Bihar Elections: Now focus on Economy

The battle for Bihar is over. The Grand Alliance decimated the BJP-led NDA, scoring a landslide two-thirds majority in the assembly polls. It secured 178 seats in the 243-member House — RJD: 80 seats, JD(U): 71 seats and Congress: 27 seats. The NDA secured 58 seats, with the BJP on its own securing 53 seats. Political analysts are now dissecting the reasons for the NDA's electoral defeat, and along with them economy watchers have come out with views on possible economic impact of the verdict. I think the NDA's defeat in the Bihar elections is unlikely to have any major negative implication on the economy.

Prior to the election results, some concerns surfaced that a NDA defeat may hit the government's reform agenda. It was pointed out that a victory would help the Centre to strengthen its presence in the Upper House where its legislative agenda has been repeatedly blocked. But the fact is that Bihar has 16 Rajya Sabha seats out of which four seats are currently held by the BJP, the other 12 being occupied by Janata Dal (United) MPs. Out of the total seats, five (all JD-U members) will fall vacant in 2016 and six in 2018 (four JD-U and two BJP members). So, a BJP win would have hardly helped clear the current RS logjam, though it is now clear that the NDA will get only one out of five Bihar Rajya Sabha seats in 2016 and one out of six seats in 2018.

In the backdrop of the Bihar defeat, industry experts have urged the Centre to give undivided focus on its economic agenda. According to a global financial house, the importance of the Bihar election is overstated and the incremental economic reforms are likely to continue irrespective of the verdict. According to some others, the elections verdict may even result in a better outcome for the future of economic reforms if the Centre takes this as a lesson that only sticking to the development agenda could help them win. I support these views, but at the same time I think the verdict should not be taken by the Opposition as a mandate to obstruct Parliament.

The PM recently said that the Indian economy is better placed today, with some major economic indicators, including GDP growth, foreign investment, current account deficit, fiscal deficit and revenue collection giving a better picture. There is no denial of this fact. In addition, control in corruption and sign of improvement in Doing Business raking are also positive developments. But there is still much to be done. Exports are down, quarterly corporate results are not showing uptick in sales, manufacturing is struggling, banks' NPA problem is still looming, and so on. Also, issues like power sector woes, bankruptcy norms and rail-road project development need to be adequately addressed.

I invite your opinions. I'd also like to take this opportunity to wish you all a happy and prosperous Diwali.

Rail budget row: Congress keeps options open, Trinamool wants Trivedi out

New Delhi, March 15 (IANS) With Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee adamant on the resignation of Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi and a rollback of train fare hikes, the Congress Thursday kept its options open for a compromise, but indicated that the minister's removal will be difficult before March-end.

The row over Trivedi's resignation rocked both house of parliament, with the government deferring the resolution of the crisis till after Friday's budget and attributing it to the pulls of coalition politics.

Amid a raging political storm, the Trinamool Congress clarified that a decision on Trivedi's resignation will be taken in consultation between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Banerjee. In a seeming respite to the beleagured Congress-led government, the Trinamoolassured that it will not destabilise the government.

According to informed sources, there are two possible scenarios. Firstly, the government agrees to either a total or a partial rollback of hike in fares - leading to a truce between the TMC and the Congress-led government.

Alternately, the government sticks to the fare hikes, provoking a belligerent Banerjee to move a cut motion in the budget session, leading to the sense of the house being recorded and a vote taken. This will effectively mean a parting of ways between the UPA and the Trinamool, as the government looks for a new ally (possibly the Samajwadi Party, which has 22 MPs) to save it.

For now, the Congress is understood to have conveyed to Banerjee that the removal of the minister in the middle of the budget session would not send out a positive signal and suggested that the decision be deferred to March-end. Trinamool leaders met Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and conveyed that the party chief wanted an announcement of the rollback of the hike to be done by a new railway minister. Banerjee is pressing for senior party leader and Minister of State for Shipping Mukul Roy to replace Trivedi.

However, the Trinamool denied any plan to dump the UPA government. A defensive government, got more breathing space after another critical ally, the DMK, also said that it too remained with the Manmohan Singh government. "We are part of UPA II and will remain with UPA II," DMK MP T.R. Baalu said.

"I categorically want to say that the government of UPA II is properly settled and it will complete its term," Trinamool parliamentary group leader Sudip Bandopadhyay said in parliament.

He added in the Lok Sabha that the Trinamool had not asked Trivedi to resign for presenting a budget that sought to increase rail fares for the first time in a decade.

Trivedi himself rebutted speculation about his resignation.

"Nobody has asked me to resign. I have a duty to perform and see that that the budget is passed by parliament."

He added that he would go if he was asked to and gently contradicted Banerjee's claim that the party was not aware of his move to raise rail fares.

The Congress put up a brave face, saying differences within a coalition were but natural.

"These things have happened in the past too," Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni told reporters. "Each (coalition partner) has different political compulsions.

"It is unfortunate but the leadership is looking at it," she added.

The fire fighting started after an explosive start to the fourth day of parliament's budget session, with an an aggressive opposition determined to embarrass the government over the Trinamool's strident demand that the rail fare hikes be rolled back.

Mukherjee admitted that a letter had been received from Banerjee demanding the scrapping of the rail fare hikes. After an unrelenting opposition forced an adjournment of the house during question hour, Mukherjee chided the government's critics for behaving like "petulant children".

Mukherjee also told the Lok Sabha that the railway budget was now the property of the house, which would vote on the proposals.

He also took responsibility for preparation of the railway budget, saying only the finance minister's approval was needed and not that of either the prime minister or the cabinet.

Earlier, Bharatiya Janata Party leader Sushma Swaraj asked some pointed questions: "Is Dinesh Trivedi's rail budget dead or alive?"

At a press conference, BJP leader M. Venkaiah Naidu lambasted the Congress-led government, saying it was falling apart, brick by brick, due to distrust with its key allies. "There is no governance. The foundations of this government are being shaken, brick by brick," he said.

Ironically, support for Banerjee's demand came from her biggest foe, the Left.

Communist Party of India leader Gurudas Dasgupta said the budget sought to impose a financial burden on the common man and so was not acceptable to his party.

The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) too came out with a detailed point-by-point criticism of the budget.

Parkash Singh Badal set to again be Punjab chief minister

Chandigarh, March 8 (IANS) Setting aside speculation over the leadership issue, the Shiromani Akali Dal Thursday unanimously elected Parkash Singh Badal to be the party's legislature party leader. Badal will be sworn in next week as Punjab chief minister for a record fifth term.

Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal announced Thursday after the legislature party meeting that Parkash Singh Badal would continue as the chief minister of the Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) alliance government in the state.

Sukhbir Badal said that the oath-taking ceremony will take place March 14 at the historic Chappar Chiri memorial in Mohali district, 20 km from here, instead of at the at the Raj Bhawan as is usually the norm.

Earlier, before going for the meeting, Sukhbir Banl made it clear that his father, the elder Badal, will continue in the top job after the SAD-BJP combine was voted back to power in the assembly elections.

Talking to reporters, Sukhbir said that Badal senior is the only choice for being chief minister.

"As Akali Dal president, I announce that Badal Sahib (Parkash Singh Badal) will be the next chief minister also," Sukhbir said.

Badal Sr. has been chief minister four times earlier in 1970, 1977, 1997 and 2007.

The Akali Dal core committee will meet Thursday evening, followed by a meeting with alliance partner BJP on Friday.

There was speculation earlier in Akali Dal and political circles here on whether Parkash Singh Badal, 84, will agree to a record fifth term as chief minister or whether he will Sukhbir Singh Badal to take charge.

Sukhbir Badal, who is the deputy chief minister in his father's outgoing government, led the Akali Dal campaign from the front and was the most visible face of the party during the assembly election campaign, compared to his ageing father.

Party leaders are crediting him for the historic victory of the Akali Dal-BJP combine in the assembly poll.

Beating the traditional anti-incumbency factor, the combine bagged a comfortable majority with 68 seats in the 117-member Punjab assembly as results were declared.

It is for the first time in over four decades that a government has been able to return to power for a consecutive term in Punjab.

While the Akalis won 56 seats, the BJP bagged 12 seats.

The Congress, which was hopeful of returning to power this time, got only 46 seats.

The venue of the oath-taking ceremony next week has the country's highest tower - Fateh Burj (Victory Tower) - which is dedicated to the memory of the Sikh warrior, Baba Banda Singh Bahadur, who established the Sikh state in the country by defeating Mughal forces led by Wazir Khan.

The battle was fought to avenge the killing of the four young sons of tenth Sikh guru, Gobind Singh, and hundreds of other Sikhs and Hindus by the Mughal forces.

The battle between the Sikh and Mughal forces was fought at Chappar Chiri, which is now part of Mohali town, 20 km from Chandigarh. The tower was dedicated to the public November last year.