Tuesday 6 March 2012

Election results: SP storms back to power in UP, Mayawati's BSP gouged


                                                               
The SP has crossed the half-way mark in the 2012 U P assembly elections and looks all set to form the next government in the state. While the party has already won 215 seats, it is leading in 10 other seats, taking the total number to 225 as per the tally at around 7 pm.
State unit president Akhilesh Yadav said party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav will be the chief minister.

Akhilesh said the party's Parliamentary Board will meet tomorrow to decide on issues like staking claim before governor B L Joshi to form the next government. "I have answered this question several times.... We all want netaji (Mulayam) as the Chief Minister," Akhilesh said seeking to put a lid on speculation that he would be the next chief minister of the state.

Replying to questions on the possibility of SP seeking support of independent MLAs, the party's state unit chief said his party will not take support of "mafia".

On possibility of removing statues of elephants (BSP's election symbol) as also of outgoing chief minister Mayawati, he said SP has already made it clear that the statues would not be removed.

SP state president and star campaigner for the party Akhilesh Yadav said that after formation of the government, the first priority of the SP would be to provide relief to the farmers through loan waivers and improvement in power supply. He said that the BSP got five years to develop the state but it squandered money on parks and stones. However, he also said that SP will not touch dalit memorials built by Mayawati. "They will be safe," he said.

What seems to have gone in favour of SP is its image makeover by Akhilesh. Previous SP rule in 2003-07 was known for poor law and order but Akhilesh promised to change the order this time. While Mulayam worked to get back muslims who were angry after he shook hands with Kalyan Singh in 2009, Akhilesh worked to woo different castes and communities. He was also able to attract youth.
The BSP is expected to remain second despite a loss of over 100 seats in comparison to the 206 it got in 2007.

Congress and BJP are likely to improve but are fighting for third and fourth place.

Congress's ally RLD is also expected to increase its number.

SP seems to be getting support across the state and all castes and communities, while BSP has suffered losses everywhere but seems to have retained its Dalit base. However, Mayawati's social engineering failed as Brahmins and Muslims do not seem to have vote for BSP in large number as they did in 2007. Congress and BJP seem to have has excelled in some pockets of UP.

While celebrations have begun in SP head quarters in Lucknow, an eerie silence prevailed in BSP head office and gates were closed for visitors. Disappointment was palpable in Congress office, whereas BJP camp was hopeful of getting more than 100 seats, double of what it got in 2007.

Reacting to result trends, SP general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav said that people have voted against five years of misrule in UP. He said that SP is gaining because it took up public cause for five years while sitting in opposition. He said that people also compared SP's previous rule with the present incumbent and found former better.
Congress campaign in UP had created hope of party's revival in the state. The 4.5% quota for minorities helped party to make inroads in Muslim community which can tilt balance iin 140 seats in the state. However, during elections, contradictory statements of Congress leaders on Batla house encounter and infighting damaged party's prospects.

UP Congress president Rita Bahugana Joshi said that though her party does not seems to be doing well, it would improve its tally. She said there is a strong anti-incumbency wave against Mayawati regime.

While UP Congress chief Rita Bahugana Joshi has won from Lucknow Cant, SP's Ravidas Mehrotra has been elected from Lucknow Central.
 

Congress leader Rajiv Shukla said that Rahul Gandhi created a favourable atmosphere for the party through his work and campaign in UP. But, he said, party could not convert it into seats because of absence of party cadre at the ground level. He claimed that in any case Congress would emerge as key player in UP.
BJP national vice president and candidate from Lucknow East Kalraj Mishra said that party would do better than 2007. He admitted that induction of sacked BSP minister Babu Singh Kushwaha, who is prime accused in NRHM scam and has been arrested by CBI, damaged BJP's prospect upto some extent in UP. Mishra said that though Kushwaha's membership was suspended after stiff opposition of his induction within the party, it dented BJP's attack on Mayawati on the issue of corruption.
The BJP has received a strong drubbing in Lucknow, which used to be its stronghold for long. The party has lost in Lucknow constituency for the first time since 1991. This was the first elections in which former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was not in the picture. And this resulted in crushing defeat for the party.



Only BJP stalwart Kalraj Mishra, who contested from Lucknow East constituency, could manage to win in Lucknow.

The BJP also lost in the rural areas of Lucknow. While Kaushal Kishor of Rashtrawadi Communist Party has won from Malihabad, Chandra Rawat of SP emerged victorious from Mohanlal Ganj and Sharda Pratap Shukla of SP from Sarojininagar.

Uma Bharti, who was brought from Madhya Pradesh to campaign in UP, was fielded by BJP from Charkhari seat in Bundelkhand. Uma factor seems to have worked as BJP is leading in half of total 19 seats in Bundelkhand. Congress also doing well in Bundelkhand. Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi had started his mission UP from Bundelkhand in 2007. He was instrumental in getting over Rs 3000 crore development package for drought prone region.

Election Results 2012: Give us governance, not sops is the message from UP

                                                          
Even more than the assembly results, especially in Uttar Pradesh, being a disaster for the Congress, it represents a personal setback for Rahul Gandhi, who had invested so much political capital in the outcome by campaigning intensively.

In fact, it is also a body blow to the dynasty since Priyanka Vadra-Gandhi had emerged out of her seclusion to join Congress president Sonia Gandhi to boost the party's electoral prospects.

There were also uncalled for, veiled suggestions of an imposition of President's rule if there was a hung assembly, recalling the days when such rule was the stick which the centre routinely wielded against non-Congress governments.

But, neither this threat nor the other tricks worked. The MBCs and the anti-Dalits were not impressed. The sops for them were seen as mere campaign rhetoric. Even Rahul's theatrical act of tearing up a rival party's manifesto did not create a ripple. If the Congress has to learn any lesson from the reverses, it is that the party must adhere to its core values - secularism instead of minority appeasement, and a non-casteist approach which shuns sectarianism.

It also has to act in a more dignified manner and show respect to autonomous institutions. And, if its national-level leaders are to make an impact in the states, the government at the centre has to demonstrate a greater sense of purpose and not give an impression of policy paralysis.

Considering how Rahul had similarly drawn a blank in the 2010 Bihar elections, it may not be too far-fetched to suggest that the fabled charisma of the dynasty is no longer effective. The negative impact of the results on the party's avowed objective of grooming Rahul for the prime ministerial post in 2014 is also obvious.

Arguably, what went wrong for the Congress were its too-clever-by-half policies of playing the caste card when the party's traditional image and, indeed, its inestimable heritage has been its all-inclusive character which makes no distinctions between caste and community.

Yet, it tried to wean some of the non-Yadav groups among the Other Backward Castes (OBCs) - known as the Most Backward Castes (MBCs) - away from the Samajwadi Party, and the anti-Dalits, or the non-Jatav group of Dalits, from the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). Needless to say, the Yadavs constitute the Samajwadi Party's core base of support, and the Jatavs or Chamars of the BSP.

Along with its caste card, the Congress also tried to play the minority card by promising 4.5 percent quota for the OBC Muslims within the overall 27 percent OBC quota and defying the Election Commission in the process with one union minister even urging the commission to hang him if he was not allowed to speak in favour of the underprivileged.



Just as the voters saw through the Congress' opportunistic manoeuvres of trying to erode the support bases of other parties and treating the minorities as purchasable commodities, the electorate was also clear-sighted enough to realise that Mayawati's grandiose projects of building statues of herself and other Dalit icons, as well elephantine monuments to its election symbol, were not the answer to Uttar Pradesh's manifold problems.

Goa election result: BJP-MGP oust Congress

                                                                 
Panaji:  Cashing-in on the anti-incumbency factor in a big way, the BJP-MGP combine today rode to power in Goa, ousting the Congress and securing majority in a House of 40 members, nearly half of whom will be new faces.

Four members of influential Alemao family ? Churchill, Joaquim, Valanka and Yuri, who were given tickets by Congress-NCP alliance lost.

Several ministers including Churchill Alemao, Joaquim Alemao, Manohar Asgaonkar, Nilkant Halarnkar, Jose Philip D?Soza, Filip Nery Rodrigues, Aleixo Sequira and Ravi Naik lost the elections.

So pronounced was the wind of change, that 19 new faces were elected this time.

Goa Vikas Party managed to win on two seats including Nuvem, where party supremo Miccky Pacheco emerged victorious, and Benaulim where its Caetan Silva managed to defeat Congress' Valanka Alemao.

While the BJP won in 21 assembly constituencies, seven more than last time, Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party raised its tally from two in the last polls to three seats in the March 3 assembly election results for which were declared today.

The Congress, which had 16 seats last time, was reduced to nine seats with many of its stalwarts, including several ministers and Goa Pradesh Congress Committee President Subhas Shirodkar, biting the dust. Its ally NCP, which had three seats last time, was wiped out.


Four of the five independents Benjamin Silva (Velim), Avertan Furtado (Navelim), Naresh Sawal (Bicholim) and Rohan Khaunte (Porvorim), wrested seats held by Congress, while Vijay Sardesai (Fatorda) snatched it from BJP.

Manohar Parrikar, who spearheaded the BJP's charge on the illegal mining issue and is tipped to be the next chief minister, won from Panaji, defeating Congress' Yatin Parekh by over 5,000 votes.


Punjab Polls 2012: SAD-BJP retain power, create history

                                                     
New Delhi: The ruling Shiromani Akal Dal(SAD)-Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) created history in the Punjab Assembly by retaining power in Punjab, defying history which has not seen the incumbent returning to power in the last 46 years.
The SAD-BJP alliance won 68 seats, while Congress won 46 seats. The Others won three seats as results were declared for all 117 seats in Punjab Assembly.
Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and his son and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal have won from Lambi and Jalalabad respectively.
 he results came as a disappointment for the Congress. "I take full responsibility for the defeat. We will introspect and look into the reasons that led to our loss," Punjab Congress chief Captain Amarinder Singh said.
"I am extremely disappointed with Punjab. Punjab requires deep introspection and inquiry," Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi said.
Punjab Congress President Amarinder Singh retained Patiala constituency by defeating SAD's Surjit Singh Kohli by a margin of 42,318 votes, while his son Raninder Singh lost by 6,930 votes from Samana seat.
Congress has won the seats of Talwandi Sabo, Amritsar Central, Rajpura, Nabha and Patiala, while the SAD has won Balchaur, Attari, Faridkot and Ghanuar and the BJP Amritsar East.
Punjab BJP President Ashwani Sharma won from Pathankot defeating his nearest Congress rival Raman Bhalla by a margin of 17,586 votes.
Navjot Kaur, wife of BJP MP from Amritsar Navjot Singh Sidhu, has won from Amritsar (East) constituency, defeating her nearest rival and Independent candidate Simarpreet Kaur by a margin of 7,099
 votes.
Congress' Jeet Mohinder Singh Sidhu bagged the Talwandi Sabo assembly seat, while O P Soni of Congress won from Amritsar Central, defeating his nearest rival Tarun Chugh of the BJP by a margin of 12,797 votes.
SAD's Nand Lal beat Shiv Ram Singh of BSP by a margin of 14,857 votes from Balachaur assembly constituency, while Gulzar Singh Ranike of SAD beat Tarsem Singh of the Congress by a margin of 4,983 votes from Attari (SC) seat.
From Jaitu (SC) seat, Joginder Singh of Congress defeated Gurinder Singh of SAD by 6,342 votes.
From Dakha, Manpreet Singh of SAD defeated Jasbir Singh Khangura of Congress by a margin of 16,338 votes.


Manpreet Badal's Punjab People's Party-led Sanjha Morcha failed to make any impact in the polls as it was not in a winning position from any seat.
Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal's estranged cousin Manpreet Badal lost from both Gidderbaha and Maur seats, finishing third in both the seats.
From Balachaur constituency, SAD's Nand Lal beat Shiv Ram Singh of BSP by a margin of 14,857 votes, while from Rajpura seat Hardial Singh Kamboj of Congress beat BJP's Raj Khurana by a margin of 31,510 votes.
From Faridkot, SAD's Deep Malhotra beat Avtar Singh Brar of the Congress by a margin of 2,727 votes and SAD's Harpreet Kaur beat Madan Lal Jalalpur of Congress by a margin of 1,778 votes from Ghanaur.
Sadhu Singh of Congress won from Nabha (SC) constituency defeating his nearest SAD rival by a margin of 22,548 votes.

Harmeet Singh Sandhu retained his Tarn Taran seat defeating Congress' Dharamvir Agnihotri by a margin of 4,621 votes.
SAD suffered a jolt from Sultanpur Lodhi in Kapurthala district when senior leader and Minister Dr Upinderjit Kaur lost to Navtej Singh of the Congress, who won by a margin of 4,298 votes.

BJP fares poorly in UP, Khanduri loses in Uttarakhand

                                                              
The results of the Assembly elections were nothing to exult about for BJP with the party faring poorly in Uttar Pradesh and its chief minister B C Khanduri losing in Uttarakhand although it grabbed Goa from Congress. In Punjab, the party rode back to power because of ally Akali Dal even though its tally declined from 19 in 2007 to 12 this time in the 117-member House. The BJP also managed only two seats in Manipur in the 60-member Assembly.

He reasoned that since there was resentment against BSP rule and the electorate wanted to choose a party which was in a position to get the majority, the voters felt their vote would go waste if they voted for any other party other than the SP. He said the party does not hold anybody responsible for its performance in UP.
Swaraj said there was a need for serious introspection about the BJP performance in UP.
Interestingly, the BJP was more focussed on dismissing Congress in UP, stating that the party had made it a prestige issue with Rahul Gandhi in the forefront but performed badly.

The biggest jolt to the BJP has come in UP where its expections were high but these hopes were dashed as it could manage only 49 seats, two less than the 2007 total of 51.
BJP Nitin Gadkari and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj accepted that the results had not come upto their expectations and there was a need to introspect.
"In Uttar Pradesh, the results have not been upto our expectations.... There was a polarisation of votes between two parties. The people were against Mayawati and so chose Samajwadi Party as the alternative," Gadkari said.

Nellore:Congress, TDP lack values: Jagan

                                                       
Mr. Jagan charged the Congress and TDP with hatching conspiracies, saying they were showing impatience at the emergence of a third party. “They are not happy that a third person has come. People are disappointed with this kind of bankrupt politics,” he added.
 
In an unsparing attack on rival parties, YSR Congress Party president and Kadapa MP, Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy, said that poor people and farmers were putting a lot of hope in his party as they were let down by the Congress as well as the Telugu Desam Party.
Mr. Jagan said that the Kovur by-election had become necessary as there was a dire need to bring about a change in the present system which was being exploited by parties, which do not have values and credibility.

In his speeches, Mr. Jagan accused the Congress and TDP of colluding with each other, as the people had lost hope in the TDP striving for solving their problems as the main opposition party. This was why the YSR Congress preferred a by-election though it looked difficult in present circumstances, he added.
In a sober but tough tone, Mr. Jagan said there was nobody to pay heed to the problems of farmers and farm labourers who were getting less than Rs. 70 per day after a hard day's labour in farms under the hot sun. “Nobody listens to their needs such as their children's education, etc. The 108 ambulance which used to arrive in 20 minutes of a call is now doubtful whether it will come even after three hours,” he added.

On the first day of his 3-day road show in Kodavalur mandal in Kovur Assembly segment on Monday, Mr. Jagan addressed people in Kodavalur, Gundalammapalem, Basavayapalem and other villages. Women and members of the minority community were seen in good numbers at his meetings.

Mr. Jagan explained that Mr. Nallapureddy Prasanna Kumar Reddy resigned only after he explained to him about the need to give meaning to value-based politics and show how the YSR Congress should grow like a “tulasi” plant when other parties were indulging in retrograde politics.
 
YSR Congress nominee N. Prasanna Kumar Reddy, former MP Mekapati Rajamohan Reddy, former Zilla Parishad chairman Kakani Govardhan Reddy, Kotamreddy Sridhar Reddy and others were present.

Hyderanad:Jagan will be arrested, says JC diwakar reddy

                                                          
Hyderabad: Senior Congress MLA J. C. Diwakar Reddy on Monday said it was matter of time before YSR Congress Party leader Y. S. Jaganmohan Reddy was arrested by the CBI in a slew of cases filed against him.
In a chat with media persons and Telugu Desam MLAs M. Narasimhulu and P. Keshav in the Assembly lobbies, Mr. Diwakar Reddy said the arrest could be either before or after by-elections in Kovur Assembly constituency. Mr. Jaganmohan Reddy would meet the same fate as the other key accused who were already arrested.
He maintained silence when Mr. Narsimhulu asked him why he was not writing a letter against IAS officer Navin Mittal for indiscriminately facilitating transfer of prime government land in and around the city to some private parties and individuals during his tenure as Hyderabad Collector. Mr. Keshav said Mr. Diwakar Reddy had his own calculations for not speaking a word.

To a question on rampant corruption, the Congress MLA said while the previous Telugu Desam government merely opened the doors of this evil, “our leaders have breached the walls.” Drawing another parallel, he said while the TDP regime laid a cement road to enable that their bicycle run smoothly, “we are zooming past in Mercedes Benz. You did hard work and we are enjoying.”
 
Asked why K.V.P. Ramachandra Rao, a close aide of former Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy, was being spared, he quipped: “I cannot say. It is a million dollar question.”

When Mr. Diwakar Reddy complimented, Mr. Narsimhulu for hitting at Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) TRS chief K. Chandrasekhar Rao and “visually removing the marrow out of his bones,” the latter remarked: “KCR has done it to several people.”


Andhra Pradesh:Political scene hots up in Anantapur

The political scene in Anantapur has hotted up ever since Assembly Speaker Nadendla Manohar disqualified the Congress MLAs who voted against the party whip, in support of no confidence motion in the Assembly.

On the other hand, the Congress finds itself almost bereft of any candidate worth its name to wage a successful contest in view of the cadre largely remaining undecided still over where their loyalties lie - with the YSR Congress or the Congress party.

The Congress has been out of the political scenario in Anantapur town, with most of its leaders not garnering much news about any special interest that they have shown in the development of the town, except for the fact that Anantapur MP's largesse in allotting Rs. 1 crore from his MPLADS for the development of the medical infrastructure in Anantapur Government Hospital.

Consequently, Anantapur and Rayadurg Assembly segments have fallen vacant with both the MLAs - Gurunath Reddy of Anantapur and Kapu Ramachandra Reddy of Rayadurg - coming out openly in support of the YSR Congress Party.

With an announcement for election being expected by the end of April, as per media reports, the political parties are gearing up to meet the challenge. The Telugu Desam Party has a definitive edge in terms of their preparation for an expected by-poll having a motivated cadre and two candidates in the fray with experience of having contested elections in former Municipal Chairman Prabhakar Chowdhary and the contestant from the last Assembly elections Mahalakshmi Srinivas.
 
Nevertheless, it also finds itself in for a good amount of infighting given the hopes of a party ticket in the by-poll.Confused cadre

He consequently finds himself to be the safe bet for the Congress in the current circumstances, although grapevine says he might not be interested in contesting, given the disarray in the cadre. The Congress will have their task cut out if it is to give a good fight, primarily because it stands to lose a good share of its traditional vote bank to the YSR Congress, which seems well placed.

Nevertheless, the candidate for the YSR Congress B. Gurunath Reddy and his family find themselves entangled in controversies. But, the latent support enjoyed by the party amongst the people continues to be their hope.