Kerala Letter: Two-front system faces challenge from inside and …

The BSP, which captured power in UP last year by reaching out beyond
its traditional SC/ST base, is planning to replicate that experiment in
Kerala. It has fielded this time two experienced non-SC?ST politicians,
A. Neelalohithadasan Nadar (Thiruvanathapuram) and KK Nair
(Pathanamthitta).

Neelalohithadasan, who began public life as a
Congressman, shot into fame decades ago by defeating Communist Party of
India (CPI) veteran MN Govindan Nair in Thiruvananthapuram by
mobilising the support of his backward class Nadar community.

A battle along familiar lines

C. Gouridasan Nair

For almost three decades now, there has been somewhat of a dreary
familiarity about elections in Kerala. The main contestants have
remained the same: the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) and the
Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF), with the Bharatiya Janata
Party (BJP) a distant third. Save in two or three constituencies which
may see multi-cornered contests, the polls appear likely to be fought
on the same lines as last time.

However, as noteworthy as the similarities are the dissimilarities.
Unlike in the 2001 and 2006 Assembly elections and the 2004 Lok Sabha
elections, all of which produced one-sided results in favour of either
of the two major alliances, no major wave is in evidence in the State
as the curtain goes up on the campaign.

Again, unlike in the past, it was not the UDF which threatened to
unravel at the seams because of sharp differences over seat sharing,
but the LDF, a fortnight-long squabble for seats ending in the exit of
Janata Dal (Secular) from the alliance. The CPI (M) is also faced with
some organised dissident threat in at least a few of the north Kerala
constituencies, something unheard of in the past.

 The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) ar also
in the fray and could be expected to win substantial number of votes.

Girish Menon

The official map of the Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha constituency
resembles a “V.”. But who will emerge victorious at the end of the day
in this constituency that is attracting global attention because one of
the contestants has an international profile is a question not easy to
answer. The Congress has fielded the former United Nations Under
Secretary-General, Shashi Tharoor. His opponents are Communist Party of
India district secretary P. Ramachandran Nair , the Bharatiya Janata
Party State president P.K. Krishnadas and former Minister and Bahujan
Samajwadi Party leader A. Neelalohithadasan Nadar. The contest could
get further muddled if Vijayan Thomas, chairman of the Congress
television channel Jaihind, decides to stay put as a rebel.

Direct ticket

Mr. Tharoor has flown in with “special landing rights” from the
Congress high command. The local Congress air traffic control (ATC,”
the Congress workers, initially flashed the red light, but once it
became known that Mr. Tharoor has a direct ticket, the opposition
simply melted. In fact, Mr. Tharoor’s takeoff has been quite smooth
unlike some of his fellow Congress contestants .

The usual factors such as caste equations, strong pro-Left and
anti-Left sentiments, the influence of impartial voters and the stature
of candidates will have a bearing on the outcome. The contours of the
constituency have marginally changed following delimitation. But
political parties do not expect this to alter the voting
preferences.The “N” factor — the Nadars and Nairs — is likely to play
an important role.

No pushovers

Neelalohithadasan Nadar, BSP candidate, could give pose a headache
to the UDF and the LDF candidates. He is obviously banking on the Nadar
vote bank and his candidature assumes significance in the context of
the community’s show of strength through the successful conduct of the
Nadar Mahasammelan. Mr. Nadar hopes to made good the loss of the
pre-dominantly Nadar Kattakada Assembly segment to Attingal by
polarising SC/ST votes around BSP chief Mayawati and the BSP plank. He
could cut into both the LDF and UDF vote banks.

From Chitradurga

Staff Correspondent

The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP)
has already announced  M. Jayanna will be the face of the party.

Chitradurga: Chitradurga, which is a drought-prone district, has
been grouped as one among the most backward districts of the State in
the D.M. Nanjundappa committee report on regional imbalances.

With inadequate irrigation facilities and paucity of water
resources, the district, whose economy is largely based on agriculture,
has witnessed 59 droughts in the past 100 years.

The district, which is barely 190 km from State capital, has not
seen much socio-economic development for decades and is poorly rated in
a number of sectors such as agriculture, industry and education.

Mainly farmers

According the District Development Report 2004, 72.10 per cent of
the population depends on agriculture. Only 12.71 per cent of land in
the district is irrigated as against the State average of 23.76 per
cent.

Chitradurga is ranked 16th in the State’s Human Development Index.
The literacy rate is 64.88 per cent whereas the State’s literacy rate
is 67.05 per cent, according to the 2001 Census.

There are no large industries, and the sector is made up of
small-scale and cottage industries, mainly textiles such as wool, silk
and cotton.

Even these industries are dwindling owing to the high cost of inputs, lack of marketing facilities and declining profit.

Challakere taluk is known for its wool industry. Eight years ago,
the taluk had over 200 families of weavers. Now they number 150.

A similar situation prevails in Molakalmur, which is the hub for the
district’s silk industry. Just over two years ago, the taluk had nearly
2,000 handlooms, which have declined to less than 1,000.

Vani Vilas Sugar Factory is the only one in the district, but even that has been defunct for years.

The major demands of the people of the district are implementation
of the ambitious Upper Bhadra irrigation project, which will not only
increase the area under irrigation but also come as a boost to
industries, and a Chitradurga-Bangalore railway link, connecting
Tumkur.

Rich in minerals

Experts also believe that a huge amount of revenue can be raised if
minerals such as manganese and iron, which are abundant in the
district, and gold, are exploited.

Unfortunately, only a section of people has prospered through rampant illegal mining.

With a substantial presence of Scheduled Castes in the district, the
major political parties are hunting for a suitable candidate.

BANGALORE: The Election Commission of India, political parties and
candidates will incur an expenditure of over Rs. 10,000 crore during
the three-month-long run-up to the Lok Sabha elections. The expenditure
incurred in the 2004 Lok Sabha elections was Rs. 4,500 crore.

State Chief Electoral Officer M.N. Vidyashankar on Monday said the
commission, political parties and candidates incurred an expenditure of
Rs. 10.28 crore during the first Lok Sabha elections in 489
constituencies in 1952. The official expenses of the Election
Commission alone would increase from Rs. 950 crore in 2004 to Rs. 1,800
crore in 2009. Political parties and candidates were expected spend Rs.
8,200 crore during the five-phase elections in April and May, he said
at a meet-the-press programme organised by the Press Club of Bangalore
and the Bangalore Reporters’ Guild here.

The commission would spend about Rs. 3 crore in each Lok Sabha
constituency (total 28) in the State. However, the use of electronic
voting machines had reduced, to some extent, the expenditure of the
commission. Earlier, the Commission required 8,500 tonnes of paper for
printing ballot papers, he said.

Maintaining that elector’s photo identity card (EPIC) coverage had
touched 78 per cent in the State, he said Voter Facilitation Centres
(VFCs) had been opened in 50 urban Assembly constituencies to increase
the coverage to 85 per cent before the first phase of elections on
April 23.

Full coverage planned

He said the commission had decided to open VFCs in all 224 Assembly
constituencies after the elections to achieve 100 per cent EPIC
coverage. Tenders would be called after elections and work would be
assigned to two vendors, he said. Kerala had achieved 99.77 per cent
coverage.

Mr. Vidyashankar, who recently held a meeting with his Kerala
counterpart, said Kerala took three years to increase the EPIC coverage
from 85 per cent to 99 per cent. Lack of interest among voters in
obtaining the cards was one of the major reasons for Karnataka being
unable to achieve higher coverage, he said.

Referring to security arrangements, he said the Centre had been
urged to deploy 50 companies of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF)
for the first and second phases of polling. As many as 225 companies
were deployed for the 2004 elections.

As many as 325 cases of violation of the model code of conduct had
been reported across the State, and illegal liquor worth Rs. 61 lakh
had been seized. The police on Monday seized 258 boxes of liquor being
illegally transported to Belgaum from Goa, he said.

Asked whether the Director-General and Inspector-General of Police
had submitted a report on holding the Hindu Samajotsava, Mr.
Vidyashankar said he has sought more time to submit the report.

Staff Correspondent

Madikeri: “Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati is sure to become the
next Prime Minister of the country ” general secretary of the State unit of the
party N. Mahesh said here on Monday.

He was addressing party workers at a convention here, coinciding
with the birth anniversary of BSP leader Kanshiram. The BSP would win all the 80 seats in Uttar Pradesh, he noted. The party had not
entered into any pre-poll alliance with other political parties in the
country or the State, Mr. Mahesh clarified. The BSP did not even have
any understanding with the Janata Dal (S) and the workers need not be
under any sort of confusion, he added.

Mr. Mahesh stated that the BSP would contest all the 28 Lok Sabha
seats in Karnataka. It would announce the list containing names of the
party candidates after the Congress and the BJP announced their lists,
he said.

He criticised the Congress, which had set out with the Bharat
Punarnirman slogan, saying it will only end in a fiasco. The United
Progressive Alliance Government boasted of bringing down the inflation
rate to an all-time low, but it had not brought down the prices of
essential commodities.

This was the achievement of the UPA, he remarked. He accused the
Congress of trying to fool the people on this score. The goal of the
BSP was to ensure the defeat of the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi,
and her son, Rahul Gandhi, in the elections. Their defeats would also
result in the “death” of the Congress in the country, Mr. Mahesh
stated.

Turning his ire on the BJP, Mr. Mahesh said that party was trying to
divide the people on the basis of caste and religion. This had pushed
the nation to a state of peril. There was no future for the country
under the BJP, he said and added that those who praised Lord Ram
attacked Rahim. How could people trust the BJP, he asked. That was the
reason why the BSP was goading people to repose faith in it and only it
could ensure the development of the nation, he said.

Kodagu district vice-president of the BSP, Rafiq Khan, presided over the convention.

Staff Reporter

Bangalore: Don’t you have name in the voters’ list but eager to
exercise your right in the forthcoming elections to the Lok Sabha?

Then hurry up. You have got just two days to register as a voter as
March 25 is the last date for submitting application forms for
inclusion of names in the voters’ list.

Application forms are available at the 28 Voter Felicitation Centre
(VFC) set up exclusively for the respective Assembly constituencies
coming under the jurisdiction of the BBMP and Bangalore Urban district.
The VFC are open from 8 a.m. to 12 noon and 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.

To know details call the following VFCs of different assembly constituencies:

Rajarajehswarinagar Assembly constituency (32494419); Shivajinagar
(32494456); Shanthinagar (32494457); Gandhinagar (32494458);
Rajajinagar (32491663); Chamarajpet (32484182); Chickpet (32484183);
K.R. Puram (32494418); Mahalakshmi Layout (32494424/28); Malleswaram
(32494426); Hebbal (32494427); Pulakeshinagar (32494447); Sarvagnanagar
(32494448); C.V. Raman Nagar (32494454); Govindarajanagar (32491668);
Vijayanagar (32491953); Basavanagudi (32484185); Padmanabhanagar
(32484186); BTM Layout (32474187); Jayanagar (32471600); Bommanahalli
(32471594); Yelahanka (28560763); Byatarayanapura (22975936);
Yeshwanthpur (28484216); Dasarahalli (28375725); Mahadevapura
(32484532); Bangalore South (26712338); and Anekal (080-7835700).