India News Online » News Analysis » Indian Politics » 

Political Notes

	June 06, 2005

RS elections : Cakewalk for JDU in Jharkhand

The UPA continues to be a house divided in Jharkhand. The JMM and the RJD could not agree on a common candidate to fight against the Janata Dal United (JDU) nominee former Minister Digvijay Singh and paid the price for that. The JDU leader got 42 votes including an extra vote. The RJD and JMM nominees were nowhere in the running as they failed to put up a united fight. The Congress, cutting a sorry figure, failed to broker a truce between the JMM and the RJD to field a consensus opposition candidate.



Sonia Gandhi refuses to attend NCP national convention

Congress president Sonia Gandhi has politely turned down an invitation from

Agriculture Minister and NCP chief Sharad Pawar to attend his party’s national convention at Surat in Gujarat on June 9. It has been conveyed to the NCP that some other Congress leader would represent the party at the convention. Sonia Gandhi may also send a message for the occasion. The ruckus created by Sharad Pawar’s NCP on the issue of her foreign origin may be one of the contributing reasons for her unwillingness to attend the NCP convention, observers say.



National Advisory Council reconstituted

The Manmohan Singh Government has reconstituted the high profile National

Advisory Council headed by Sonia Gandhi. The NAC had been set up in June last year to monitor the implementation of the National Common Minimum Programme and supervise its progress. The council comprises experts from various fields as well as social activists. The new members are : Sebba Hussein from Lucknow, currently member-secretary and executive director, BETI Foundation (Better Education through Innovation) and Prof. Mrinal Miri, Vice Chancellor North Eastern Hill University, Shillong.



Rally seeks quota for Muslims



A rally organised by Jamiat-ulema-e-Hind in New Delhi, where Congress President Sonia Gandhi was present, has demanded proportionate representation for the Muslims in legislatures. Speaking at the meeting, Sonia Gandhi said that the UPA Government has fulfilled its promise to scrap the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA). She said the previous NDA regime was pursuing communal policies and had tried to distort history.

Lauding the Jamiat’s role in the freedom struggle, Sonia Gandhi recollected how the Congress and the Jamiat had worked hand-in-hand at that time. “Jamiat’s contribution in the freedom struggle is an important milestone in Indian history,” she said.

On the measures taken by the UPA Government for the minorities’ welfare, the UPA Chairperson said, “a lot needs to be done still. We may not be working upto your expectations, but I assure you that all genuine demands will be addressed. Our intention is sincere.”



POTA panel gives relief to Godhra accused

The Central Review Committee on POTA headed by Justice S.C. Jain has

recommended that charges against all 131 accused in the Godhra train fire case under POTA be dropped. The Committee in its report said that there is no prima facie case against the accused and this was not a fit case for invoking POTA.

The Committee which was set up to review the application of POTA to several cases in Gujarat and other states, noted that the incident was not a case of waging war against the state, but the fall out of the scuffle between vendors and passengers of the S-6 coach (of the Sabarmati Express) at Godhra.

In its report, which was submitted to the Union Home Ministry on May 17, the three-member committee said that the incident started on the platform and “it was a mob that set the coach ablaze.” Fifty-nine people had died in the incident at Godhra on February 27, 2003. The Committee said that the accused persons may be tried under other laws like the Indian Penal Code.



Chandrababu Naidu elected TDP president for the 6th time

Former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has been elected Telugu Desam Party president for the sixth time in a row. Speaking after his re-election in Hyderabad on May 30, Naidu said that the party would not compromise on the interests of farmers, the poor and the down-trodden. He said the TDP will continue its commitment to secularism.



MP cabinet expanded : Uma Bharati loyalists pushed out



Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Babu Lal Gaur has reshuffled his council of

ministers, pushing several loyalists of former Chief Minister Uma Bharati to the sidelines. Observers say that Uma Bharati loyalists, who have been retained, have been shunted to less important portfolios. Among the six new faces inducted, two were given cabinet rank and the rest were made ministers of state. Himmat Kothari whose rivalry with Uma Bharati is well known, was allocated Forest and Cooperative portfolio.