Mangat Ram to file nomination papers on Monday

Cong HC to give bigger role to veteran leader in State politics

 With a view to give major role to veteran Congress leader Mangat Ram Sharma in the State politics and infuse new life in the Pradesh Congress, the party high command has decided to enable his entry into the Upper House.

Mr Sharma, a former Deputy Chief Minister of the State, will file his nomination papers for the lone vacancy of Legislative Council on March 12, the last day for filing the papers.

Authoritative sources told the Excelsior that Mr Sharma formally got the party mandate for Legislative Council seat tonight and would be returning here tomorrow morning from New Delhi.

PCC (I) president Prof Saif-ud-Din Soz would reach here on Monday morning from New Delhi. Mr Soz and other senior leaders of the party would accompany Mangat Ram Sharma to file nomination papers for the seat of Legislative Council.

As there was expected to be no other candidate in the fray, Mr Sharma could be declared elected unopposed to the Upper House on March 12 itself , the last date for filing nomination papers.

Legislative Assembly Secretary, Mohammad Ramzan, who happened to be the Returning Officer for the Legislative Council election, told the Excelsior that no nomination had been filed for the seat till today. He said Monday was last day for filing nomination papers.

"If only a single nomination paper is received on Monday, the candidate automatically stood elected as unopposed. However, we had to make a formal announcement of unopposed election only on last date for withdrawal of nomination papers, which has been fixed as March 15’’, Mr Ramzan said.

Sources said Mangat Ram’s victory was a foregone conclusion even if any candidate joined the fray as National Conference-Congress coalition Government has more than enough numbers in the Legislative Assembly to make its candidate victorious.

Sources said by enabling Mangat Ram Sharma’s entry in the Upper House, the Congress high command has planned a bigger role for him in the State politics and he could be inducted in the Council of Ministry in the expansion scheduled after budget session of the Legislature in April this year.

According to sources, the Congress high command wanted to infuse a new life in the Congress by giving the party veteran a major role in the State politics in the coming months.

Excelsior had in its edition on February 18 exclusively reported that the Congress had decided to field Mangat Ram Sharma for the Legislative Council vacancy to give him a major role in the State politics as the party high command was not satisfied with performance of some Congress Ministers in the coalition Government.

The Legislative Council vacancy had arisen due to the death of Congress leader Yashpal Khajuria, who had been elected to the Council in April last year.

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Cong clears Mangat for LC seat

The Congress high command has cleared the name of veteran Congress leader and former Deputy Chief Minister Mangat Ram Sharma for the election to lone seat of Legislative Council, the polling for which was scheduled on March 21.

Authoritative sources said Mr Sharma would file his papers on March 11, the last day for filing nominations.

No nominations had been filed till today, Secretary Legislative Assembly and Returning Officer for the election, Mohammad Ramzan said.

Sources said there was a possibility that Mr Sharma could be elected unopposed.

The vacancy to the Upper House had arisen after the death of Congress leader Yashpal Khajuria, who had been elected to the Legislative Council in April last year. Mr Sharma would get remaining term of Khajuria i.e. about five years in the Council.

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Soz said Cong decision fair

Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) President and Rajya Sabha member Prof Saif-ud-Din Soz has today said that the decision taken by the Congress high command regarding Education Minister, Peerzada Mohammed Sayeed is a fair one.

This was claimed by Soz during his exclusive talk with media persons. He said, “There is a system in every institution and same is with the Congress Party. Every decision is taken after adopting some mechanism and this time the decision taken by the institution is also fair.”

Holding Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah responsible for running the coalition government he said, “CM is the head of institution in the state and in this case everything was done according to his knowledge.”

“If anything was not fine in the institution it is his duty to fix it and rectify it, as he is the only responsible person to take care of all his ministers,” Soz maintained.

On the question of PHE Minister, Taj Mohi-ud-Din regarding his presence in New Delhi during last few days he refused to comment.

Soz was in Jammu today for attending a rally organized by the MLA, Indu Pawar, and State President Mahila wing of the Congress Party.

Taj Vakil now trade corruption charges

Senior Congress leader Abdul Gani Vakil today urged chief minister Omar Abdullah not to apply two different yardsticks while dealing with corruption cases related to ministers.

In a statement, he said chief minister took a good step by taking swift action in the alleged examination copying scam involving education minister Peerzada Mohammad  Sayeed.

“The people of the state, however, expect more from your (chief minister’s) government to apply the same rod in the other departments also especially in PHE and Irrigation where the media on different occasions had highlighted large scale of bungling. It is the media which has highlighted multi crore scam in PHE division Rajouri, Rs 45 crore scam in the PHE Division Samba, bungling in PHE division Bandipor. Not only this but it is the media which has highlighted transfer bazaar in PHE and Irrigation department and what is more important diversion of Rs 18 Cr NRDWP funds to Doda in gross violation of norms and guidelines,” Vakil added.

He said, though he recently strongly demanded a probe in the bungling in the PHE department but it is unfortunate that the concerned minister made the issue a personal one rather taking swift action in ordering probe in the bungling in his department.

However, PHE minister Taj Mohi-u-Din, dared dared Vakil to go to the State Accountability Commission (SAC) if he really has a case against him.

Talking to a local news agency, KNS, Taj said that Vakil is habitual of blackmailing people through press. “If he really has a case against me he should go to the SAC,that shall really make a big news for him,” Taj said, adding that there are no skeletons in my cupboard. “Issuing statements off and on are meant for blackmailing but this time he has chosen wrong target, I am clear there, are no skeletons in my cupboard and he is welcome to go to the State Accountability Commission if he really has a case against me,” he added.

While dubbing Vakil as a habitual blackmailer Taj said that in his early days he was being paid merely Rs 500 rupees by one leader for issuing statement against another senior leader. “This made him a habitual and professional blackmailer. I reserve my right to file a defamation suit against Vakil, I will definitely drag him to the court of law,” he said.  

APSCC castigates Congress

APSCC castigates Congress for trying to divide Sikhs

All Parties Sikh Coordination Committee (APSCC) has castigated Congress party for “always trying to weaken

Sikh community and divide them in the name of different Sikh Sects”.

“Sehajdhari issue raised by them is a clear indication that all communal Hindu parties are in favor of dilution

of Sikhism which is not tolerable to any Sikh living in and around the globe,” APSCC chairman Jagmohan Singh Raina said in a statement.

He said that the issue of Sehajdharis cannot triumph over the faith of those who believe in strong teaching of Sikhism whether it is Amritdhari, Khalsa or clean shaved Sehajdharis.

“The definition of Sikhism is very much the belief in one god, equality, brotherhood and respect and tolerance for all religions,” he said.The chairman termed it “pathetic” that an issue was being raised during crucial time of SGPC polls and efforts are being made to turn Amritdhari and Sehajdharis against each other.He said that these seem to be well governed conspiracies of political parties and politicians sitting in Parliament.

“It is high time for Prakash Singh Badal to come forward, forgetting all vote bank politics if he feels that he is a true Sikh, as he and his party are totally managing the Sikh affairs since last few decades,” the statement said. “But at the same time he is unrecovered by the BJP and its allies like RSS and Shiv Sena, who always oppose the development of Sikh Community whether Sehajdharis or Amritdharis.” “Clear example of this is division of Punjab and creation of Haryana on the basis of religion, which Britishers did in India during their rule, and enemies of Punjab are now sitting in parliament on the basis of such vote bank,” the spokesman added.ASPCC chairman urged Anna Hazare to go to Punjab and Delhi to understand the importance of Sikh unity for the development and safety of India, as this will divide India on the basis of religion and such move will sow the seed for further division of India.He urged all Sehajdhari Sikhs to come forward and act upon the teaching of Gurus belief of oneness and faith for strengthening the oneness of Sikhs.

Peerzada in Wikileaks

Peerzada’s socks and shoes in Wikileaks

A United States Embassy cable sent from New Delhi described Congress leader and Education Minister Peerzada Mohammad Syed as someone who "behaves like a traditional Congress machine politician, one who asks his staff to put on his socks and shoes for him".

The partial extract of the original cable, which details the profile of Kashmir-related leaders, dates back to 2005.

The three-part biographic report compiled "information academics, journalists, NGO activists and others during a 2002-2005 assignment at embassy New Delhi" and impressions gained from contact with Kashmir-related politicians, government officials, separatists.

"President of J&K Congress Party, Sayeed (52) behaves like a traditional Congress machine politician, one who asks his staff to put on his socks and shoes for him," the leaked cable reads.

In the 2002 state polls, he braved terrorist threats in the volatile Kokernag constituency in South Kashmir and was inducted into the Cabinet on account of his loyalty to the party. Prior to his current appointment, he was a senior Vice President of the state unit of the Congress party. His English is good, the cable said.

Politics of Economics

Inflation, it is said, is the bane of the common man today. Inflation is basically the incremental amount you need to pay to procure the same set of goods and services that you would have procured cheaper say a year, two years or even a decade earlier. Political parties, especially in the opposition too are experiencing inflation - albeit of a different kind. With the same formula and effort of the last decade, they find that their returns are diminishing; their space is shrinking. The driver of this new inflation is the Congress leadership team, which is silently changing the rules of the game.

Since India's economic liberalisation began in 1991 the social segment that has seen the greatest opportunity for growth is the lower middle class and the middle class. Their dynamic growth has meant that this segment has a continuously growing and changing list of aspirations. This class is the bhadralok that influences the opinion of many vocal sections of the society. V.P. Singh had cast his charm on them in the late 80s and the BJP in the 90s. The combine of Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi has attempted to neutralise this phenomenon with a conscious effort to reconvert this nomadic tribe of voters to the Congress fold.

The 2009 election threw a decisive verdict in favour of the Congress led-UPA. The undercurrent was however to return to one of the old governing principles of Indian democracy - a strong Centre led by a strong centrist party. While our Constitution enshrines the Centre with greater powers, coalition politics in the last one and a half decades ensured that ruling parties at the Centre left many crucial portfolios and policy making roles to regional allies, who often did not rise above parochial interests.

The mandate for the BJP in 1998, 1999 was also essentially for a stronger Centre, but the party could not seize the opportunity. On the contrary the party went for a blind pursuit of allies, creating a government with a weak Centre and often surrendering crucial portfolios to its allies. A Congress party with only 145 seats in '04 ensured that the defence minister was from their party, while the BJP with 182 seats in '98 and '99 could not do so. The pursuit of power thus sometimes dilutes a focus on policy and governance that a strong Centre can give.

The Sonia-Manmohan combine has attempted to solve this dichotomy by uncoupling the process of creating a stable party and government and the process of creating a policy environment. Sonia and Rahul Gandhi focused exclusively on strengthening the party apparatus while the administration has been left to a policy-driven management which used the growing clout of the party to shape decisions. The BJP did the opposite; it used its growing power to attract allies that impacted its base and did not find means to increase its hold over policy-making.

An ability to enforce policy consensus while strengthening the party organisation is a combination that can prove lethal for any opposition. While the Congress does have a focus on Bharat Nirman, the fact is that in an economy where the share of agriculture is shrinking, the party has turned its attention to urban and semi-urban population of India. The two ministries that directly impact the growing urban and semi urban population are the Urban Development Ministry and the Human Resources Development Ministry. Both have made the right noises since the government came to power. Replacing old pipelines, providing new sleek buses, providing assistance for building flyovers, creating new universities and scrapping board examinations are some of those. The new year will see a whole host of measures such as the new tax code, converting the bill for Equal opportunities Commission into legislation and the possible passage of the judicial accountability bill. Several initiatives taken by the government such as the unique identity mission will have long-term impacts and help the ruling party strengthen its hold over the urban and rural poor alike. The Food Security bill is another example.

Politically the Bihar election is expected to help the Congress party consolidate its position as a kingmaker. The party came third in several seats in the recently concluded by polls in Bihar. Importantly, many backward class leaders of smaller parties like the LJP joined the party strengthening it further. This would enable the Congress party to cross into a respectable 20 to 30-seat tally from the current single digit score. With greater numbers on its side the Congress party could look to wean the JD (U) from the NDA and whittle the size of the NDA further. The Congress party is likely to work hard towards strengthening its position in the state of Tamil Nadu - the Youth Congress saw its enrolment drive lead to an all time high number of 13 lakh new enrolments. This is another state where the Congress will drive a tough bargain with an existing ally.

In the '90s, P.V. Narasimha Rao presided over a declining Congress and that offered ready space for a host of opposition parties. Now, they will have to battle hard for that very space. Inflation!