Public issues go for a toss as politicos vie for power

The nation seems to have got into election mode and all parties seem to be sharpening their arsenals. Party presidents, whether they are national or regional, and the chief administrators from the Prime Minister to the Chief Ministers, everyone is focussing all their energies to run down their rivals and retain power.

The law makers are more interested in debates on issues which could politically help them rather than issues that concern the common man. This has resulted in abysmal productivity in the winter session of the Parliament which would end in five days. The efforts from all sides are to say that ‘me and my party are cleanest while all others are neck deep in scam’.

Political tempers continue to run high in Parliament and outside. The winter session of Parliament is witnessing multiple rounds of disruption. Chairman of Rajya Sabha M Venkaiah Naidu even expressed his concern over the way the image of Parliament was going down in the eyes of the people. While the BJP is trying its best to nail the Congress in Augusta Westland deal, the Congress is harping on the Rafael deal.

The government rejected the Opposition demand for probe by a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) into Rafael deal with France saying there was no corruption involved in it but accused the Congress of having a legacy of scams like Bofors and Augusta Westland. Defending their decision, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley who is a good debater said that JPC can come to consensus when it comes to policy matters but not investigations.

The BJP has also planned 100 meetings to be addressed by the Prime Minister in 20 States. To meet the challenge, the Congress too has reactivated its war room and held a meeting chaired by Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday to review the developments and work out counter strategies.

The Prime Minister, who spent about 90 minutes in an interview to a TV Channel for the first time in his over four-and-a-half years’ of tenure on Tuesday, chose the mode of interacting with booth level party workers in Andhra Pradesh and in the process tore into the Chandrababu Naidu government accusing it of indulging in scams and making friends with “wicked Congress”. But he sang the same old song that his government was committed to the welfare of the AP but the TDP was speaking blatant lies and had not even submitted necessary records. Again, the effort is to drive home the point, “I am the cleanest and the best,” it is the TDP which is wicked.

Modi was addressing BJP workers from Kakinada, Narsapuram, Visakhapatnam, Machilipatnam, and Vizianagaram Lok Sabha constituencies through video conferencing as part of the 'Mera Booth Sabse Mazboot' initiative to strengthen the party organisation at the grassroots level. He said the Congress which was considered to be Dusht by the TDP has now become Dost. They seem to be trying to prove that NTR was wrong, Modi remarked. He also referred to the manner in which the Mahakutami lost elections in Telangana and said same would happen in Andhra Pradesh. Modi noted that truth was the biggest weapon that could dispel such falsehood.

But instead of this kind of indirect boxing, Prime Minister ji, would it not be apt if the Centre releases a white paper or sort of statement of accounts and place it before Parliament? The TDP has been releasing white papers. Why not take them and rebut point by point in Parliament rather than indulge in ‘Tu Tu Mein Mein’?

In Telangana, though the TRS has swept the polls, it has not taken any step to convene the Assembly at least for a day and see that the newly elected MLAs were sworn in. They are also kept guessing about the Cabinet expansion, the TDP bashing by CM and his party men at all levels continue unabated. Many of them have pinned their hopes to get a berth in the Cabinet and don’t want to miss any chance to be in the good books of the party supremo.

But the Panchayat elections has poured water on their hopes and if the grapevine is to be believed, only one or two would be sworn in as Ministers in February which includes a Finance Minister since a vote on account budget has to be introduced in the Assembly. This means there would be no full-fledged Cabinet till the Lok Sabha elections are over. In other words, people’s issues will have to wait for another four months or so.