqa in charges (district in charges) and their family members. "Right from the appointment of station head officers to the deployment of administrative officers in their areas, everything is done at their behest to suit them and their men," he rued. Asked why he didn't talk about such issued during service, he accepted that he was a victim of political pressure. "While I was serving as secretary (labour), Labour Minister Surjit Singh Jyani had approached Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal personally to transfer me due to my clear working style," he added.
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Harsimrat Kaur Badal
Khadoor Sahib: Advantage Brahmpura