Gujarat, Karnataka, Goa, UP- Election 2007 - 2

[ramana]

Also what was the class composition of the elected MLAs? I think some thing unprecedented has happened. The BSP combination got first or second place in a very large number of places. We need to understand the meaning of this.

[Guest]

Review came thru email -
shell shock Queen Sonia and INC

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->The lady is at it again. After the UP fiasco, the son lays his pathetic road-show at the door of the 'organization machinery' in UP, absolving himself and his mama mia from any blame or responsibility.

By the evening Rahul Baba was forced to thank his 'workers' for wonderful work in UP during the elections.

His mother not to be outdone, swept UP out of reach of her nose and accused BJP states of human rights violations. All BJP ruled states, pl note.

She accused Gujarat of denying its ppl freedom of expression and said she found the conduct of the Gujarat police 'shocking'.

Atal Bihari Vajpayee was right when he said he found the lady's utterances bizarre and shocking.

To publicly declare that she found the conduct of the police of this country 'shocking', proves once again how completely uncaring the lady is of her responsibility to maintain a certain decorum in public speech and to uphold the dignity of our men and women in uniform.

She has broadbrushed not only all BJP states but also all police.

She has spoken just like those that she placed in the NAC, NIC and the CABE - the forein-funded, UPA patronised human rights activists and NGOs.

The least the BJP can do for the country is to put this family out of busines.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

[Guest]

<!--QuoteBegin-ramana+May 16 2007, 07:50 PM-->QUOTE(ramana @ May 16 2007, 07:50 PM)<!--QuoteEBegin-->Also what was the class composition of the elected MLAs? I think some thing unprecedented has happened. The BSP combination got first or second place in a very large number of places. We need to understand the meaning of this.
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Percentage of voting was low in UP, less then 45%. Some place it was less then 28%. So middle class stayed at home.
In Punjab it was above 75%+, some place it was 90%+.

[Guest]

<!--QuoteBegin-ramana+May 15 2007, 10:35 PM-->QUOTE(ramana @ May 15 2007, 10:35 PM)<!--QuoteEBegin-->Yes, governance is always bad in UP. But if you compare with current center, UPA 

  We also need to understand that UP-Bihar region has suffered the most throughout history- decline of the large Hindu kingdoms, the Delhi Sultantate zabardasti rule, the Mughal Mansabdari, the British Zamindari systems, INC misrule( After Gobind Vallabh Pant and Rajendra Prasad  it was down hill all the way) and the jahaliya period of the social engineering turds_the Mulayam and Lallo Yadav rule. So lets hope that there is a five year period of the heart of India to recover. First Bihar threw out the rascals and now UP has done the same.

Need to see how UPA will thwart the development by withholding funds or worse releaseing them slowly. BSP has to do something to kick start the economic development after taking care of Law and Order. Maybe attract private capital.
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It is my observation or experience during my long stay in UP’s one of the biggest city. I was privilege to stay in a locality where majority of my friend’s Dad were either Judge, IAS, IPS, Senior Engineers in Electricity board, head of Telephone Dept, or other big government officials happen to live there. I have seen worst corruption, misuse of Government resources for personal use. Office staffs were used as 24 x7 servants at home, office vehicles were used for fun trip anywhere in India. How to override electricity meter, I learnt at very young age? Taking bribe was no shame. Cover up in crime was ok. Government machinery is so corrupt that it crossed all shocking level. Nothing will change till they put all these people in jail on corruption charges, because even when they get suspended they still enjoy luxury, except other friends send their loot to them and of course even on suspension people still gets some percentage of salary.
Top to bottom is corrupt and they are eating up every development fund.
UP is a state where asking Dowry and discussing amount is a status symbol. During those days Dowry cash rate/payment for IAS was 1.5 Lacs, IPS 2.0lacs Engineer 55K, Businessman 45K, Doctor 55K and Professor/teacher 25K. 75% Dowry should be given before marriage. Dowry rate are based on potential of a person to make money under table. Now rate must be much higher. People had no shame asking. Leaking question paper was common. Every question paper of PMT, UP Univ degree, and UP board’s exams were available to privilege kids.
Even then Gooda Gardi was very common. Gangs and their back etc was a status symbol.
Caste was a core factor. OBCs are not only rich but very powerful.
Whole system rots.

How anyone can fix this?

[Guest]

<b>BSP's Brahmin mascot joins Mayawati's Cabinet</b>

[Guest]

First positive outcome of UP result. Govt is learning "Muslim First" will sink already shaky boat. Now Sachar report goes to shredder machine. <!--emo&--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo-->

<b>Religious headcount not permitted in armed forces: Govt </b><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->New Delhi, May 16: Government today said religious headcount in armed forces was not permitted as this would affect its secular and apolitical character.

"It was not considered desirable to supply such a data as this would have affected ethos and cohesiveness of the forces," Defence Minister A K Antony told Rajya Sabha in a written reply.

<b>In his first comments on why the armed forces refused to supply such information to the Sachar Committee which evaluated social, economic and educational status of Muslims, the minister said armed forces have a secular and apolitical character</b>.

<b>"Recruitment to the forces is based on merit and is open to every citizen of the country without any discrimination on the basis of caste, creed, religion on region," </b>Antony told the House.
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Now i am waiting for OBC reservation head stone.

[Guest]

Lost link yesterday

Shia voted for BSP and Sunni voted for SP and Bukhari party.

[Guest]

<b>Dalit leaders shaken by BSP's victory</b>

[Guest]

Always failed pollster Yogender Yadav, Congress mouth Piece came up with his own analysis - he is still trying to justify, its Muslim not Brahmins.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Second, it was not just the Brahmins but all of what Mayawati called the “upper caste samaj”. The BSP vote share among various upper castes was not very different: 17 per cent among Brahmins, 12 per cent among Rajputs, 14 per cent among Vaishyas and 16 per cent among other upper castes. This was a three-fold increase over the BSP’s vote share in this segment in the last election. Yet let us not forget that, in all, upper castes comprised only about one-tenth of the BSP’s voters.

Third, the bulk of the BSP’s non-dalit votes came not from the upper castes but from the lower OBCs. If you exclude the dominant peasant communities like the Yadavs, Kurmis and Lodhs, the BSP was the first preference of the rest of the OBCs.

The BSP got on an average more than 30 per cent of the votes in this group. The non-dominant OBCs contributed about one-fifth to the total votes of the BSP, twice as much as the upper castes. The BSP also got about 17 per cent votes among the Muslims, a little more than it did among all the upper castes.
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[acharya]

<!--QuoteBegin-k.ram+May 16 2007, 01:23 PM-->QUOTE(k.ram @ May 16 2007, 01:23 PM)<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Dalit leaders shaken by BSP's victory</b>
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On the Spot - Tavleen Singh

Crumbling castles
Thursday, May 17, 2007 11:10:6 IST<span style='color:blue'>
Whichever coalition wins the next general election will have to be one that includes Mayawati directly in line to become India’s next prime minister</span>


for :

Mayawati's stunning victory in Uttar Pradesh has changed Indian politics more dramatically than any other event since the government led by Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh came to power three years ago. Elections in divided, lawless, desperately poor U.P. are always important because of it being our largest and most populous state but its hard to remember an election that was more significant than this one. Not just because U.P. got it's first majority government in fourteen years. The significance, in my view, lies in the crumbling of the political castles in the air that both our national parties were building. They crumbled so totally that neither the Bharatiya Janata Party nor Congress are certain of their strategy for the Lok Sabha elections in 2009. In this hot, hot summer in Delhi this new political crisis adds to the heat.
The U.P. election was a practice run, a rehearsal for the general election, in which both our main political parties revealed their future plans. The BJP showed that it planned to return to a Hindutva hardline by using Islamist terrorism and Mulayam Singh's so-called 'minority appeasement' to target Muslims. In the past this strategy has helped consolidate the Hindu vote and bring the BJP to power not just in Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh but at the Centre. In the three years that it has been out of office in Delhi BJP leaders have shown themselves unable to come up witha single new idea so they have returned to the only card they appear to have in their hand. This time the Hindu card was played crudely and repugnantly in the form of a CD that reviled Muslims so openly the BJP had to disown it but party leaders continued to strut around as if they were going to decide the future of U.P. and then India.
Misled by opinion polls that gave them nearly as many seats as Mayawati and Mulayam Singh BJP leaders in Delhi were beginning to discuss their choice of the next Prime Minister. In BJP President, Rajnath Singh, there was a visible, new arrogance manifested in the magnanimity with which he pronounced that L.K. Advani would be the party's choice for Prime Minister. If the U.P. results are an indication the BJP is not going to be in any position to dictate this
choice if the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) wins the next election. Even if it emerges as single largest party it may have to
compromise on a candidate from one of the smaller parties if it gets fewer seats than it currently has in the Lok Sabha. In U.P. it lost 50 assembly seats.

Distorted perspective
For Congress the news from U.P. is even more depressing. It never expected to win the election in U.P. but campaign managers banked on winning enough seats to become part of a coalition led by Mayawati. Not only did this option not present itself but the party's trump card, the Prince, turned out to be a dud. Ever since Sonia Gandhi's dynastic appeal brought the party back to power in Delhi in 2004, the party has relied on dynasty to win them the next general election with a convincing majority. This dream relied on Rahul Gandhi's ability to become the next Rajiv Gandhi. When viewed from the distorted perspective of Delhi Rahul looked good. In between phases of U.P's seemingly endless election I found myself of a hot and sultry evening at a dinner party in a Delhi drawing room. Here I ran into a well-known power lady and political columnist and when I commented on the stupidity of Rahul's Babri Masjid statement she said archly, 'Don't underestimate him I think he is a combination of Rajiv and Sanjay'. By this she hopefully meant Rajiv's charm and Sanjay's ruthlessness (not in reverse) and there were others who spoke this way.
Rahul looked so good to the media that he made the front pages of Most newspapers through the campaign. He gave interviews and traveled with groups of adoring hacks and when the U.P. election was covered in the international press it was nearly always with a picture of Rahul Gandhi in accompaniment.By contrast there was almost not a single interview with Mayawati. Everyone said she was ahead of the others but nobody imagined she would win a full majority. <b>
This visible blindness may have something to do with the media's aversion to Mayawati and she to the 'manuwadi' media. I interviewed her once for a television programme and the interview nearly ended in disaster because I asked her views on Gandhiji in view of her comment that if Gandhiji thought of Dalits as Harijans (children of God) then did he think of upper castes as children of the Devil. </b>I consider the comment valid but she walked out of the interview before I could explain. She is needlessly prickly but the media has been less than fair to her. She is no more corrupt than most other Indian politicians, no more ostentatious and no more ineffectual but always painted as worse. That is the other change that she has wrought by winning the U.P. election, from being just another Indian politician she is now the most important chief minister in the country and the most powerful woman politician. Whichever coalition wins the next general election will have to be one that includes her and this puts her directly in line to become India's next prime minister. Funny, isn't it, what a change one little election can make.

[Guest]

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Advani to lead BJP campaign in Goa election </b>
Pioneer News Service | New Delhi
After suffering debacle in Uttar Pradesh, the BJP is now faced with the mounting task of wresting power from the Congress in Goa that goes to polls on June 22. A victory in Goa is much needed for the party to heal the wounds inflicted upon the party by the BSP in Uttar Pradesh.

<b>The BJP is set to enter the Goa fray with its senior leader LK Advani and party general secretary Arun Jaitley in the lead.</b>

In 2002, the BJP won 17 seats in Goa and even formed the Government under the leadership of Manohar Parrikar. His Government collapsed after defection and the Congress to formed the new regime under Pratapsinh Rane. Given the state of affairs within the Congress, the BJP leadership is hopeful of scripting a victory in the State.

Former deputy Prime Minister and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha LK Advani would launch the BJP's electoral campaign in Goa on May 21 by addressing a number of rallies in the state. Advani is scheduled to address electoral rallies next day as well.

Talking to the media persons on Friday, the party spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said that BJP president Rajnath Singh would campaign for the candidates on May 29 and 30, while the senior most general secretary Arun Jaitley would release the manifesto on May 22.

Fighting the election on the plank of 'Save Goa', the BJP has so far announced the candidates for 34 seats in an assembly of 40 seats. The party is likely to extend support to three independent candidates in the state where the party had won 17 seats in the 2002 assembly poll

Javadekar said that<b> senior party leaders, M Venkaiah Naidu, Sushma Swaraj, and Gopinath Munde would extensively campaign in the state</b>. After suffering a humiliating defeat in Uttar Pradesh, the party is expecting to wrest power from the Congress.
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[Guest]

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Cong candidates hint at inside sabotage </b>
Pioneer.com
Nidhi Sharma | New Delhi
Congress president Sonia and her son Rahul Gandhi might be blaming the party organisation for the debacle in Uttar Pradesh Assemebly election, but the party candidates feel it was inside sabotage.

<b>About 150 Congress candidates, who had got 10,000-20,000 votes in the State Assembly election, met the party president for a brain storming session on Friday. Sources said that around 70 candidates had polled 20,000 votes and above</b>. These candidates were called as a part of Congress' introspection exercise on UP Assembly elections. The candidates first met Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee (UPCC) president Salman Khurshid on Friday morning. After this, Sonia Gandhi, heir-apparent Rahul Gandhi and Khurshid held a meeting with all candidates.

Sources said that the candidates recounted their personal experiences about the elections and minced no words in blaming the party's MPs for the poor performance. A source said: "<b>When asked about their experiences, specifically on the party organisation in the State, the candidates said clearly that Congress' own members of Parliament worked against the candidate fielded by the party."</b>

The candidates gave details to the party president and said that MPs were not happy with the party's ticket distribution in the State. "This is why MPs in some areas even helped the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) or the Samajwadi Party (SP) candidates. In today's interaction, these candidates revealed that it was an internal sabotage," the source said.

Sonia held these interactions with candidates to gauge the reasons for the party's poor performance in the UP elections. <b>Though the Congress had never claimed it would sweep the polls, the party had maintained that it would act as "kingmaker". </b>However, BSP chief Mayawati deprived the Congress even this. Leave alone improving the seat tally, <b>the party could not even better its vote share. The Congress tally went down from 25 to 22 and the vote share was a shade worse from the earlier 9 per cent to 8.56 per cent</b>.
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[Guest]

Francois G at Rediff on Mayawati
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Every political columnist wants to make UP a study case. But is it a good case?

Firstly, UP is the worst example of how an Indian state can be mismanaged year after year and how the most populous state of India is also the poorest, the most unlawful -- bar Bihar, maybe.

Second, UP has shown India and the world how caste and religion can be manipulated to the maximum cynical extent to get elected -- as Mayawati just did.

But then, she only borrowed from the Congress book of politics and only improved upon it.

It is true that the Congress in turn only took over from the British the art of divisive politics -- to polarise India on castes and religions: 'I am a Muslim first and then an Indian'; 'I am a Dalit first and then an Indian'; 'I am a Christian first and then and Indian.'
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[Guest]

I told you, not surprised
<b>SP-BSP supporters clash, two killed</b><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->The two SP supporters killed were brothers, police said.

Rivalry relating to the recent assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh was believed to be the reason behind the clash.

The village falls under Isauli Vidha Sabha constituency from where Samajwadi Party's Sonu Singh had emerged victorious
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[Guest]

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Sonia's one family one ticket norm raises eyebrows </b>
Pioneer.com
Nidhi Sharma | New Delhi
The Congress, a party that has followed the Gandhi-Nehru dynasty and used the family's charm for decades, has suddenly decided to give up its tradition in Goa. <b>The party, whose president and her son are both members of Parliament, is insisting on "one family one ticket" - a formula that is already fuelling a lot of dissent in the party in the State.</b> <!--emo&--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo-->

Ahead of Goa Assembly election, the party refused to give tickets to family members of serving Ministers. The firm stance was taken after strict directions by party president Sonia Gandhi herself. A senior Congress leader said, "The party president has given strict instructions that you cannot give more than one ticket to a family. Though several State stalwarts were angry, we had to stick to this principle during the ticket distribution."

The first voice of opposition was heard when former Chief Minister and a Congress MP Churchill Alemao asked the party to give his brother Joaquim Alemao a ticket. When the Congress high command stuck to its "one family one ticket" principle, Alemao rebelled and floated his Save Goa Front. He is now using the development plank and Congress' performance in the June 2 elections.

Even Chief Minister Pratapsingh Rane demanded a ticket for his son Vishwajeet Rane. When the party insisted on the principle, Rane offered to sacrifice his candidature in favour of his son. He was persuaded and now his son is fighting as an independent from Valpoi constituency.<b> Vishwajeet is bitter because he was made the general secretary of the party's State unit and given charge of Valpoi, Bicholim, Pale and Mayem constituencies. He worked in these constituencies for over a year and mobilised voters. Even then, he was denied a ticket from the party.</b>

Senior leader Atanasio Monserrate rebelled against the party on the last day of filing of nominations because his wife Jennifer was denied a ticket. Now both husband and wife are contesting on United Goans Democratic Party (UGDP) tickets from Taleigao and St Cruz respectively.

Senior leaders insist that though it goes against the party's long-followed tradition, it has sound reasoning to it. A leader said, "Goa Assembly has only 40 seats. If the party starts giving multiple tickets to a family, it would just take 15-20 families to corner seats and dominate over the entire Assembly. This would not be fair."

The party is already facing the Opposition BJP's wrath over this issue. <b>BJP leaders have openly lashed out at the party for following "double standards". The Opposition's campaign line is clear: "You can't trust the party which does this to its own people."</b>
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[Guest]

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Congress defies code of conduct in Goa </b>
Pioneer.com
Nidhi Sharma | New Delhi
Govt rolls back export duty on iron ore; complaint filed with Election Commission

Twenty days after the Election Commission of India notified Assembly poll in Goa, Finance Minister P Chidambaram handed out an obvious sop to the mining sector - the prime revenue generating sector of the State.

Chidambaram partially rolled back export duty on a specific type of iron ore, which is primarily available in Goa, after the model code of conduct for Assembly election became operational in the State. A complaint of violation of model code was filed with the Election Commission on Tuesday by MK Singh, convener of Save India Promote India (SIPI). 

In his Budget speech on February 28, Chidambaram had announced imposition of export duty of Rs 300 per metric tonne on export of iron ores and concentrates. This announcement led to angry protests by the mining industry, especially in Goa. Contrary to popular belief, Goa's economy is mainly dependent on iron ore mining and not tourism. The State is the prime exporter of low-grade iron ore fines and lumps, which have less than 62% iron content. This type of iron ore is available mainly in Goa and parts of Maharashtra.
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[Guest]

<b>Church has Goa at 'cross'-roads</b>
http://in.news.yahoo.com/070529/211/6gdis.html

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->By IBNlive.com
Tuesday May 29, 11:08 AM
Panaji: With just four days to go for the Goa elections, <b>the influential Church leaders have given out a confusing signal on whom to vote for. They have advised the nearly 27 per cent Christian population to not vote for the “corrupt or communal” candidates.</b>

“The Church at this juncture will look at the issue that government should govern and not divide the people on the basis of religion or work for selfish interest and fool people,” says Father Mevrick Fernandes of <b>Forum for Social Justice and Peace</b>, Goa Church.

The message makes it a matter of limited choice for the voters. After all, if one sifts either communal or corrupt or both from the available candidates, a fractured House is the most likely scenario and such a situation is open invitation to horse-trading in Goa.

This is not the first time that the Church has openly opposed the Congress-led government. They also came out strongly against the controversial Regional Plan 2011.

Now, it has also asked the people to reject the BJP's brand of politics.

Dr Oscar Rebello, Convenor of Goa Bachao Abhiyan that fought the Regional Plan says the Church should educate people but should not take a biased stand against anybody. He is also critical of priests campaigning for parties.

Church in Goa has always taken stand against communal forces. But this time it seems that everybody is confused; whether to choose communalism over corruption or corruption over communalism.  <!--emo&:roll--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/ROTFL.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='ROTFL.gif' /><!--endemo-->
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[Guest]

The BJP is contesting for the highest 33 seats, followed by its rival Congress 32, the oldest Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party-26, Save Goa Front (SGF)-17.

Also, JD(S) and UGDP-11 each, Shiv Sena-7, Nationalist Congress Party-6, Communist Party of India (CPI)-3, CPI(Marxist)-1, RPI(A)-4, GSP-1, and Independents-50.

[Guest]

Goa Poll 34 seats
Party Win+Lead

BJP 13
Cong+NCP 14
Others 7

Now headlines
Congress takes lead over BJP in Goa elections - IBN
Congress leads vote count in Goa - NDTV

[Guest]

Fractured verdict in Goa; Congress, NCP set to form government

Congress and NCP today were set to retain power in Goa after emerging as the largest combine in a fractured verdict in the polls to the 40-member Goa Assembly bagging 19 seats, just two short of a majority.

Power struggle in Goa since liberation

Smaller parties, independents to decide fate of Goa govt
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->While Congress got 16 seats, two short of its previous tally of 18 in the outgoing house, NCP cornered three, gaining one seat.

The main Opposition BJP failed to increase its strength, securing just 14 seats it had, while the rebel Congress leader Churchill Alemao`s party - the Save Goa Front - bagged two seats. Another regional party, the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party also got two seats, one more than in the past, and independents won the remaining two.

<b>Chief Minister Pratapsinh Rane`s son, Vishwajit, who won as an independent candidate, has already announced that he would support the Congress, taking the tally to 20, just one short of the majority.</b>

The one seat required for the majority could come from either the MGP, which was already part of outgoing Rane government or from other independent Anil Salgaonkar, who won from Sanvordem seat.

The BJP has virtually conceded defeat, with its leader Rajiv Pratap Rudy saying the party had failed to get the expected number of seats
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