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Political Notes

	February 26, 2007

Confusion on FDI in retail



Divisions within the United Progressive Alliance government on FDI in retail have come to the surface again. Reports say that the Prime Minister’s office has pulled up the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion for not responding to Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s concerns on the issue. The PMO communication said the Department should conduct a study of the possible impact of trans-national super markets and major domestic business houses on small scale traders and vendors.



UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi had written to the Prime Minister last month seeking such a study.



In a related move, Sonia Gandhi decided to stay away from a meeting with visiting Wal-Mart top boss Michael Duke. It appears that Duke had sought an appointment with Sonia Gandhi which was denied. While the Congress president’s office said that the appointment was not given as it was sought on too short a notice, observers see this as a deliberate move by Sonia Gandhi not to be linked with Wal-Mart in any way.



There were protests in Mumbai and Bangalore on the US retail giant’s bid for a partnership with Sunil Mittal’s Bharti group.



Succumbing to pressure form the Left, the UPA Government has dropped the Bills relating to Pension and Banking reforms from its list of business for the Budget session of Parliament.



The Left parties have mounted pressure on the Government to scrap the Technical Expert Group on Patent Laws headed by R.A. Mashelkar, former Chief of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research. The CPI(M) politburo said on Feb. 22 that the Government should reject Mashelkar’s request to redraft the report and instead disband the group.



CPI(M) leader Nilotpal Basu said the admission that the report reproduced portions of a UK based report on patents, was a national shame and embarrassment.





Singur land acquisition appears illegal : High Court



The Calcutta High Court has pulled up the West Bengal Government for following two sets of compensation rules for the acquisition of land in Singur. It has asked to see all the documents and agreements in this regard. The Bench passed the order while hearing a public interest litigation on land acquisition for the Tata Motors car project in the area. The court said the state government’s process for acquiring land for the Singur project prima facie appeared to be illegal.



The matter is to be heard next on April 13.



In the meantime, the CPI(M) politburo at its two-day meeting which ended on Feb. 18, while endorsing the state Government’s policy on land acquisition said that no pending project for SEZs be given the final go ahead till the Centre amends rules for the use of land and rehabilitation of the displaced. Prakash Karat said SEZs involve not only West Bengal, but are a national phenomenon.



Meanwhile, the CPI(M)’s partners in the Left Front - the CPI, Forward Bloc, and the RSP - have not come around to accept the state Government’s stand on the proposed SEZ at Nandigram. They did not agree to relaxing the land ceiling laws for the Nandigram SEZ.





Exit polls favour BJP in Uttrakhand



Exit polls conducted by Television channels have given a thumbs up to the BJP in the Assembly elections in Uttrakhand. The last phase of polling in the state took place on Feb. 21.



NDTV gave both the Congress and BJP 27 to 35 seats, leaving the rest for ‘others.’ According to the poll, the BSP is set to get four to eight seats, against seven it got in 2002, Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (UKKD) three to seven, against four seats, and others between one and four. These parties are likely to play a key role in government formation.



Star News gave 33 seats to the BJP, 25 to the Congress and the rest to ‘others’, including five to the BSP and three to the UKKD.



The CNN-IBN exit poll gave a clear edge to the saffron party, forecasting 33 to 39 seats for it.





Maoists to support secessionists groups



In a jolt for the Union Home Ministry, banned Maoist groups are reported to have held their Ninth Congress, somewhere along the Jharkhand-Bihar border and given a call for extending support to secessionist elements from Kashmir to Manipur. Reports say the month-long unity Congress was held 36 years after the 8th Congress in 1970. It was the first to be held after the merger of the Maoist Communist Centre of India (MCC) with the People’s War Group in 2004. Reportedly, it was attended by 100 delegates from 16 states apart from Maoist parties from Nepal, Bangladesh and the Philippines. It ended on Feb. 3.



The 9th Congress reportedly decided to fight the SEZs coming up in different parts of the country. It supported the formation of separate states of Telangana and Vidarbha, and the demand for pardoning Afzal Guru, sentenced to death in the Parliament attack case.



“We should support just struggles of nationalities and sub-nationalities that demand a separate state for their development. Kashmiris and various nationalities of the North East, such as the Assamese, Nagas, Manipuris and Tripuris have been long waging an armed struggle against the Indian Government for their right to self-determination, including the right to secede from the socalled Union of India,” Moppala Lakshman Rao alias Ganapathi, who was re-elected general secretary told the delegates





Lalu’s acquittal challenged



The Bihar Government has filed an appeal in the Patna High Court against the special court verdict acquitting RJD chief and Railways Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav and his wife Rabri Devi in a disproportionate assets case. The investigating agency in the case, the CBI, has also sought permission from the Union Law Ministry to file an appeal against the verdict.



The special court had acquitted both Lalu Yadav and Rabri Devi in the Rs. 46 lakh DA case on Dec. 18, 2006. The trial had continued for seven years.