Copying their reporting style...

Inspired by how NDTV framed this report, I am making an attempt to write a similar report on the recent blows to Congress in Andhra Pradesh :). The NDTV link is just one such example. Many channels/newspapers follow the same template. Following is the report.

Bad news all around for Sonia Gandhi and the Congress party. In a big blow to their government in Andhra Pradesh, the CAG has unearthed a multicrore scam in which it was claimed that undue benefit worth Rs. 1,784 crores were given to private parties that were close to former congress Chief Minister Y.S.Rajashekhar Reddy. This report was tabled on the last day of the budget session of the assembly. The opposition parties claimed that they stand vindicated by this report. The opposition has been continously fighting with the Congress government over large scale corruption charges. 

In a further blow and dent to the congress party, the CBI has filed a chargesheet and named Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy, son of former CM, late Y.S.Rajashekhar Reddy as accused number 1 in a disproportionate assets case. CBI investigated this case based on directions from the High Court. CBI has also included the names of 12 other people/firms in their chargesheet filed two days back at the Nampally court. The CBI has accused Mr.JaganMohan Reddy of misusing his father's office to get undue benefits. The CBI also implied that officials were pressurised by none other than the then CM. 

Just a couple of weeks earlier, in another body blow to the congress party, the Supreme Court has issued notices to 6 ministers of Andhra Pradesh asking them to explain the reason behind issuing 26 GO's during YSR's time. These 26 GO's have benefitted companies that are close to YSR's family. It is widely believed that YSR was given a free hand to run the administration in AP by Sonia Gandhi. Many analysts believe that Sonia Gandhi has turned a blind eye to this looting by YSR and the congress party, and is now having to face the heat. 

PS: For the record, following are the news links on NDTV for the above mentioned three recent cases. 1 (note that this is a PTI report. search yielded only this link), 2 and 3. 

Devil in detail - Part 2 - Lokpal bill in Lok Sabha

Yesterday, the UPA government introduced the Lok Pal and Lokayuktas Bill, 2011 and the Constitution (116th Amendment) Bill, 2011 

After the minister introduced the bill, leader of opposition, Sushma Swaraj rose to speak. At around the 42nd minute, she was making some calculations needed for a constitutional amendment. This was in the context of 2/3rd of 50% total strength. She arrived at the figure of a minimum of 182 members have to agree. 

Leader of the house, Pranab Mukherjee stood up at this point of time. At around the 43rd minute, he clarified that a minimum of 275 votes are needed for a constitutional bill to be passed. Minimum 275. Sushma Swaraj said she stands corrected and proceeded with her speech. 

Let's quickly see what the rule book says. 

Constitution Amendment Bills have to be passed in each House of Parliament by a special majority ie. by a majority of the total membership of that House and by a majority of not less than two-thirds of the members of the House “present and voting”. 

It effectively means that atleast 273 members have to support the bill, and on top of that 2/3rd of those who are present in the house should support the bill. Only then can the constitution be amended. 

Now, let's see what happened at the end of the day, yesterday. 

The Constitution amendment bill (116th Amendment), 2011 was put up for vote. 251 members voted for it. The official strength of the ruling coalition is 277. After some complicated mathematical operations, we see that 26 members of the ruling coalition were missing (in which there were congress MPs too!). This government could not get the minimum required support for passing this bill, and yet is going on the overdrive to blame the BJP for "not wanting a strong Lokpal". 

Let's get into a few details in a short while. Before that, another important piece of information. 

For the past 6-8 months, Lokpal and Lokayukta was the most debated bill everywhere. Normally reticent working class also took to streets demanding a strong lokpal (though they had no idea on the details). Government, led by Kapil Sibal, screamed on top of their voice saying "Parliament is supreme."

Yesterday, the Lokpal bill was passed by voice vote. Some members demanded "division of votes" for some of their amendments. The government's numbers were only in the range of 247-251. SP, BSP, AIADMK walked out of the house because they did not like the bill and their "demands were not met". Walking out meant that the government can get this through technically. 

 BJP, JD(U), SS, CPI, CPI(M) were outrightly opposing this Lokpal bill. We still don't know what TMC was thinking. Either way, a bill that captured the imagination of so many did not even have the support of 50% of the total strength of the house. Not even 273 members supported this bill - and we are witness to the headline today - "Lokpal bill passed". 

And media screams - "History made". 

Rhetorical arguments for congress is that "BJP is against Lokpal", "Opposition is against Lokpal". Wrong. They are against this version of the Lokpal. 

Sonia Gandhi apparently said that:

BJP's asli chehra dekha hamne.this despite their commitment for constitutional status for #lokpal in standing committee

Sushma Swaraj in her speech yesterday said that the Standing committee explicitly said there should be no reservations in Lokpal. The Sonia Gandhi led government brings in this bogus of reservations in a constitutional body, and then when the opposition cries foul with this version, rhetoric flows and media laps it up? 50% reservation in a constitutional body? What next? Reservation in EC, CAG etc? Whom are we really fooling here?

Members from the opposition articulated their objections and reservations in good detail yesterday. They went into specifics as to why they were objecting to this version of the Lokpal bill. Subjects like minority reservations, federal structure ( here too, Kapil Sibal painted a picture that the opposition was against strong Lokayukta which was not the case!), composition, selection, removal, even age limit was discussed! 

Meanwhile, what is this fuss about giving it a constitutional status? Primarily because this was Rahul Gandhi's "game changing" idea, the government lapped it up. From the limited discussion on twitter, looks like the only advantage of having such a status is that disbanding the institution will be difficult. Either way, this is purely mis-management by the Sonia Gandhi led government. Like Sushma Swaraj said, the government's aim seems to have been to bring some version of the bill, somehow get it passed and say "We passed the bill". 

That's exactly what happened yesterday. This version of the Lokpal bill did not even get the "ayes" of 50% of the total strength of Lok Sabha. This rhetorical bluff of "opposition not supporting" is getting nauseating to hear. 

Finally our media. 

A division of votes is necessary to even introduce a constitutional amendment bill. Same voting rule applies here too. A minimum of 273 and 2/3rd of those present in the house will have to agree. Yesterday, 321 members agreed for the bill to be introduced in the house. Just for introduction. CNN-IBN journalist Pallavi Ghosh was thrilled. 

Rahul's as desired constitutional amendment bill passed

Only to realise that the vote was just for introduction. Each clause of the bill had to be voted upon. And then the true numbers came out. And then she says:

Rahul's dream shattered: no constitutional status to lokpal..govt blames bjp..politics begins

Within the hour, the media went from bill passed to bill shattered. And the politics begins! 

The Mighty Queen - All power, no responsibility

Over the past two years (just realised, exactly two years since I started blogging here :) ) I have made some attempts to chronicle the media’s defeaning silence on questioning Sonia Gandhi. With each passing issue/scam/parliament session, her silence on multiple issues is only causing heartburn. Inspired by fellow tweeter “Dosabandit” ‘s call for the need to keep the momemtum going, I am documenting below, the various serious issues over the last 6-7 years, in which Sonia Gandhi was not even remotely questioned. Some of them have been picked from old blogposts (language changed a bit), some written today. Going forward, I plan to add to this growing list.

I am sure “liberals” might find this blog “negative”. Frankly, in no other country is the real power center let off so freely by the media and the opposition (a recent article by Sagarika Ghose is the only exception). This blog is like a culmination of my frustration at these open transgressions by the uncrowned queen of India. What follows is a 2,500 word explanation, with multiple examples (in no particular order). Apologise for the length J.

Honouring the culprits of Terror attacks

Many people in the media constantly write that Shivraj Patil resigned because of the widespread criticism after 26/11. The bad thing it did was to erase all the previous multiple terror attacks in various parts of the country. Suddenly, Shivraj Patil's inefficiency that caused terror attacks in Hyderabad, Delhi (after these attacks, Shivraj Patil famously said he has the “blessings of his leader”), Mumbai (train blasts), Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Jaipur - all these were forgotten. 26/11 was just a culmination of these attacks. The lives lost in these cities are no less precious than the ones lost in 26/11. The audacity of 26/11 might have shocked us, but that should not be the reason for us to forget that Shivraj Patil has been at the helm to oversee a systematic decimation of our intelligence apparatus. His clear lack of common sense, utter disregard for work, and extreme dedication to this clothes made him totally unfit for the job everyone considered number 2 in the government.

The man should have been prosecuted. Yet, Sonia Gandhi decided, after the dust over 26/11 has settled down, that it was time to gift Shivraj Patil a nice retirement gift. What better than making him a Governor. Shivraj Patil's appointment as governor of Punjab is a clear insult to the memory of the victims of multiple terror attacks in the country. There were three people who were made to resign their posts after 26/11. Vilas Rao Deshmukh resigned as CM of Maharashtra. He was made the Union Cabinet Minister for Industries (now is the Rural Development Minister) in May 2009. Shivraj Patil resigned as the Home Minister of India, only to be made the Governor of a state 1 1/2 year later.

The two guys who have been made to resign are back in business. Loyalty to the first family ensured that loss of power was only temporary. Our media, which loses no opportunity to remind us of Kandahar, has devoutly let Sonia Gandhi and Shivraj Patil off the hook (it’s as if the Shivraj Patil reign never happened!).

Telangana

Since 2004, all that we have been hearing from Congress leaders AP is that "Madam has a full grip of the Telangana issue. She will take the final decision and that decision will be a favourable one". That's all we have been hearing. “Madam will decide.” “Madam will decide.”

Our esteemed Chief Minister (the present one, the previous one, the one before that too) loses no opportunity to heap praises on Madam. Never lost a chance to invoke the name of Madam. We were told that the 11:45pm announcement on Dec.9^th, 2009 was Madam's birthday gift to the people of Telangana. Congress ministers send resignations to Madam, not to the CM. MLAs send resignations to Madam, not Speaker. At a recent dharna outside Parliament, a Congress member held a poster that read “Sonia Gandhi Zindabad, We want Telangana.”

All these incidents led me to believe that Madam is the all permeating, super caring, ever vigilant saviour of my state. She is the only person in this entire country who is capable and eligible to solve all problems we all face. She is the ONE, the ONLY.

Today my state, Andhra Pradesh, that twice sent about 30 MP's so that Madam can be in power, is in distress. For the last one and half year (and atleast for the next one and half year), her favourite aam aadmi has been suffering the most, hooligans have decided to hold my state to ransom, making demands at gunpoint. No word from Madam. These hooligans are forcing shops to close, burning buses and damaging public property. Not a single word from Madam. Colleges are being closed, businesses are leaving AP, summits are being shifted. Still, not a single word from Madam.

Infact, we are now being told by our national media folks that it was PC who bungled this. Implying Madam had nothing to do with it. But then, that was not what we were told no ... We were told Madam is awesome and she will take the final decision.Congress people keep on saying that because TDP said yes to a resolution, Congress okayed the Dec.9th announcement. Wait a minute - weren't we told that the caring Madam will take the ultimate decision?

We are sometimes also told that Madam's present strategy is also brilliant - this violence will stop over time and people will live happily ever after. If time heals, then what is the need for Madam?? And guess what – the media has not dared to question Sonia Gandhi.

P.V.Narasimha Rao

With loyal troopers in tow, she has made every attempt to erase the memory of Congress rule of 1991-1996. Infact, she even went ahead and credited Rajiv Gandhi with the economic reforms. For those who don't know, Economic reforms were initiated in 1991-1992, after Rajiv Gandhi's demise and PV becoming the Prime Minister. Common sense suggests Rajiv can no way be involved! Yet, in the 125th year celebration of the Congress party, the President of the Congress, Sonia Gandhi, made every possible attempt to scuttle the memory of the man under whose helm the country did see some radical changes, just because he didn't belong to the family. Infact Madam has named all Congress PM's except for P.V.Narasimha Rao. In any Congress party plenary/function, the party does not even have a picture of P.V.Narasimha Rao. The media, which enjoys the fruits of liberalisation intitiated by P.V. shows more loyalty towards Sonia than P.V.!

Womens Reservation Bill

The bill was introduced on Monday, March 8^th, 2010 and was touted as Sonia Gandhi's gift to the nation on International Women's Day. The MP's opposing the bill tried to snatch papers directly from the Chairman of Rajya Sabha. The government miserably failed in its floor management strategy. Stung by the all round criticism, Madam Sonia Gandhi was now insistent that the bill has to be passed - happen what may (not my words – the media went gaga over this.). The government moved for the suspension of those MP's who tried to snatch papers from Chairman. With that, I have no issues at all. Those MP's deserved to be punished. Now, here's where the problem arises. It is mandatory that atleast a 4 hour debate precede any voting on a bill that seeks to amend the constitution. The government, in its now familiar urge to satisfy the whims of Sonia Gandhi put to vote because there was slogan shouting in the house!!!

It took the leader of the opposition in the Rajya Sabha to walk over to the Prime Minister and convince him that this is not the way, a debate has to be held. It was then the government relented, and there was a dissussion. Instead of calling this blatant bluff by Congress to subvert all democratic traditions to cater to the wish of Madam, NDTV went bonkers on the "strength of Sonia". Barkha Dutt wouldn’t just stop praising Sonia Gandhi for this “victory” (and not even a cursory mention of efforts of people who actually pioneered the bill). IBN was sensible enough to call this as a very dangerous precedent. Minor Detail: One year hence, the bill is still just a bill. Not an act. Common Sense suggests that follow up questions need to be directed towards Sonia Gandhi. That will never happen.

Vitroil on Amitabh Bachchan

When you read a headline, “Congress attacks Amitabh Bachchan, Modi”, you would normally expect that since Congress is led by Sonia Gandhi, the “attack” has her approval. The background is this- Amitabh Bachchan decides to be brand Ambassador for Gujarat. Congress spokesperson, the esteemed Manish Tewari spew vitroil on Amitabh (unfortunately I haven’t saved those links. Blogged about it, but no saved links. Google search is throwing up only his decent language. If you followed this story then, am sure you know what I am speaking about J). Congress Chief Minister Vilas Rao Deshmukh says he would not have attended a program if he knew Amitabh was there. One more Congress CM, Shiela Dixit removes a video message of Abhishek Bachchan from a government function. Manish Tewari uses the most unparliamentary language from the Congress party office for a full three days. And then it happened - Prannoy Roy told us that his sources say "Sonia doesn't know about this". hahaha, true Didn't we all see it coming. The next day, we are told that Sonia Gandhi has asked spokespersons not to speak about Amitabh anymore. The media lapped it up. Not once in these three days did the media dare question Sonia Gandhi.

NAC

The most dangerous of all. One of the most critical decisions the Congress party had to take, after Sonia Gandhi "renounced" her claim to the post of Prime Minister, was this - how to credit her for flagship schemes of UPA? And from that critical thinking was born the National Advisory Council. The NAC apparently has been set up as an "interface for civil society". If you are wondering why the government, elected by the people ("civil society"), needs another institution for interfacing with the very same people that elected it - please stop thinking logically ! This council has "advised" the government on NREGA, RTI and the Forest Rights Act; so now you see how this works - it was Sonia Gandhi who is responsible for all the flagship schemes (ofcourse if implementation is screwed up, the government is always ready to take the blame!). And after UPA's victory in 2009, she was re-appointed (by herself) as the chairperson of NAC - this time to take credit for the "National Food Security Bill".

Now, one such distinguished member of NAC, Jean Dreze has written a detailed article in The Hindu, complaining about the lack of co-operation from the government (more on this issue here, and here). And then if you think the suggestion ends here - you are mistaken. Look at this report. NAC has proposed a redress mechanism. It proposes a parallel authority to the District Collector, and "anyone" can approach this authority at district and block level. Isn't the District Collector supposed to be approachable to "anyone"? Why is the NAC hell bent on creating parallel structures just like itself? Who gave them the mandate to think of such ridiculous proposals and then go to town when they are rejected? Sonia Gandhi led NAC is totally dis-satisfied with the government's response to their proposals. So much that a member writes an article in national newspapers. Did that article have Madam's approval? If so, is this her veiled attack at the Prime Minister? Apparently, they "have the full mandate" to draft bills as they wish to. They also apparently have "convinced" the government on changes that need to be made to RTI and the Forest Right Act. NAC has power, no responsibility. Government has no power, only responsibility!

The scams and Coalition Compulsions

Till recently, both the Prime Minister and Sonia Gandhi were beyond criticism (according to the media). Recent events that exposed multiple scams saw the media finally come out of the cocoon and question the Prime Minister. Not surprisingly enough, Sonia Gandhi is still beyond questioning. Simple questions. Are we to seriously believe that Sonia Gandhi had absolutely NO role in the formation of the government? Are we to seriously believe that A. Raja came back into the Cabinet without Sonia Gandhi’s support? When there was so much furore over multiple scams in the country, are we to seriously believe that Sonia Gandhi had absolutely NO role in the gross inaction of the UPA? Are we to seriously believe that Sonia Gandhi had NO role in the CVC fiasco? The media has been more than forthcoming in trying to ensure that the Congress party and the government are seen as separate entities. That Sonia Gandhi and Congress party are seen as separate entities (only in failures. For any success, we all know who is credited!).

Performance in Parliament

Since 2004, have you ever heard her speak in Parliament? Do you happen to know any of her views on any subject, important and trivial? Do you happen to know her views on the bills her own NAC drafts? Do you know if she understands the nitty gritty of all those policies that her NAC so shamelessly goes about recommending? Have you ever heard her ask any questions in the Lok Sabha? Is it too much to demand that the chairperson of the ruling coaltion speak to the people of the country regularly? Media has created a certain aura around Sonia Gandhi. And more than the Congress party, it looks like the media does not want to demolish that false sense of aura. Anytime soon.

Damaging insitutions

Let me start with an example. In India, the Governor of a state has the power to recommend to dismiss the elected government of that state. That recommendation is sent to the Union Cabinet and it is upto the Cabinet to decide whether to accept or reject this recommendation. With this background – let’s see what happened in 2005. Bihar Governor, Buta Singh (a Congress appointee) recommends President’s Rule in Bihar (officially cites “horse trading” as the reason). Sends it immediately to the Union Government. Cabinet okays the recommendation. Sends a midnight missive to the President of India (who was in Russia) and gets it approved. Soon after, the Supreme Court declares the recommendation and its subsequent approval as unconstitutional. Guess who the fall guy is – the Governor! For merely following the orders of the High Command, he was made the scapegoat. No responsibility fixed on the Cabinet (which had the option of rejecting the recommendation too). The whole drama/fiasco had politics scripted all over it. And we were safely made to believe that the President of the Congress party, Sonia Gandhi, had NO role to play in this.

Sonia Gandhi has presided over the unprecedented demolition of constitutional institutions. Raj Bhavans, which house Governors, have become a place for rehabilitation of loyal family troopers. Right from Buta Singh, Shivraj Patil to H.R.Bharadwaj, we have seen how she has systematically ensured that this institution stands demolished. Her NAC is the next example of how she is damaging the institution of the Cabinet. All main bills get framed by NAC and not the concerned ministries. Ministers merely exist to implement orders. Former Election Commissioner, Navin Chawla, was widely accused of being a Congress fanboy. One such accusation came directly from the then Chief Election Commissioner (who wrote a 900 page report to the President). Navin Chawla went on to become the Chief Election Commissioner. The concept of impartial Election Commissioner was thrown to the winds. We all know on whose whims and fancies the CBI functions. The CVC issue is too recent to be recounted in detail. And before you think, I am the only one ranting on this – an excerpt from an editorial in The Hindu – “The irony is that it is the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government that is weakening the institutional foundations of good governance in the country”.

And who leads the Congress?

That's all, Your Honour! :Oct. 17-23

1. Post that "nataka in Karnataka" episode last week, some sort of sense was expected to be restored this week. However, the High Court bench, which was supposed to decide on the disqualification of the MLA's delivered a split verdict. While the Chief Justice agreed with the actions of Speaker, the second Judge did not. The matter thus posted to another Judge, who after listening to arguments for 2 days, has reserved the verdict! So the wait continues. Not to lose any opportunity during this wait, the rival camps have begun to make sure their numbers stay intact. However, 2 MLA's of the Congress resigned their seats, causing a turmoil in the party. The opposition's strength has now been reduced to 98 (BJP's strength is now at 106). The suspense will continue till the High Court delivers the judgement. If it is in favour of the Speaker, a mini-election is what we will witness given that about 18 seats will have to go for by-polls in six months. If it is not in favour of the Speaker, a drama in the Assembly is what we will witness. Either way, a thrilling drama awaits us in Karnataka. In the other words, the Nataka has not yet ended!

2. If events in this week are any indication, slowly, but surely, we are going to witness the acquital of all those involved in the Corruption Wealth Games. While the media went gaga last week over the "snubbing" of Mr. Kalmadi by Her highness Sonia Gandhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the Delhi CM, Sheila Dixit, this week it has slowly begun to ask us if we are too immune to corruption - thereby shifting the discussion towards a "societal and system" failure, rather than pinpointing those guilty. It all started when Mr. Kalmadi hit back at Shiela Dixit saying that she should not point fingers at him and instead set her own house in order. He also reminded us that whilst his budget was Rs. 1650 crores only, her budget was Rs. 16,500 crores! A day later, the president of BJP, Nitin Gadkari held a press conference and questioned the PMO as to why and how it approved all the inflated budgetary expenses. Did the PMO know about the corruption then? Did it verify properly the claims made while these estimates were submitted? These and many such pointed questions were put forth. However, in a pre-emptive move, the IT department raided the house of a BJP leader in Delhi, accusing his relative of grabbing a contract! NDTV promptly reported this "raid" and went on to describe a similar raid on Kalmadi's office as a "visit" by officials! This news overshadowed the press conference. Slowly, it was made out to be a "apolitical" thing. And now the discussions are about our immunity towards corruption! In the meanwhile, CVC is all set to probe 22 agencies involved and in 3 monts a report will be submitted it seems. Let's mark today's date and discuss this again in 3 months time!

3. The National Advisory Council headed by Her Highness Sonia Gandhi has decided to place 80 crore people of this country in the "food security" net. At various levels, these people will be gauranteed of 35 kgs of rice at subsidised price. The draft was released just yesterday, and more reading is required. However, please note your honour - Her Highness has decided to place 75% people of this country in the "poor" bracket and make sure the rest 25% pay up for earning more! That's all, your honour!