That's all, Your honour! :March 18-24

1. This week saw some hectic political activity in Andhra Pradesh. Election results for bye-elections to 7 seats in the state were out. 6 of them were in Telangana and one was in Kovur assembly constituency, Nellore district. The Kovur election was keenly watched because the incumbent TDP legislator quit and joined the YSRCP (Jagan's party). As expected, the YSRCP candidate, N Prasanna Kumar Reddy won from Kovur with an impressive margin of ~23,000 votes over the TDP rival. In the 6 telangana seats, 5 were won by TRS (it supported one independent) and one by the BJP. All in all, this has been a disastrous election for the two main parties, Congress and the TDP. And as usual, congress leaders have started their blame games. This infighting is reminiscent of the early 90s in the state. Though there is concern in the TDP over the fallout, they are not showing it out openly. In 2 seats that it held earlier, the TDP even lost it's deposits! BJP contested only the Mahbubnagar seat and scraped through in a four cornered contest. This victory has been a shot in the arm for the BJP, especially winning the seat in KCR's LS constituency. However, it is also important to note that the BJP candidate was rejected a ticket by TRS! 

After this disaster for the two main parties, the next big challenge is the upcoming elections to 18 assembly seats. Those are impending disasters too! 17 of the seats are going to polls because Congress MLAs were disqualified for voting against the government. Chiranjeevi got elected to the Rajya Sabha and hence his MLA seat is vacant now. YSRCP will perform exceedingly well in these elections too - and that's when the actual fun will start! If congress people are so much agitated over the loss in mere 7 seats, imagine the levels of instability that will creep in once they lose all 18! TDP is also surely in no better state. Anyways let's wait for those elections now! 

There were a few bye-elections outside AP too. English TV media was as always concentrated on those, because BJP lost them! One election was for the Lok Sabha constituency that the current Karnataka CM, Sadananda Gowda, represented. BJP lost by ~45,000 votes there and this is clearly a huge loss for the party and reflects the crisis it is in. However, much of the media attention was focussed on an assembly seat in Gujarat. BJP held this seat since 1995 and lost it to the Congress now. And the English TV media festivilised on this result! It was a huge setback for BJP according to them. Strangely no word about the set-back to Congress in AP! Don't believe me? check out the snapshot below :) 

 

2. The "nataka" in Karnataka just never seems to end. After the High Court quashed the case against him, Yeddyurappa got bold and demanded that the BJP leadership reinstate him as the Chief Minister of the state again! And this time, he took about 58-60 MLAs to a resort and started blackmailing the central leadership! After unrelenting for more than 4 days, he finally agreed to meet the central leadership. And after meeting them, he decided to not claim the CM's chair for now. The primary reason being that all the court cases against him haven't been quashed yet and reinstating him will only add to the instability. For now, there seems to be a halt but with Karnataka, we are never sure! 

3. As expected, Dinesh Trivedi resigned as the Railway Minister. As expected, Mukul Roy was sworn in as the new Railway minister. As expected, he rolled back the fare hike announced by Dinesh Trivedi. Only the fare hike of 1st AC and 2nd AC passengers stays now. Suddenly, even the 3rd AC passengers are also "poor" people now! As expected, the PM praised Dinesh Trivedi for presenting a good budget and apparently he regretted the departure of Mr. Trivedi! What authority can we expect from a Prime Minister who can only whine but can never act? 

4. And finally, another gem from the Prime Minister. While responding to demands from the DMK that India vote against Srilanka in the UNHCR meet, he told the Lok Sabha that he is yet to read the draft but is inclined to vote for the draft that will censure Srilanka! What can we further comment on this attrocious position? He hasn't read but will vote for it (given that his government will face trouble from DMK if he does not do so!). And as expected, he voted against Srilanka at the UNHRC summit. Various opinions have been expressed on this issue and it is not possible to cover all of them here :). Recommended readings here - 1, 2, 3 (PM's reply to Srilankan President), 4. 

5. And finally your honour, the planning commission is at it again. They have claimed that poverty in India reduced by ~7% since 2004. The definition of poverty is this - if you have a spending capacity of more than Rs. 28.35 in urban and Rs. 22.42 in rural areas, then you are "above poverty line". That's all, your honour! 

That's all, Your honour!: Feb.5-11

1. The Law minister of our country, Shri Salman Kursheed revealed this week that when they showed pictures of the Batla house encounter to Sonia Gandhi, her eyes were full of tears. He even told us that she told him that she cannot look at these pictures and suggested to them that they show these pictures to the Prime Minister. So what is this Batla house encounter? Wikipedia page gives the full details - but here's the summary - In September, 2008, Delhi police recieve a tip-off that one of the terrorists they are looking for is in an apartment in Batla House. They go there to capture him, but face fire. They retaliate, and fighting ensues. Police Inspector Mohan Sharma lays down his life. Two terrorists are killed. A third one escapes. 

As with all encounters, we now have "human rights activists" all over the place. And since the terrorists were muslims, now we have politicians of all hues competing with each other to claim that this encounter was fake and an enquiry has to be ordered. The Delhi High Court orders the National Human Rights Commission to probe. NHRC submits a report saying the encounter is genuine. Delhi High Court accepts the report. Our politicians are still not satisfied. The then president of Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee, Salman Kursheed even led a delegation to the Prime Minister. 

The Home Minister, as recently as last month, has again confirmed that the encounter is genuine. In his own words - "every authority who has looked into it (the case), has agreed that it was a genuine encounter. ". Please note - "every authority". And much to the disappointment of many folks, the encounter and its subsequent verification have all been done under the aegis of the congress government and not any BJP government. 

For his bravery, Inspector Mohan Sharma was awarded the Ashok Chakra - highest peace time gallantary award. Previously, he was the recipient of many presidential medals. Salman Kursheed later went to become the Law Minister of our country (and continues to be). In this position, he has access to more facts than as the president of non-descript UPCC. The Home minister and Prime Minister of this country have no doubt that the encounter was genuine and inspector Mohan Sharma is a martyr who sacrificed his life in the line of duty. Erudite commentator, Praveen Swami gave a befitting reply to all those who questioned the encounter, back in 2008 itself! How befitting is it for the Law Minister to rake up this issue again? How can he belittle this brave sacrifice of inspector Mohan Sharma? How can he contradict the stand of the very government that he is part of? And is it true that Sonia Gandhi cried? If so, why did she cry? If not, why is the Law minister of this country lying to us? These are all serious questions - not something that can be brushed aside. 

These issues are being raked up to garner the muslim vote. First it was 9% reservation for them. When the EC "censured" him, he challenges EC further saying even if they hang him, he will fight for muslim reservations. Is this the language the Law minister of this country should use? Quite understandably, a miffed EC wrote to the President of India. Be rest assured, no further action will be taken! 

2. Politics in Andhra Pradesh as hotting up every passing week. If last week, it was about the revolt of IAS officers, this week it is all about the ministers. The chief minister undertook a cabinet expansion. It was reported that he even wanted to take up a major reshuffle of portfolios. However, the high command was not keen about the reshuffle given that the Budget session of assembly will begin next week. Ministers need to be well prepared to face questions from members for any session - hence this move made sense. And here's where the CM gives the twist. He takes away the agriculture portfolio from the deputy CM and awards it another minister. He splits up the medical, health and medical education portfolio and gives it to a new minister! If reshuffle was stopped to help ministers be better prepared, then why was Agriculture shifted? Is it an indication of the seriousness of this CM? Or mere politics blinded him to the effect of changing the agricultural minister a week before the budget session? The other minister, D.L.Ravindra Reddy upped his tempo against the Chief Minister. Yet, the high command persuades him to continue! Only in this state, do we regularly see the spectacle of ministers taunting the Chief Minister! 

Amidst all this, the Anti Corruption Bureau report on liquor mafia in the state named the excise minister! A trader told the ACB that he paid Rs. 10 lakhs bribe to the minister! And this was enough for another storm to begin. Regional media even reported that the PCC chief was angry with the CM for leaking this report! As always, after a furore of 2 days, the minister still continues to hold his position. Liquor mafia continues to loot, and the people have no choice left but to grin and whine. 

3. But the corruption of ministers mentioned above did not capture "national" attention. Three Karnataka ministers were caught watching a porn video in the assembly! Apparently one minister clicked on a link sent in an e-mail and that turned out to be a porn video. Within 12 hours, the ministers were asked to resign and resign they did. This did not satisfy the "national" media - especially the TV media. They had endless meaningless discussions on the whole sordid affair. Then newspapers followed suit with editorials - for about 48 hours, this seemed to be the only real issue bothering the country! What a pity that our discourse stoops to such levels. Meanwhile, DNA reports that ~40MLAs belonging to all parties watched that video in the assembly - however a TV grab is available only of the ministers! 

4. And finally, the army chief age row came to an end. The Supreme Court has observed that the chief has to agree to his earlier committment, wherein he agreed to abide by the 1950 date of birth. The army chief then withdrew the petition. This article captures some intricate details of whether there was conspiracy in dealing with the date of birth. Must read for a different perspective! That's all, your honour! 

That's all, Your Honour! : Aug 6-13

1. After peddling multiple lies on where the Afzal Guru file is, the Central government finally recommended to the President that he be hanged. When the issue of the delay in processing his file was bought up a couple of years ago, we were told that the file is with Delhi government, Delhi Lt.Governor, Central Govt and even with the President! And then like all issues, this issue also died down and the government once again got away with lies. It was very well known that many "prominent" people, and most of the Congress party members wanted clemency granted to him. This despite the fact that the trial court, High Court, and Supreme Court have all upheld his death penalty. Afzal Guru is the prime accused in the attack on Parliament, and this has been established beyond doubt in all court trials. The head of the interlocutors for J&K, Mr. Dilip Padgoankar has even called this decision as bad timing because this might create problems in Kashmir. That such considerations and cheap vote bank politics by many political parties hastened the hanging of a man who is primarily responsible for the attack on Indian parliament is disgusting to say the least. Here's hoping that the President will take a quick decision and close the case for good.

2. Governance in Andhra Pradesh is still being taken for a toss. The latest confrontation is about a clause in a government rule that declares Hyderabad as a free zone for all candidates appearing for SI exam ( I am not totally sure if this rule applies for only this exam or for all exams. But this rule has been bought into the picture each time this exam was planned to conduct). Pro-Telangana people want this clause deleted and their demand is that postings in Hyderabad be made exclusively for Telangana people only. Amidst high tensions last year, the Assembly passed a unanimous resolution asking the central government to delete this clause. However, our dear Home Minister, asks the Assembly to pass a fresh resolution again! This statement paved way for fresh flare-ups. CM had to convince our dear Home Minister that it is not possible to get a fresh resolution. Somehow our Home Minister seems to have realised this, and finally decided to delete this clause. Actually the SI exam that was conducted last weekend, was not for Hyderabad anyway! Wonder why these political parties made such a big issue in the first place!

3. And finally about Karnataka - the famous Reddy brothers are out of the cabinet! But no english TV media highlighted this. That's all, Your honour!

That's all, Your Honour! : July 31 - Aug.6

1. Phew - finally some closure to the "nataka" in Karnataka (pleas to excuse me folks, for repeating that phrase many times ... just that I like it a lot :D). B.S.Yedyurappa resigned as the Chief Minister of Karnataka. However, a consensus eluded the legislators on who the next leader should be. After 2 days of failed consultation, the top brass of BJP decided to go for a secret ballot. Arun Jaitley and Rajnath Singh oversaw this secret ballot. 65 MLAs voted in favour of Sadananda Gowda and 51 voted in favour of Jagdish Shettar. This secret ballot is not just significant for the polity in Karnataka alone. This should be a curtain raiser for many such democratic options. Party Presidents can be elected through secret ballots. Legislature party leaders should be elected by secret ballot (instead of the banal "Madam will decide"). It is sincerely hoped that this system of secret ballot envisaged and executed by the BJP doesn't become an exception but becomes a rule. The drawback though is that the internal bickering amongst party MLAs will be bought out in the open, but that should not be a hindrance to usher in such a reform. Coming back to Karnataka, Jagdish Shettar's group is disappointed that they lost and have even boycotted the swearing-in ceremony of Sadanand Gowda. Sadanand Gowda has a herculean task ahead and here's wishing him all the very best :)

2. The Congress party announced this week that Sonia Gandhi has taken ill, and has left to another country for a surgery that is required. She appointed a four-member committee to run the day-to-day party affairs. Rahul Gandhi, A.K.Anthony, Ahmed Patel and Janardhan Dwivedi are the members of this committee. As usual, some english TV media folks started hyping up Rahul Gandhi, saying that now he is "incharge"; CNN-IBN had a slide show to talk about "Rahul's rise in politics" beside the news item of Sonia Gandhi's illness. Anyways, a few hours after the announcement by Congress, Tehelka reported that Sonia Gandhi was admitted in the Sloan-Kettering Memorial Cancer hospital. No confirmations though. Then again there endless speculations going on about the nature of her illness. This brings us to another important point - how can the most powerful person in this country be so secretive about this? We are not asking for hourly updates on her health status, but given her prominence in matters that affect governance, shouldn't the people of this country get to know more? When did she leave? Where is she now? When is she expected to recuperate? Even basic details were missing from initial statements.

3. The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India released the report on the CWG scam and severly indicted the Delhi government led by Sheila Dixit, the PMO and the central government. Not surprisingly, the english TV media and the Congress party came to the rescue of Sheila Dixit. Apparently, according to Congress, this is not a case of corruption, only a case of mis-management. NDTV group editor, who wrote an article about why Yedyyurappa should go (and she quoted Gita in that too!) was silent on this. IBN editor-in-chief Rajdeep Sardesai sermons that we should stop pronouncing politicians guilty. Where was this diligence while debating previous scams endlessly? It is common knowledge that Suresh Kalmadi is not the lone culprit. The budget for CWG was increased manifold by the central government - most of the times citing delays in the projects. Nobody wants to discuss why there were delays in the execution of the projects. Nobody wants to discuss why shoddy deals and contracts were signed by the government. All we wanted to see what Suresh Kalmadi in jail, and that's about it!

4. Monsoon session of Parliament began this week. The first two days were drowned in din, and no business was transacted in either the Rajya Sabha or Lok Sabha. However, once the government relented to discuss price rise under a voting rule, normalcy was restored. Parliament discussed Price Rise (as always this was blamed on global factors), Security scenario and Telangana issues prominently. There were no surprises in the debates - known positions only. Question hour and Zero hour also happened without interruptions (one should have listened to answers by Railway minister to pointed questions -"this is a democracy, things will take time" etc!). It is recommended to the readers that you watch these proceedings if you get a chance :) - www.loksabha.nic.in and www.rajyasabha.nic.in

5. Finally, the news of the week! A thousand tonne ship, M.V.Pavit, drifted in the high seas, and ran aground at Juhu beach in Mumbai. The best part - no one knew about this! This ship was not detected, not seen by any security agency. Only after morning joggers reported, did we come to know. So much for talking about improving coastal security ! That's all, your honour!

That's all, Your Honour! : July 24-30

Here's a Quiz question to the reader. Do you know who Dharam Singh is? Let's now proceed to discuss this :)

Some old posts on this blog will give you a detailed background on the "nataka" in Karnataka. There are just way too many crises surrounding this government that it is just difficult to summarize them all in a short post. Basically, Yedyurappa government had to endure a couple of revolts from within the party; then had to endure a very very partisan governor; and then had to endure allegations of unfair allocation of land to yedyurappa's sons; and now finally the Lokayukta report on illegal mining in the state. The latest crisis that led to Yedyurappa's resignation is the report submitted by the Lokayukta of Karnataka, Justice Santosh Hegde.

As is always the case, portions of the report were leaked to the "national" media. And quite conveniently, these leaked portions were about how the Lokayukta has "indicted" BJP's first CM in a South Indian state. The actual report was released about a week later, but during the entire week, the english TV media went gaga over how BJP can claim moral high ground over corruption when it doesn't act on it's own CM on corruption charges; on how the party can go along defending the indefensible blah blah. The BJP said that they will only comment after reading the report. The Congress (and the english TV media) predictably called for Yeddyurappa's resignation.

The Lokayukta, Justice Santosh Hegde also went on almost all TV channels - confirming that he has named the CM in his report. He also mentioned that there are a lot of other politicians named too. Fellow blogger Naveen, has captured and discussed these actions of Santosh Hegde in a detailed manner here - so no need to further discuss on how Santosh Hegde was all over TV.

The need for a better debate

Chief Minister Yedyurappa finally submitted his resignation today.

So far, an unassuming reader/viewer would assume that the illegal mining, massive corruption, and incompetent governance has been the trend in Karnataka since Yedyurappa took over. What most of the news channels won't concentrate on (mind you, they will mention it but not harp on it) is this - the Lokayukta report also names about 500 officials, ministers past and present, and pegs the loss from 2006 as Rs. 16,000 crore. The Lokayukta report mentions that iron ore mined is transported illegally through trucks. These fake permits for the trucks originate in Andhra Pradesh and not in Karnataka. Anybody talking about illegal mining in Karnataka without mentioning the valuable role played by Congress CM, YSR is either naive or has an agenda.

Current External Affairs minister of India, S.M.Krishna granted 36 licenses when he was the CM. Guess what, the Karnataka High Court quashed all those licenses. Yes, all of them. (thanks to fellow blogger Kiran K.S. for digging this info). (Update on August 1) --- Fellow tweeter avinashbhat alerted me to this important piece of info - SM Krishna denotified 11,000 acres of forest land for mining!

Rediff correspondent Vicky Nanjappa details here, the whole mining process. He tells us how a license is obtained. Congress Chief Minister Dharam Singh recommended 43 licenses and 33 were granted by the central government (UPA). Later, H.D.Kumaraswamy (s/o humble farmer and ex-PM, H.D.Deve Gowda) recommended 47 and 22 were granted (by UPA). During President's rule in the state (which means the state was controlled by the UPA government at the center) 14 licenses were granted. Yedyurappa recommended 22 and 2 (yes, just two) licenses were granted.

A systemic method, that encouraged the prevailing illegality was introduced and cemented by successive governments in Karnataka. Politicians from all parties have been involved neck-deep in this massive mining scam - but just how fair is it that we persecute the last man at the helm for not stopping something that has been introduced by his predecessors, for decades! Here are a few questions that I think are relevant, and are not being debated at all.

• When will our debate turn to discuss the reforms needed?
• Have you come across a single debate that discussed what can be done to curb this illegal activity?
• So now that Yeddyurappa has resigned, all is well?
• What about the ministers named? Will they be inducted into the new BJP cabinet? There is no problem with that?
• What about Dharam Singh, under whose regime the maximum number of licenses were recommended and granted?
• What about S.M.Krishna (who is now our External Affairs Minister)?
• What about H.D.Kumaraswamy? If in the future, he wins elections, will he be allowed to be sworn in as CM?
• What about the 500 odd officers named? Will they be allowed to continue in service?
• What about the UPA government that granted all these mining licenses?
• What about the conniving AP government?
• Why this fetish to just change the Chief Minister and pretend that all is well from now on?

Now english media will go on patting itself on its back saying that it effected this change. Opposition parties will pat themselves on their backs too. BJP is now as confused as it can get. By sending Rajnath Singh as one of the observers, the party has taken another step backwards. UPA government will claim victory over corruption (yes, they will do it and english TV media will tom-tom it too). And when the next scam breaks, we will again banally debate "Are we a corrupt society?".

Quite frankly, the english TV media is doing a lot of damage by carrying out totally loud and un-informed debates. Sadly, they are just in no mood to learn. And BJP is equally responsible for not insisting on a informed, timely debate (not just on this issue). Wonder when the party will wake up to see the damage that's being caused. They might have gained in Karnataka, but surely have given away way too much scoring points for the "All politicians are bad" brigade. And this brigade will win 2014 for UPA, if the trend continues.

Since UPA is anyway sleeping, the opposition must give a call for better public discourse on reforms need. Otherwise, it is just a matter of time before we banally discuss "Are we a corrupt society" again. That's all, your honour!

That's all, Your Honour! : May 22-28

Back to blogging after a hectic 2 months of travelling :)

1. The trial of David Headley began in a Chicago court this week. For those who are not sure about who this guy is, an old blogpost explaining the obvious case of David Headley. David Headley has been revealing a lot of stuff, that is news to the world, but not to us in India. He has detailed how ISI and LeT were actively involved in planning and executing the 26/11 attacks. Evidence was also presented, detailing cash flows, which again confirmed ISI's hand in these attacks. David Headley also informed the court that he was inspired into Jihad by Hafiz Saeed - the same Hafiz Saeed whom Pakistan refuses to arrest and even tells us that he is involved in charity work! Our Prime Minister has again reiterated his willingness to continue talking to Pakistan, whilst acknowledging that there is nothing new in Headley's revelations! He even has sagely advice for Pakistan - "It goes without saying that we must use every possible opportunity to talk to Pakistan and convince them that terror as an instrument of state policy is simply not acceptable to people in the civilised world as a whole." If a country needs "convincing" that terror is undesirable in this world, pray what exactly will you "discuss" with that country?

2. The "nataka" in Karnataka seems to be never ending. A recent Supreme Court judgement found the Speaker's action in disqualifying 11 BJP and 5 Independent MLAs wrong. This prompted the most hyper active governor in India to recommend President's rule in the state! This, despite the fact that these 11 disqualified BJP MLAs have decided to come back to the party and support the Chief Minister. Somehow, our hyperactive governor still found reason to recommend President's rule in the state! He met the Prime Minister on a Saturday and recommended President's rule next day. It is impossible to believe that this topic did not come up for discussion between both these eminences. Anyways, the central government has rejected the Governor's report. Despite the Governor's many such irresponsible actions, the Home Minister enlightens us that the governor is just doing his "job"!

3. UPA has completed 7 years in power. Actually, 2 years in their second stint. They name this UPA 2.0 and they kind of want us to believe that UPA 1.0 never existed. So we are talking about two years in power for UPA. And in these two years, the countrymen have been made to see and hear scam numbers that they cannot even imagine in their wildest of their dreams. With excellent support from the English TV media, the Prime Minister and Sonia Gandhi have managed to come out squeaky clean in this whole process. Even the 2G scam is now being made to look like something the DMK did without the knowledge of any other coalition partner. Mere rhetoric from the Prime Minister and Sonia that "we will root out corruption" hogs headlines, as if we are to trust them. Leaving Corruption aside, there has not been even one single big reform that this government has carried out. Mere status quo is being maintained. When UPA 2.0 took over, we were all told that since the Left parties don't have control on the government like the UPA1.0, there will be big ticket reforms. And after 2 years, the PM still talks about the "need" for reforms. His speeches sound like as if he has nothing to do with governance in the country! However, the government seems to be not worried too much, given that the opposition is yet to pick up any strength amongst the masses. Since there is no alternative, UPA2.0 thinks UPA3.0 is a mere formality! That's all, your honour!

That's all, Your Honour! : Nov.21-27

1. The 16th Asian Games have come to an end this week. India won a total of 14 Gold, 17 Silver and 33 Bronze medals. Most remarkable were gold wins in athletics and tennis. Somdev Devvraman won the Tennis Singles gold by defeating the top see Chinese player. A truly remarkable achievement was doubled when he also paired up with Samam Singh to win the Men's Doubles Gold too! Another athlete who won two golds was A.C.Ashwini who won 400m hurdles gold and later won the team 4x400m relay gold too. Sudha Singh won the 3000m steeplechase gold. 5 Indians went into the finals of the various boxing categories, with 2 of them winning gold. This is the first time, we have started to win so many medals in such a tough competition in sports which we never won. Though we came 6th in the medals tally, these wins have laid a very good foundation for future performances. And the best way to build on this foundation is to remove the red tape engulfing the sports system. Results will automatically follow!

2. At last, Rosaih was relieved of his duties as the Chief Minister of the Andhra Pradesh. Amidst dramatic developments, the Speaker Kiran Kumar Reddy was announced as the next Chief Minister of the state. Actually, this news was broken on twitter about a month ago by Rajagopalan, so for those of us who follow him, there was nothing surprising. However, in what was orchestrated perfectly for dramatic TV coverage, a CLP meeting was called, and all legislators were informed only late into the night. This set off speculation on whether this meet is to censure Jagan or to facilitate a change in the leadership. And in the afternoon, at 1:30pm, Rosaih appears before the media and announces his resignation. And then, while the High Command gleefully watched the coverage, TV media narrowed down the choices to 2 - Jaipal Reddy and Kiran Kumar Reddy. The CLP meeting, as usual authorised Sonia Gandhi to appoint a new leader. And she graciously appointed Kiran Kumar Reddy as the CLP leader and thereby the Chief Minister. Rosaih's tough stint ended thus. He took over at a turbulent time, and all that followed was even more turbulence. With Jagan breathing down his neck, and with Telangana issue ready to come back in December, surely it was too much to ask a person like Rosaih to lead the state. He is too fragile to live upto the demands of the post. Let's wait and see how Kiran Kumar Reddy will perform, and in the meanwhile, let's wish him good luck too!

3. In what can be termed as the victory of the year, the JD(U) - BJP combine has won a whopping 206 seats out of 243 in the Bihar Assembly elections. Fighting the election exclusively on development plank, the alliance trounced all other parties. So much so that there is no "official" opposition party in the state. For a party to get that status, it needs to win a minimum of 10% of seats. The RJD won 22 seats only. Congress performance was worse than last time - winning only 6 seats this time. BJP won a whopping 91 out of the 102 seats it contested. This victory is widely seen as Development winning over Caste politics, though it is too early to say caste was entirely out of picture. However, that development and development alone helped in such a massive victory gives us hope that one day development will also trounce the appeasement policies too. Here's hoping that that day comes soon :).

4. Phew! The "nataka" in Karnataka is getting very boring! After last week revelations that Yeddyurappa's relatives were sold land at throwaway prices, all expected that he will go. Even the BJP central command asked him to resign. Then he goes to Delhi, talks to the leadership, apprises them about the dangers of having him go (that the party will lose the Lingayat vote, that he has sizeable number of MLA's supporting him etc etc). Finally, the central leadership decides that he will stay as CM atleast till the local body elections are over in the state. These are due in Dec-Jan timeframe. Maybe, based on those results, a decision will be taken. Needless to say, these constant flip-flops are costing the party very dearly. It is high time the party takes a stand and sticks to it, and not ruin its well earned victory here.

5. And finally, your honour, Rahul Gandhi is back with a bang! In an interaction with students from Gujarat - he compared Narendra Modi to Mao. That's all, Your Honour!

That's all, Your Honour! : Nov.14-20

Before getting into the details, a top story this week that the ENTIRE TV media has blacked out - The Mediagate scandal!

1. Finally, A. Raja resigned! Late last Sunday night. It was widely expected that Parliament will now function, but the opposition has not budged from its demand on JPC. Parliament has ben adjourned all week because the government is also not budging from its stand of not having a JPC! And amidst all this, for the first time in the history of Independent India, the Supreme Court has questioned the Prime Minister's silence for 16 long months, on a request by Subramaniam Swamy seeking permission to prosecute A. Raja. The Prime Minister has filed an affidavit detailing what all had been done. And then CNN-IBN breaks a story showing how DMK "arm-twisted" the PM into changing the terms of reference for the GoM on spectrum allocation. That the "honest" and "decent" Prime Minister stood as a mute spectator to this loot is also no open secret. However what is elementary, and what our complicit media has very conveiniently dodged this time too, is the gross surrendering of the Congress party, led by Sonia Gandhi, to "coalition dharma". As much as the Prime Minister is guilty of allowing Raja to loot, equal culpability lies at the steps of Sonia Gandhi's house too. Why was she not strong enough to tell DMK that Raja is not acceptable? While the loot was happening, why was Sonia Gandhi silent? That the Congress party has been bending and crawling, even while such open loot was happening, is no big secret. We all know the Prime Minister does not have the political mandate to take on the DMK and it is only the Congress President, Sonia Gandhi who has this mandate. Why then, is Sonia Gandhi above questioning in this whole sordid saga of A. Raja?

2. And Yeddyurappa is back in news! First it was the Bellary brothers' revolt. Later, it was the split in the party. And now, JD(S) released documents that he alloted government land to his sons and other relatives at throw away prices. And also apparently some rules were bent, so that these lands could be acquired. And as expected, clamour for his resignation began. BJP should seriously consider this option too. There are just too many things propping up time and again. The failure of BJP to appear strong when such things are occuring, is a blow to its image in the country. Meanwhile, Yeddyurappa says that all the land has been surrendered and that there is no need for resigning. The BJP central leadership is yet to take a decision on this matter. Looks like we have to wait one more week to see how this plays out.

3. And Jagan is also back in the news! Sakshi channel, owned by him, telecasted a scathing program on how bad Sonia Gandhi is running the party ! A Congress MP running such kind of a story in a state which sent the highest MP's for the party, would obviously make it to National news in any other country, but not in ours! Quite expectedly, all Congress leaders in the state are jumping up and down in anger. They are unable to digest any kind of criticism against their "madam". Some voices were even choking! The Chief Minister, who is steadfast in responding only when "Madam" is insulted has released his mandatory condemnation too. Other TV channels had a field day in "analysing" this open defiance by Jagan. And about the voter - phew! Who really cares, your honour!

That's all, your honour! : Oct. 24-30

1. Even before we recover from one scam, another one crops up. Like noted caroonist Sudhir Tailang said today - "VVIPS seem to be looting the nation as if there's no tomorrow !". Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan offered to resign in wake of the latest controversy. Army land, on which a 6 storeyd building meant for the widows of Kargil war martyrs, was inexplicably transferred to a civilian housing society - Adarsh Co-operative Housing Society. Now, further more, once this transfer happened, the 6 storeyed building now becomes a 31 storeyed building ! Needless to say, allotments of apartments have been made to relatives of politicians, bureaucrats - and more shocking to three Chiefs of the Army ! While one of them, Gen. N.C.Vij has now surrendered the flat alloted to him, the other two have not yet responded. An RTI application filed revealed that many concessions for the apartments were sought under the pretext that this was meant for Kargil war heroes and martyrs. Also, turns out that Ashok Chavan's mother in law, along with two other relatives, owns a flat in this complex! The murk gets dirtier and dirtier too. Union Ministers seem to be involved, not to mention most state ministers seem to be involved in easily one of the most shameful scams. In a most unusual manner of defense, Ashok Chavan asks what is the problem if "distant relatives" of his get flats!

2. Finally the umpteenth time, the "nataka" in Karnataka seems to have come to an end. The thrid Judge, who was asked to deliver the final judgement agreed with the Speaker's decision to disqualify the 11 BJP MLA's before the vote of confidence. The court is yet to hear the case of the 5 Independent MLA's who have associated themselves with BJP. Even if that judgement goes against he Speaker, the government still has the numbers to survive. Meanwhile, the Income Tax department, has raided some BJP MLA's homes and offices and also some close people of the Reddy brothers (no prizes for guessing who ordered these raids!). Anyways, given that this whole sordid drama has come to an end (atleast it seems so!), it is time for BJP to get back to governance and ensure it doesn't lose it's hold on the sole southern state it is in power.

3. A couple of weeks back, the Central government has appointed interlocutors to talk to all sections of Jammu & Kashmir. Now, the guy heading this group said something like Pakistan's view must also be taken. Also, he asked the students of some university to prepare a road map for Azadi. Now, when political parties got to criticize them, Congress party asks us not to criticize them in "national interest"! Remember that time, when Manish Tewari said that criticizing Rajiv was unpatriotic? Well, seems like we now have new definitions for patriotism and national interest, your honour!

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!

That's all, Your Honour! : Oct.10-16

Warning: This is a very longgg post :). Essentially because am documenting the entire K'taka saga that happened this week, before speaking about the Common Wealth Games. Thanks in advance for reading :)

1. The "Nataka in Karnataka" caption lived upto its expectations this week! Not sure who the hero was, but was crystal clear who the villian was. That honour has been bagged by the Governor of the state, His Excellency Hans Raj Bhaadwaj! The Speaker of the assembly disqualified 11 rebel BJP MLA's and also 5 Independent MLA's (and hence strength of Assembly came down to 208, and BJP had 104 MLA's in its fold). He was quoting the Anti Defection Act, but many were of the view that this act can be applied only after the MLA's actually vote in the assembly. However, since the Speaker has decided, the matter can only go into the court. However,our villian decides to take matters into his own hands and shoots of a letter to the Speaker asking him to retain the original configuration of the house! What business he had writing to the speaker, only he knows! Anyways, te D-Day came. On the morning of 11th October, these 16 MLA's barged into the assembly, broke windows, one MLA even tore his shirt and dared policemen/marshals. For the first time, policemen entered the floor of the house and had a scuffle with the MLA's. And since the doors seemed open for all, MLC's MP's etc etc all walked into the house. It was a literal free for all !

And amidst all this confusion, the Speaker declares that the government won the trust vote, by a show of hands! Yep, amidst all this confusion, the Speaker declares that the government wins through a voice vote. And this infuriated the governor even more! Without even waiting for a report from the Speaker, His Excellency H.R.Bharadwaj sent a report to the Central government recommending President's rule !! At a time when all were focussing on the legality of the action of the Speaker, our villian gave the perfect twist, thus hogging the limelight all for himself again. Quite obviously this was a stupid move, evident from the fact that the Central government (whom he wanted to impress in the first place) was not too keen. BJP was in a battle mode now, seeking the Governor's recall citing all his stupid actions.

And then our villian, as is his wont - gave us a new twist! He writes to the Chief Minister the next day (12th Oct) saying he is willing to give him "another chance" to prove his majority on the 14th of October! After recommending that the government be suspended, he now talks about another chance! And what is the legality of this "offer"? Was he advising? Was he ordering? What about his earlier recommendation then? Whatever he writes and recommends has lega connotations, why behave like a school principal? And come to think of it, this guy was the Law Minister of India in UPA 1 ! Why was he in such a hurry? Whom is he trying to appease? Just when we were trying to find answers to these questions, comes the new twist!

His Excellency holds a press conference and starts speaking like the opposition leader of the state! He says there is no development in the state, there is lot of corruption etc! That's right - instead of just talking about the confidence vote (which he had no business talking about,in the first place) he goes on and on about governance, BJP leadership et.al ! H.R.Bharadwaj finally succeeded in proving that he is just a stooge of the High Command of his party, with little or no respect to the dignity of the post of Governor. It is not hi business to comment upon aspects of development, governance etc. The people will get to decide all that - the Governor is just he titular head of the state and has to come into the picture only when there is a constitutional breakdown. Quite evidently, this man doesn't care for such etiquitte.

Anyways, the CM accepted the "offer", and won the floor test with a 106-100 majority. The High Court is yet to rule on the suspension of the 5 Independent MLA's though. Even if the court cancels their disqualification, there is no danger to this government.

The Governor's actions and the attempts by another Excellency H.D.Deve Gowda to cash in on this whole episode aside, this trust vote is a huge eye-opener for BJP. These dissent activities seems to have become a regular happening, thus hampering governance and good will. If no serious attempts are made by the party to address these issues, it sure will take a long time to recover from these losses!

2. All this week, the Commonwealth games fever gripped most of us. Indian sportspersons put up an excellent show this time. After a gap of 52 years, we won a gold in the track events. The women's relay team won the 4x400m gold, another team won he 4x100 bronze medal. India also won the Gold, Silver and Bronze in the women discuss throw event! More than the medals, the stories of almost all the medal winning sportspersons made for very inspiring reading. How children of auto drivers, tribals made it to this place, after going through unbeliavable road blocks is stuff of legend. Men and women from small towns that we have never heard of, heralded a whole new beginning to the sports chapter in the country. We won 38 Gold, 27 Silver and 36 Bronze medals. Each of these 101 winners are the new inspiration for us to aspire for better heights the Asian Games and the London Olympics. Hats off, to the real winners!

And since the games have now ended, time has also come to turn attention to the Corruption Wealth Games! For the record, a commission has been set up to probe everything related to the conducting of the games. It is becoming increasingly clear that Suresh Kalmadi will be made the sole culprit of the whole muck. All other leaders will be let off, and our ever compliant media led by NDTV, has already begun to acquit Sheila Dixit, for starters! And apparently, both the PM and Sonia Gandhi have met only the medal winners and not Suresh Kalmadi, and the media is hailing it as if this is the most exemplary "punishment" meted out ever! So much for accountability, your honour!

That's all, your honour! : Oct. 3-9

1. "Kashmir was an outstanding issue which needs to be resolved. It is a political issue and cannot be addressed through development, employment or good governance only" Now, it is but natural to think that such kind of a ridiculous statement can come only from some vague guy not interested in practical solutions. Agreed it is a political issue but to brush aside development, employment and good governance is little too childish. Now what do we have make of it when this statement comes from the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir? Not just this, he went on to say "J&K acceded to India in very unique circumstances and did not merge. Had we merged with India, we would not have had a special constitutional position". Yep, you read it right. The full speech is not available anywhere for download. The entire media has only reported parts of speech here and there and almost all headlines were talking about the protests by opposition members! Yep - the Chief Minister says all this stuff and we are interested in reporting how the opposition reacted. This blog piece by "i_panchajanya" gives an excellent summary of how the media covered this shocking speech by the Chief Minister. He goes on to "assert" that his government is not a "puppet" (sure, why would we think so - given his timely "action" for all the crises, it is a sin to think his govt. is a puppet!). Just playing to the galleries and to the separatists ideas will help solve your problem, Mr.Chief Minister? And please don't keep wondering how this man is still holding this job despite so many deaths - that's how immune we have become to inefficiency. Even if it is costing lives.

2. Finally, it is about the games and not about Shiela, Kalmadi et.al. The Commonwealth games have finally begun and the opening ceremony recieved wide kudos for a majority of audience! The event was excellently choreographed, showcasing the rich cultre and heritage of India. Right from the beginning wherein drummers from various parts of the country started their to the "swagatam" dance by the kids, to the yoga performance, to the dance forms of India - everything was way beyond anybody's expectations! Also, we have had a very rich medal haul so far. We have won golds, silvers, bronzes in archery, weightlifting, wrestling and shooting. So far we have even won bronzes in swimming, gymnastics and even in the 10,000m race! This is the first time we are winning medals in the swimming and gymnastics category. The muck and the controversies surrounding the games will only be refreshed after the games are over. Till then "come out and play" !

3. BJP seems to be having a fascination for the "natak" in Karnataka (pun not mine :D). After some recent fiascos, this time it all began when dissent started brewing after a recent cabinet expansion by the Yeddyurappa government. And within no time, 18 MLA's withdrew their support to the government! BJP has a 5 MLA majority in the assembly and this move has put it in a minority. As it happens in such cases, all MLA's first went to Kerala, and then to Chennai and finally to Mumbai! Hectic negotiations (read "how many crores would suffice" stuff) are on, and so far 4-5 MLA's are back into the BJP fold. The Congress has categorically said it will not support the JD(S) now. However, all this muck is bringing in instability in the state thus removing the focus from governance issues. The confidence vote is scheduled for the 12th of this month - need to see how this crisis will play out.

4. So Rahul Gandhi has spoken again. This time, he has enlightened us by saying that there is no difference between RSS and SIMI. He thinks both encourage "fanatics" and are "fundamentalist" in their views. Just so that readers know, SIMI is a banned terrorist organisation. One might have huge differences with views of RSS but to equate them to a banned terrorist organisation speaks volumes about the intelligence of the Enlightener. That's all, your honour!