PMK to join Congress-led Govt at Centre
Chennai:
The Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) will join the Congress-led
coalition government headed by Sonia Gandhi at the Centre,
party founder Dr S Ramadoss said this here Sunday. He made
the announcement after the party's general council meeting
authorised him to decide on the matter late last night at
Thiruvananthapuram, about 150 km from here. Dr Ramadoss
told reporter that he would meet Congress president Sonia
Gandhi and convey his party's decision. He is scheduled
to leave for Delhi later in the day. PMK is the first constituent
of the DMK-led DPA to decide on joining the Congress-led
coalition. PMK had participated in the Vajpayee Government
in 1998 and 1999 and the party had two nominees in both
the ministries.
No consensus in CPM on joining Congress-led
Govt (Go
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New
Delhi: Sharp differences arose in the Central Committee
of the CPI (M) on the issue of joining a Congress-led government
at the Centre. Emerging from a meeting here, senior party
leader Jyoti Basu told reporters that only four members
had spoken and 23 others were yet to express their views.
"Discussions are still on," he said. The meeting discussed
issues ranging from economic agenda, dis- investment and
joining a Sonia Gandhi-led government. Party sources said
that a decision on whether to participate in the coalition
government was expected to be taken tomorrow by the Central
Committee. While Basu said that he has no appointment with
DMK president K Karunanidhi, who arrived here this morning
from Chennai, party general secretary Harkishen Singh Surjeet
said he would be holding discussions with the DMK supreme
later in the day. As many as 70 members were present at
the party Central Committee meeting. Meanwhile, the party
said that it would be submitting a letter to President APJ
Abdul Kalam extending support to a Congress-led government
at the Centre. Party leader D Raja told reporters that party
leaders would participate in a meeting of Congress' allies
and supporting parties at Gandhi's residence on Sunday evening.
Ousted BJP leaders have doubts over
Sonia leadership (Go
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Amritsar:As
Sonia Gandhi ascends step-by-step to be the next Prime Minister,
jittery opposition leaders are casting doubts on her leadership,
saying she would be unable to provide a stable government.
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Prakash Singh Badal, whose
party won a handsome victory in the national polls on Thursday
in its bastion of Punjab, however, acceded the people have
given the mandate to Gandhi. "It is for the people to think,
I believe, they want an inexperienced leader. But they have
given their verdict. Now let's wait and see what will be
the situation in the future. Like earlier inexperienced
leaders were given a chance but when they were unable to
do anything then they were ousted," Badal said after visiting
the Golden Temple in Amritsar, accompanied by his son Sukhbir
Singh Badal. Badal's SAD, which is an ally of the defeated
Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), won eight out of the
13 Lower House seats in Punjab. Analysts feel, the voters
punished the state's ruling Congress for factionalism and
infighting, costing the party dear despite it emerging as
the single largest party in the 545-member parliament.
Almost
all political pundits have been stunned by the size of the
upset poll win by Gandhi's Congress over Prime Minister
Atal Behari Vajpayee, who was rejected by the disaffected
rural poor angry at missing out on the benefits of India's
economic boom. Gandhi's coalition, with fewer than 220 seats,
still needs communist support for her to become prime minister
rather than hand the job to a compromise candidate. She
now faces the delicate task of stitching up an alliance
with leftist parties, which hold a critical bloc of 60-plus
seats but which are opposed to the style of economic reforms
introduced by Vajpayee's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to
open the economy. Gandhi, who opted for family life when
she could easily have been the prime minister after her
husband, former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi's assassination
in 1991, has witnessed opposition from satraps in her own
party since she emerged on the public domain, and the right-wing
BJP campaigned to debar persons of foreign origin like Gandhi
from occupying high offices. But Gandhi is still considered
a political novice, having assumed leadership of the Congres
in 1998.
Protests intensified against Sonia (Go
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Bangalore:
India's Hindu nationalists on Sunday intensified their
protests against Italy-born Sonia Gandhi becoming the country's
next prime minister. The students' wing of the outgoing
ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as well as its senior
leaders came out publicly to oppose the Congress party's
decision to nominate Sonia Gandhi for the top post. Newly-elected
Congress lawmakers had unanimously elected Sonia Gandhi
on Saturday to lead the world's largest democracy after
her thrilling victory in the just concluded national elections.
Activists of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad or the
All India Students' Union, the students' wing of the BJP,
staged a demonstration in Bangalore. Students said Gandhi
did not know realities about India. "We cannot really bear
to have a foreigner as our Prime Minister who knows nothing
about the country. She is a guest, will always remain a
guest. She has lived in palaces, she does not know what
life is like in India. We cannot have a woman, who is just
a guest in our country, as our prime minister. This is a
biggest ever shame for India. We want an Indian-born as
our prime minister," Vineeta, a protester, said. In national
capital, a hard-core Hindu leader Govindacharya said Gandhi
could not be accepted as the prime minister of India. "Though
Sonia Gandhi is not of Indian origin, we accepted her as
a mother. But her attempt to become the queen of India is
not good for India," Govindacharya told reporters.
Meanwhile
in Jharkhand, former chief minister said it would be the
blackest day in the Indian history if Gandhi became the
prime minister. "I feel the blackest day in Indian history
would be the day Sonia Gandhi becomes the Prime Minister
of one billion people. I think Indians should not allow
this. We should not bow our heads in shame before the future
generations. I think even the Italians would not be in a
position to accept a foreigner as their head of state. People
should raise their voice," Babulal Marandi, former chief
minister of Jharkhand, told reporters in Ranchi. Gandhi
ousted India's Hindu nationalists last week in a stunning
election win that surprised everyone, including Congress,
but fell short of a clear majority and needs new partners
to rule. Leftist parties, which hold more than 60 of the
new parliament's 545 seats and which back Gandhi as PM,
will take three days to decide whether to join the new government
or simply support it from outside a formal coalition. Gandhi
is still considered a political novice after formally taking
over Congress in 1998, seven years after her husband, former
prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, was assassinated in 1991. But
analysts say her unexpected and resounding win after counting
in the largest democratic vote on earth has guaranteed her
the prime ministership.
Vajpayee's family, friends shocked at
defeat (Go
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Gwalior:
Just weeks ago, Atal Behari Vajpayee, the mascot of
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), was tipped for another term
as prime minister. But on Friday, he resigned from the top
job, paving way for Sonia Gandhi, whose Congress party proved
wrong all the opinion and exit polls to come back to power.
Vajpayee's family members on Sunday expressed shock at the
unexpected debacle. Vajpayee's niece Kanti Mishra said though
she accepted Sonia Gandhi as the new prime minister but
could not figure out what went wrong for Vajpayee. "It is
acceptable to us for whoever people have voted for. But
we are feeling very sad that on which basis they have elected
their leader. They wanted a change but it is not what we
expected. Soniaji will become the prime minister as people
have given her the mandate. But like people across the country
I am feeling very bad." Sonia, member of India's first political
Nehru-Gandhi dynasty, swept to power on a wave of anger
among the country's hundreds of millions of poor, who voted
out the BJP government feeling left out of an economic boom.
Few like Vajpayee's close friend Manrakhan are still to
come to terms with the new developments.
"These are very unexpected results. We had never thought
that this time Atalji will not remain the prime minister,"
he said. Recognised all over for his mesmerising oratory,
Vajpayee is the founder member of Bharatiya Jan Sangh in
1951, which later transformed into BJP, and began his parliamentary
innings in 1957. Vajpayee's tryst with prime ministership
began in 1998. His first stint as the prime minister lasted
only for 13 days, but he came back with a bang in 1999,
leading a multi-party coalition, stunning the world with
Pokhran nuclear tests. Vajpayee went to Pakistan with the
inaugural bus ride to Lahore reviving the stalled India-Pakistan
peace process over the disputed Kashmir in 1999, and months
later, led a successful Kargil war against the neighbour.
He also initiated the peace thaw with Pakistan, first by
extending a hand of friendship last April and then by holding
meetings with Pakistani leadership during a regional meet
earlier this year.
Mamata fails to fight anti-incumbency
and CPM's might (Go
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by Goutam Ghosh
Kolkata:
The virtual rout of the Trinamul Congress- BJP combine
in the just-concluded Lok Sabha polls in West Bengal can
be largely attributed to the anti-incumbency factor which
generally worked against the NDA, coupled with the allies'
organizational weakness in the face of the CPI(M)'s successful
manipulation of the state administration. The election results
indicate that the ruling Marxists targeted the seats won
last time by Trinamul Congress and the BJP, while undertaking
a somewhat lack-lustre campaign at the Congress strongholds
in north Bengal. The CPI(M), which had vowed to wipe out
the saffron party and its ally in Bengal, is naturally not
unhappy over the Congress' comparatively better performance.
The Marxists knew that the victory of a few more Congress
candidates from their strongholds would not only undermine
the political importance of Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamul
Congress but also help cement their alliance with the Congress
at the national level.
Ms Banerjee perhaps could not foresee the possible impact
of the people's anger against the economic policies of the
NDA government which badly hit both the salaried and retired
persons. There was also almost a total erosion in her party's
Muslim vote- bank due to its continued association with
the BJP after the Gujarat mayhem. The Trinamul Congress
chairperson conducted an ineffectual poll campaign, harping
on the "CPI(M)'s political terror" and the Left Front government's
"non-performance" which apparently had nothing to do with
the Lok Sabha elections. The Marxists, on their part, fully
exploited the anti-incumbency factor and the anti-BJP feelings
of the minority community. The party did not hesitate to
campaign on a communal line in the Muslim-dominated areas
and even played CDs made on the basis of Gujarat riots.
The Trinamul Congress leader also got very little time for
poll preparations after the BJP's apex leadership suddenly
decided to advance the Lok Sabha elections in the wake of
the party's victory in the Assembly polls in three states--Madhya
Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. Instead of paying greater
attention to organizational matters, she wasted precious
time in bargaining with the BJP leadership over her Cabinet
berth. Ms Banerjee had thus little time in her disposal
to show her performance as the union coal minister when
the poll dates were announced. Her return to the NDA Cabinet,
therefore, became a liability rather than an asset on the
poll eve as the Marxists began to hold her partly responsible
for "all the misdeeds of the Vajpayee government."
Aware
of the CPI(M)'s plan to particularly target her constituency
in the Lok Sabha elections, the Trinamul Congress chairperson
confined her campaign largely to Calcutta South where she
faced formidable opposition from CPI(M) nominee and former
chief whip of the Left Front legislature party Robin Deb.
She undertook a half-hearted campaign in a few other constituencies,
but there was virtually no coordination between the BJP
and Trinamul Congress workers in the electioneering. The
result was that her party's sitting MPs could not withstand
the CPI(M)'s organizational might helped by a partisan police
administration despite the tough stand adopted by the Election
Commission. In fact, the poll panel's steps and the pro-active
role of some election observers helped restore unity among
CPI(M) workers belonging to rival factions in many areas
including Dum Dum and Jadavpur.
Tapan Sikdar, BJP leader and former union minister of state
for small-scale industries, and Krishna Bose of Trinamul
Congress lost their respective constituencies, Dum Dum and
Jadavpur, to their CPI(M) rivals not only because of large-scale
false voting but also due to a show of unity put up by the
CPI(M) factions. Despite the state Congress' apparently
better show in the Lok Sabha polls, Trinamul Congress continues
to be the main opposition party mainly because of its performance
in south Bengal. In a majority of the Assembly segments
spread all over the 42 Lok Sabha constituencies in the state
Trinamul Congress has occupied the second position. The
percentage of total votes polled by the party is also much
higher than that of the Congress. According to informed
sources, Ms Banerjee intends to strengthen her party's support
base in Bengal by exploiting the new equations between the
Congress and the CPI(M).
