Centre Bashing
By Insaf
Non-BJP States are having a field day slandering Prime Minister Modi and his NDA government at the Centre. Every single day this past week, the Opposition benches, particularly Congress, in both Houses of Parliament have grabbed one or another issue to lambast the power centre in New Delhi. Unsavoury developments either in Delhi, or Arunachal Pradesh, or Assam, or Kerala are being described as political vendetta unleashed. For starters, the infamous Delhi-Centre fight has become bigger. The CBI’s recent raid on the secretariat of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to nail his principal secretary with corruption charges has the AAP government fuming. It has managed to garner support from Congress and TMC, who too are facing the CBI wrath. In its defence, the BJP has refuted all charges and hit back by accusing Kejriwal of trying to defend corrupt officers. In turn, Kejriwal has dragged in the Union Finance Minister, saying that CBI was looking for files in his office on the Delhi District Cricket Association (DDCA), in which Jaitley “would be nailed”. Sadly, the blame game is getting uglier, much to the chagrin of those yearning for governance. Sign of any respite from mud-slinging is clearly elusive.
Arunachal Pradesh ‘Destabilised”
Likewise, in the North East, the BJP is being blamed for the upheaval in Congress-ruled Arunachal Pradesh. In all 21 rebel Congress MLAs have joined hands with 11 of BJP and two independents to ‘impeach’ Assembly Speaker, interestingly at a makeshift venue (community hall). Recall, for the past three months, Chief Minister Nabam Tuki has been under siege with the MLAs’ group seeking his ouster. A worried Congress has accused BJP’s Governor of ‘running a parallel government’ and calling the Assembly session unilaterally. It thus had the administration seal the Assembly complex and 27 of its MLAs boycotted the proceedings. Claiming that the Speaker’s impeachment was “illegal and unconstitutional”, the Congress in Delhi led a delegation to President Mukherjee. Party President Sonia Gandhi accused the Modi government of trying to ‘destabilize its democratically-elected government’ in the State and sought intervention. However, the BJP hit back saying the Congress cannot pass on the buck of its internal fighting to it and there was an ‘emergency situation” in the State. All eyes are on how the Congress retrieves its State. Will the spat see it knocking next on the Supreme Court’s door?
Assam Monastery Row
Assam poll preparations are getting hotter by the day with the Congress-BJP war growing. On a visit to the State, Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi alleged he was stopped by ‘RSS workers’ from entering a ‘temple’ (actually a monastery) in Barpeta. His claim was backed by three-term Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, who in Delhi asserted he was well aware of the ploy through the State intelligence. Though women are not allowed in the Monastery, the BJP and the RSS conspired and got a group of them to sit in front of the entrance to block Rahul. Even though he had the police force, Gogoi said he chose not to make a big issue and Rahul prayed from the gate outside! However, the head priest refuted the charge and insisted he waited for over four hours to receive Rahul, who then chose to bypass the monastery. The big question is who to believe? An inquiry into the case, as Gogoi said should nail the culprits. Be that as it may, fresh controversies are bound to erupt. The electorate would undeniably be kept busy and amused till Assembly polls due in March-April 2016.
Kerala Peeved
Down south, the UDF government in Kerala is up in arms too. It’s peeved over the withdrawal of an invitation to its Chief Minister Oommen Chandy at the “behest of the PMO”. The case being: Modi was invited by the organisers, Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana (SNDP) Yogam to unveil the statue of former Kerala Chief Minister R Shankar, wherein Chandy was to preside over the function. However, Chandy was struck of the list. By withdrawing the invite to the CM, the PM has insulted the people of Kerala, is the Congress charge. The Centre denied this saying it had no hand in it and that the decision to withdraw the invite was taken by the social organisation itself. Modi’s ‘cooperative federalism’ has become a victim in this tu tu mein mein. Worse, on his first visit to the State since taking over as Prime Minister!
UP Lokayukta
Uttar Pradesh Government of Akhilesh Yadav would be embarrassed pink. Following its shocking failure to comply with the Supreme Court’s order, the latter invoked its constitutional powers and appointed the Lokayukta on Wednesday last. Two months ago, the apex court had fixed a deadline for the ‘constitutional functionaries’– Chief Minister, Leader of Opposition and Chief Justice of Allahabad High Court, to appoint the Lokayukta, which has been mired in controversy since April last year, when the post fell vacant. Regretting the ‘astonishing’ failure of the Samajwadi Government, the Court put former HC judge, Justice Virendra Singh in the coveted seat. It did so after examining the five short-listed names for the post of the State’s ombudsman, for which no ‘consensus’ was arrived at. Recall, that Governor Ram Naik refused to accept Akhilesh’s nominee as the Lokayukta and the long tussle reached apex court’s doorstep. The new Lokayukta has promised to weed out corruption from the State. Crucially, whether he will put the Chief Minister’s office within purview is what needs to be watched.
Drought-Hit States On Notice
The Centre and eight drought-hit States have been put on notice. This follows serious concern that provisions under the National Food Security Act 2013, which places obligation on the State to provide 5 kg of food grains to each person in the family per month, are not being adhered to. A PIL was filed in the Supreme Court, wherein the court has asked Maharashtra, UP, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Jharkhand, Karnataka and Telangana to respond. Sadly, the issue before the apex court was that State governments “have failed to redress the misery of a vast population. They have even failed to properly implement the existing schemes that could have provided support during this period of distress…” For example, a survey in Bundelkhand region in UP showed that “39% of families had not consumed pulse even once in the last 30 days, 60% had not consumed any milk and 14% admitted going to bed hungry at least once!” All eyes are on these States as to whether they have made provisions to assure at least two square meals a day to the affected people.—INFA