Star Opinion Poll: Hung assembly in Maharashtra???

An opinion poll conducted by Star News revealed Maharashtra is heading for a hung assembly with the Congress-NCP alliance still staying on the top.

The survey (link) also predicts around 7.84% vote share to Raj Thackeray's MNS.

Now whether or not MNS's votes translate into actual victories on the ground would decide who the winner is. If its  performance turns out to be a repeat of this year's Loksabha elections when it could garner votes but  not win any seats, then chances are that the Congress-NCP alliance could be reinstated by roping in the smaller parties should they win any seats.

However if the MNS wins some seats it would be a very interesting scenario: would it get enough seats to play 'kingmaker'.  If it does then I am not sure what kind of a mantra 'BalaSaheb' would weave on Raj Thackeray to get him to support the ShivSena-BJP alliance.

The above scenarios would rule themselves out if the ShivSena-BJP alliance registers a stunning victory in the elections. As I see it there is no other way for Maharashtra to get rid of bad governance of 10 years.

Pakistan army torturing Pashtuns

Here is the video of Pakistan's state sponsored torture of Pashtuns in the swat valley in the name of interrogation.




Pakistan media chose not to comment on the video until after a few days of the video surfacing on the internet.

Pakistan's army says it is verifying the veracity of the video.

PMK divorces itself again

I am not at all surprised that the PMK has parted ways with the ADMK. If anything this was on expected lines. After all their alliance did not work at all this time and PMK in particular has been routed from its key bases in the parliamentary elections.

Also this has always been a party that sleeps with a new alliance in every election.

All the praises that the Ramadoss' sang of the alliance until now are going to suddenly change into criticisms in no time. And yes they would now start scouting for a new partner.

China issues separate visas to Kashmiris

I couldn't think a possibly more provocative action by any foreign country than the Chinese government's issuance of separate visas to applicants from Kashmir.

...the Chinese embassy in New Delhi has begun issuing visas to Indian passport holders from Jammu and Kashmir on a separate sheet of paper rather than stamping them in their passports as is the norm with other Indian citizens.(link)

Time and again, in pretty indirect yet very obvious manner China has been tying to assert itself on India and in this latest attempt has done little to respect India's stance and authority over its citizens.

In more ways than one this is indicative of what is to be expected from China in the days and years to come, it also reiterates the contemptuous attitude of China towards India which is also in pursuit of global ambitions. This is a blatant attempt to belittle India's sovereignty and humiliate us.

India should respond in like and probably do something with Taiwan or Tibet to send a strong message.

Which way Maharashtra?

Elections in Maharashtra are being watched by pundits from all over with keen interest. Many an expert are throwing their hat in to make predictions.

Firstly because these are the first major elections to be held after the Loksabha elections this summer.

What about lice???

News from Pakistan is that Zardari has asked the US to reimburse $ 1.6 billion, expenditure incurred on 'fighting terror in tribal areas'.

Apparently they have not been paid in more than a year.

I wish somebody pays me for having gotten rid of the lice off my dog's....!!

Government info on incursions inadequate

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh speaking on the lines of the Iftar dinner hosted by him spoke to the media and admitted that flow of information from the government side, particularly on the issue of the Chinese incursions onto Indian territory, has been inadequate.

Teach Pakistan a proper lesson

So Pakistan forces have fired shells onto Indian territory and our border forces have responded with machine gun fire. They have also lodged a protest with the Pakistani authorities.

The next morning we have seen pictures of border forces officials visiting the areas where shells from pakistan landed. For their part Pakistani authorities have "neither confirmed nor denied firing".

A great loss for Andhra

Andhra chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy's untimely demise in a tragic helicopter accident has sent the whole state of Andhra into mourning.

That tall leader that he was, he enjoyed unprecedented support and trust of the people of the state.

A great visionary who recognised that the way to real progress of the country is by helping agriculture regain its lost glory and put agrarian families back on the priority list.

A natural orator and crowd puller, he understood the pulse of the people of the state better than any of his contemporaries.

For the Congress party in the state and centre alike this is a death blow for he was the most powerful Congress chief minister in the country that unified the party cadre at all levels in the state and could command it to victories like witnessed in this years general elections.

Its not just a loss of leader for the party but a loss of face. Congress party in the state without YSR is like faceless body.

One has to wait and see if time will cure the pain the people of Andhra are going through at this tragic loss.

Can we not tolerate?

Well its not that I am trying to implicate any particular section, since this is increasingly proving to be a momentous one for the one I but I cannot refrain from asking: Why is it not allowed to disagree with the views of our founding fathers?

Why am I expected to toe the line that has been drawn by the leaders of the then young and newly free India. In many cases I have serious disagreements with how things had been done, things I am sure I would have done in a different way should I be in the place of the then leaders.

For instance: The way Nehru went to the UN about Pakistan instead of fighting it out to the end until we had achieved our lost land. What has resulted is status quo. And no progress since.

Why cannot we be more open and liberal about discussing such issues. I am now raising this issue because of the ban of Jaswant Singh's book in Gujarat and the subsequent demands from the Congress unit of Madhya Pradesh to ban the book in that state as well.

I agree that it is very outrageous of Mr Singh that he had praised Md. Ali Jinnah (*), the person we believe was responsible for the circumstances in which resulted in the massacre of thousands of Indians during the weeks of Partition. But how could it be wrong to say that our very own leaders could have done things in a different way.

This is a question I would like someone from both the parties to address in entirety. Not tangentially as it has always been.

* Read the Hindu's editorial from 1948 when Jinnah passed away.

Beyond Jaswant

Obviously Jinnah worship has caused an unease within the BJP, enough to want to stem it and also rein in public display of dissension.

But that is not all. To think that this would somehow, for a while, subside the original argument of 'what path the party is going to tread on to tide over the crisis and re-instill confidence in the cadres' after the debacle in the Loksabha polls, is premature.

Te original question still stays and people like me are eager to see the party chose the right path and act.

Pak Army and ISI want to talk with India!!!

Now comes the shocker. Pakistan's army and ISI want to be involved in the talks with India. They claim to be framing policy as well, just as their country's so called govt. does and hence demand to be included.

What next? Judiciary to be involved at a later stage and then their revenue and customs department and then the biggest of them all: the Jihadists.

Grow up Mr. Gilani

This dude from Pakistan called Gilani (their Prime Minister) needs some education in history. He probably took naps whilst Pakistan was attacking India across various points in the past that led to India retaliating and winning all the three wars that were initiated by Pakistan.

We have certainly not been having good relations for the last 60 years and because of this there is a trust deficit, which can be taken care of with more interaction. At the moment, it is too early” to say India is not a threat..

He still believes India is a threat to his country whereas infact it has always been the other way around all the while. Who in the world would think this is true. Not the least Pakistanis.

He for sure should go to school.

What a kick it is!!

One was surprised to see the American negotiators slowdown on their demands when India did not relent on some key issues relating to the Non-proliferation treaty and nuclear trade sometime around last year.

Only to discover today from Mr. Varadarajan's piece in The Hindu, the true side of their diplomacy. Complacency has hurt us bad and putting us back in the same old stage mandating us to hard negotiations in the near future, a pressure tactic, possibly, to extract more from us.

While Mr. Varadarajan's point that America has resorted to this latest tactic of having the G-8 countries approve of a recommendation banning trade of "enrichment and reprocessing items (ENR) to countries which have not signed NPT, including India", only to protect the interests of American companies that would lose out, due to pricing issues, to some of its g-8 counterparts, I am still wondering how could such an important issue have escaped the attention of Indian leaders and bureaucrats when being debated/negotiated amongst the G-8 nations.

Clearly this is not something that would erupt at random at an international conferences of the kind of the G-8 summit.

I am eagerly waiting to see India's response.

Conversions and cruelty

Some missionaries are never going to change, come what may. All they care for is their cruel statistical targets to convert more and more of hapless and vulnerable people into their religion.

Today VHP activists in Hyderabad caught hold of a couple of gentlemen trying to preach and poach for, their religion by distributing pamphlets in Gandhi Hospital. They were manhandled and handed over to the police.

Missionaries on their part seem to be targetting people in hospital who may have been facing troubled times and shower sympathy on them and then start preaching how 'their' god would be able to cure all illnesses.

Some serious laws (not such one those try to ban conversion as such) should come up that would prevent such cruel minds from targetting people in places like hopitals and likewise where they might be more vulnerable than otherwise.

Karunanidhi: a family of political nidhi

I view Stalin's elevation as the dy.CM of Tamilnadu as a balancing act done by the family head Karunanidhi. Now that his older son Azhagiri has been packed  off to the centre for a cabinet berth it was only natural that such a move should follow because a central cabinet level minister would be higher in the protocol than a mere local administration minister.

Also Stalin's elevation is done to tell people who the real boss is going to be despite Karunanidhi's other offsprings (all the three are from three different wives) being sworn in as central ministers. 

At the moment this is the largest political family in the country with Five ministers (state and centre) together. We are all now eagerly waiting for Stalin's son's entry and Azhagiri's son's entry anybody else that could claim to be a relative to Karunanidhi to serve the nation.

Shameful representation..

Cabinet expansion is being called as a ery representative and balanced on in that. It is also being said that the Southern states are big gainers in this government as far as ministerial representation goes.

But that is not all true. There is one big loser among the Southern states. Andhra Pradesh, the states that has sent the maximum number of MPs to the Loksabha for the Congress party for the second time in a row is grossly under represented with just one Cabinet level and five Ministers of State nominees. Karnataka that has 6 MPs from the Congress has got a berth more than that of Andhra.

There is no reason I could think of but the Congress' high command being apathetic towards the people of AndhraPradesh. It is such apathy and lack of respect that has led to the rise of regional parties like the TDP. I think the congress party now takes Andhra for granted.

Biased media

So what if the biased media would only highlight the misadventures of BJP leader Varun Gandhi and choose to completely ignore and side-step similar statements filled with hatred by Andhra Congress chief D. Srinivas (also was Rural Development minister) who warned that he would "cut-off any hand that is raised against Muslims."

Well the reason is obvious that the media is heavily anti-BJP and would only highlight anti-muslim tirades and not anti-Hindu tirades. But the people of Mr. Srinivas' constutuency took serious note of his comments made sure they voted him out. Incidentally people there chose to elect the BJP candidate in fray who incidentally happens to be one of the two MLA's of the party to win.

Well if one would think that it was the only case then take note of this honey, where Congress' minority cell leader Imran Kidwai spews venom. Again does the media take note of it? But for lip service, Hell No!

Cabinet misrepresentation

A huge hue and cry is being raised now by the media on what it calls an unfairly large representation of ministers from Tamilnadu in the Union cabinet of the outgoing govt., numbering 5.

But what about a state like Andhra that had sent 29 MPs of the Congress but had only one Cabinet minister in Mr. Jaipal Reddy and a minister with independent charge in Renuka Chowdary. This does not even deserve a mention. What with Andhra now sending 33 MPs of the Congress to the parliament.

Good job Srilanka

By the way forgot to appreciate the tremendous job done by the Srilankan forces in capturing and neutralising the most famous terrorist in our part of the world, Prabhakaran.

Particularly admiring is the way they pursued and killed him than catching him alive which would have raised the curtain to many a drama that would have unfolded in India and around the world.