Badal Inc has been cut down to size, but the state where Manmohan Singh's Sikh identity was expected to do much for the Congress, the party would have to be content with 8 seats out of 13 writes Chander Suta Dogra in Outlook
Barely a day after polling for all 13 constituencies of Punjab was over, the days of long power cuts returned to large swathes of the state. It was not entirely unexpected. Everyone knew that the Akali Dal-BJP government’s largesse of providing uninterrupted electricity for the last two months was only a fleeting poll sop. In the eventuality, it did not work much for the ruling combine as the people are clearly fed up of its insincere approach to governance.
Down from 11 in 2004, to just 5 now, a much chastened Sukhbir Badal, deputy chief minister and president of the Akali Dal, reacted by saying that the next two years of his government will be devoted to providing accelerated development and fulfilling the party’s election promises. Didn’t we hear him say that two years ago as well? A huge face saver for the Akali Dal though, is his wife Harsimrat Kaur’s victory over Raninder Singh, son of former chief minister Amarinder Singh of the Congress from Bhatinda with a convincing margin.
It's been just two years since the Badal clan came to power in Punjab and people have already signalled their disappointment. The common perception is that what goes by the name of the Akali-BJP government in Punjab is actually a government of the Badal clan. With as many as four family members in the cabinet, with both father and son holding the two top jobs, it is Badal Inc which runs Punjab today, almost like a business venture. The anti-Badal sentiment though has much to do with Sukhbir Badal’s despotic style of functioning.
The unprecedented violence that he unleashed during Panchyat and local bodies elections a year ago have left even hard core Akali supporters horrified. Add to it a corrupt and unresponsive administration and fiscal imprudence which has left very little money for any kind of development initiatives. The monumental misgovernance in Punjab today is also an embarrassment for alliance partner BJP which has been repeatedly humiliated by the Badals in the last few months. If all this has been Sukhbir Badal’s undoing, chief minister Prakash Singh Badal, a politician in the old mould, has also failed to give any direction either to his son or the government.
Against the Congress’s spectacular victory across the country, Punjab’s tally of 8 out of 13 seats, which is a significant improvement over its previous tally of 2, has left Punjab Congressmen a little disappointed. This is the state where PM, Manmohan Singh’s Sikh identity was expected to do much for the Congress. The Congress’ entire campaign was centred around the prime minister being the ‘pride of Punjab’ and the party was hoping for a complete rout of the Akali Dal-BJP combine.
Ironically, the Congress lost all the three constituencies of Amritsar, Khadoor Sahib and Ferozepur where Manmohan Singh addressed well attended rallies. Campaign manager Amarinder Singh who was brought in from the cold to personally lead the assault on the ruling combine managed to get two tickets for his family, his wife Preneet Kaur (re-elected from Patiala) and son Raninder Singh who has lost his maiden election from Bhatinda.
Amarinder Singh’s press conference on Saturday, which was planned as a victorious father and son photo op for the media turned into a flop show when the results showed Raninder’s defeat. Nevertheless, Amarinder has much to be satisfied about. He turned around a demoralized and bickering party cadre, took on the ‘panthic’ agenda of the Akalis and silenced his detractors within the state Congress with his effective election campaign.
But the Sirsa based Dera sacha Sauda, which was credited with the Congress’s victory in the Malwa belt in the 2007 assembly elections surprisingly did not deliver this time around.Even if Amarinder Singh’s boast that Akali legislators will desert the Badal government after the elections does not come true, the Congress’s performance cements his place among the stalwarts of Punjab politics.
But the Sirsa based Dera sacha Sauda, which was credited with the Congress’s victory in the Malwa belt in the 2007 assembly elections surprisingly did not deliver this time around.Even if Amarinder Singh’s boast that Akali legislators will desert the Badal government after the elections does not come true, the Congress’s performance cements his place among the stalwarts of Punjab politicsBut the Sirsa based Dera sacha Sauda, which was credited with the Congress’s victory in the Malwa belt in the 2007 assembly elections surprisingly did not deliver this time around.Even if Amarinder Singh’s boast that Akali legislators will desert the Badal government after the elections does not come true, the Congress’s performance cements his place among the stalwarts of Punjab politicsBottom of Form
4 comments:
which areas of punjab have seen the return of massive power cuts. could u please identify. except if you are talking about the mild and scheduled power cuts that were already on even during the poll campaign. such unsubstantiated sweeping and judgmental pronuoncements do not make for good journalism. and i donot know what you mean by people expressing thie disappointment with the akalis when this party ahs actually improved its tally of vidhan sabha segments from 48 in 2007 to 50 in this poll. also, the akali vote share in terms of percentage has gone up by 2.3 percent compared with 2007. besides five out thirteen is the best showing since the formation of the linguistic punjab in 1966 state independence by any poliical party in power with the exception of 1998 when also it was the akalis who had swept the poll while the state was ruled by them. please get your facts right.
karan bains
The response is in line with the general political climate of state which does not give any concession to grace in defeat. This shows in the petulant behavior of many Akali leaders led by Sukhbir Badal who has not stopped celebrating the win in Bathinda. A party president who has led his alliance to lose six of its seats in last Lok Sabha and defeat of two of its senior most leaders need to introspect and contemplate. So it is with the creed of followers he has spawned in state.
As for figures these can be played which way one wants to. Look at the figures below:
In 2007 assembly elections SAD got 45.07% of votes in the seats they contested while BJP had 46.75% of their seat share. Congress got 40.90% of the votes in the seats they contested. This time Congress has increased its tally in the Lok Sabha polls as well as vote share in comparison to SAD-BJP alliance. The votes polled in favour of the Congress is up by 11.06 % compared to 34.17% of 2004 parliamentary elections. SAD’s polling percentage went down by 0.43 per cent and its ally BJP’s 0.42 per cent in comparison to 2004 elections. While SAD polled 33.85% in 2009 polls, the party’s vote share in year 2004 was 34.28%.
The Congress won from 67 of the 117 assembly segments in the state as compared to 44 in the 2007 assembly elections.
Election code of conduct makes it a pre-poll extravaganza in NMMC
In order to ensure that no public work gets hampered after the code of conduct comes under effect, the NMMC Standing Committee approved proposals worth Rs. 15 Crores 50 lacs in back to back two meetings held this week. Take a look at where all your taxes are being spent with a report from the NMMC Standing Committee meet.
Besides this the Standing Committee approved 28 administrative proposals that show an estimated budget of Rs. 5 Crore 80 Lacs 13 Thousand 948 for various public work. After this approval, the administration will now call for tenders for these proposals. In totality over 60 proposals were approved to execute civic projects worth over Rs 15 Crore 49 lacs 76 thousand 905. After the two marathon meetings and evident rush to clear proposals of corporators before the election code of conduct, Standing Committee Chairman Sandeep Naik said that they just want to ensure that public work is not hampered during election period.
Election code of conduct makes it a pre-poll extravaganza in NMMC
In order to ensure that no public work gets hampered after the code of conduct comes under effect, the NMMC Standing Committee approved proposals worth Rs. 15 Crores 50 lacs in back to back two meetings held this week. Take a look at where all your taxes are being spent with a report from the NMMC Standing Committee meet.
Besides this the Standing Committee approved 28 administrative proposals that show an estimated budget of Rs. 5 Crore 80 Lacs 13 Thousand 948 for various public work. After this approval, the administration will now call for tenders for these proposals. In totality over 60 proposals were approved to execute civic projects worth over Rs 15 Crore 49 lacs 76 thousand 905. After the two marathon meetings and evident rush to clear proposals of corporators before the election code of conduct, Standing Committee Chairman Sandeep Naik said that they just want to ensure that public work is not hampered during election period.
Post a Comment