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Political Notes

	July 10, 2006

Bhajan Lal resignation accepted



Veteran Haryana Congress leader Bhajan Lal got a severe setback on July 3 when Congress president Sonia Gandhi accepted his resignation from the president of the state unit of the party with immediate effect. The resignation was accepted just two days after a sulking Bhajan Lal circulated an unsigned letter to the media that he was stepping down as state Congress president because of the ‘humiliation’ meted out to genuine party workers in Haryana.



“Since he has chosen to resign through the media, we accept his resignation also through the media,” a senior party functionary said, hardly concealing the high command’s displeasure with Lal, who has been Chief Minister of Haryana for 13 years in three terms. Ram Prakash, presently working president of the state unit, will function as acting president.



Bhajan Lal’s attempt to bargain with the high command to get his son Kuldip Bishnoi inducted into the Union Ministry turned out to be his undoing. Party sources said Bhajan Lal had overstretched his goodwill with the high command at the prompting of Bishnoi who is already under scanner for anti-party activities.



The party high command’s strong stance follows its experience with K. Karunakaran, the Kerala veteran who left the party in a huff and is now desperate to get back. Karunakaran too walked out after hefty demands for his sown, K. Murlidharan, were not met by the high command, but had to eat a humble pie in the recent Assembly elections.





Former Prime Minister V.P. Singh arrested



Former Prime Minister V.P. Singh was arrested on the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border on Saturday, July 8, when he was on his way to a Reliance Energy plant at Dadri in Ghaziabad, to hold a demonstration for payment of adequate compensation to farmers whose land had been acquired for the project. V.P. Singh was accompanied by Jan Morcha leader Raj Babbar and Indian Justice Party president Udit Raj. They were placed under arrest after they entered Ghaziabad. V.P. Singh alleged that the Mulayam Singh Yadav Government in Uttar Pradesh was under the control of the corporate sector which was dictating terms.



There were clashes between the police and villagers at the project site at a village in Dadri which reportedly left many injured. The Congress has demanded a judicial inquiry into the incident.



In the meantime, Pradesh Congress president Salman Khurshid has said that the party does not rule out the possibility of forming a joint front with small parties during next year’s Assembly elections in the state. As regards forging ties with the Jan Morcha, he said it was for the party’s central leadership to hold negotiations with V.P. Singh and Raj Babbar.



Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav has said that Assembly elections in the state will be held next year as per schedule. Speaking in Jaunpur on July 2 he said that the Samajwadi Party would consider withdrawing support to the Congress-led UPA Government as it had failed to take on communal forces. But in a statement in New Delhi on July 3, Mulayam Singh Yadav said he would not withdraw support tot he UPA Government as long as the Left parties backed it.



Another Muslim political front was launched in Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday, July 5. The UP United Democratic Front floated by Imam of Delhi’s Jama Masjid, Syed Ahmad Bukhari is the second front of Muslim political parties to be formed in the state within a span of two months. The National Chairman of the UDF, C.M. Ibrahim said that the Assam agreement was being replicated in Uttar Pradesh. He said the front was not in favour of or against any political party. But Ahmed Bukhari at the inaugural function said that Mulayam Singh Yadav is enemy No.1 of the Front.





Pro-reservation parties demand legislation on OBC quotas



Pro-reservation political parties have demanded that the Centre should bring forward legislation to implement 27 per cent quota for other backward classes in elite educational institutions in the Monsoon session of Parliament. A resolution to this effect was passed at a national seminar for social justice for OBCs, organised by Tamil Nadu’s PMK in New Delhi on July 2.



Former Prime Minister V.P. Singh suggested at the seminar that there should be a national referendum on reservations.





Bullet-proof cover for Ayodhya temple planned



The Centre has approached the Supreme Court seeking its permission to provide a bullet proof cover for the idols of Ram Lalla (young Rama) at the make shift temple in Ayodhya. The security agencies recommended the cover after the Ayodhya temple became a top Jehadi target. But the Government did not act on the recommendation earlier as it did not want to be accused by the minorities of bestowing legitimacy on the controversial temple that came up where the Babri Masjid, demolished by Hindu extremists in December 1992, once stood.



After terrorists nearly succeeded in blowing up the temple and intelligence agencies warned of similar attempts to trigger communal tension, both the Centre and the State Government agreed on the plan which would virtually render the temple complex into a fortress.



The focus is on erecting a bullet proof structure around Ram Lalla. This would entail putting in place a double steel wall. To strengthen vigilance around the complex, the Centre has decided to add 10 more watch towers for CRPF in addition to the 10 existing ones.



The All India Muslim Personal Law Board, which is one of the parties to the case pending in the Supreme Court, has decided to oppose the Government move for bullet-proofing the makeshift temple.





Maharashtra : Shiv Sainiks go on rampage



Irate Shiv Sainiks blocked roads at Dadar in Central Mumbai on Sunday, July 9 after some unidentified miscreants allegedly desecrated the statue of Meenatai, the late wife of Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray.



Shiv Sainiks vented their anger over the incident by damaging a police outpost near Shivaji Park area where the bust is situated, alleging that police failed to nab the culprits.



Senior Sena leader and Rajya Sabha member Manohar Joshi told reporters after visiting the site that authorities should nab perpetrators of the incident and take all measures to avoid any flare up in the law and order situation. A high alert has been declared in the state.



The Shiv Sainiks shouted slogans against Samajwadi Party leader Abu Asim Azmi, whom they accused of inciting a mob in Bhiwandi town of neighbouring Thane district to lynch two policemen recently.