10 DEMOCRACY AT WORK MUMBAI | 19 MAY 2019 > Tea party politics DID THEY REALLY SAY THAT? CHECKLIST What was behind Sonia Gandhi’s invitation to opposition parties to a tea party on May THE LAST PHASE OF ELECTIONS: SOME INTERESTING CONTESTS 23 ? Apparently, the effort was to forestall invitations by others and ensure the Congress had the initiative. The first attempt to create a common front was taken by Telugu Desam n Ujjain: This is a seat reserved for Scheduled Caste rickshaw to reach out to his voters. The Akali Dal- Party (TDP) leader Chandrababu Naidu, who reached out to all non-BJP parties including candidates. The BJP has fielded Anil Firojiya from BJP combine has fielded former minister Surjit the Congress to hold a meeting on May 21 to address a strategy on May 23 . the seat against Congress' Babulal Malviya. In the Singh Rakhra from this seat. The Aam Aadmi Party However, Trinamool Congress chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee 2014 general polls, Chintamani Malviya of the BJP (AAP) has fielded greenhorn Neena Mittal, an CHATTERBOX was markedly unenthusiastic about the meeting, informing Naidu that she would have defeated his Congress rival by a margin of 309,663 activist who worked for the party during the 2013 to stay confined to the state to prevent any mischief while counting. votes, or 30.5 per cent votes. This is pretty steep Delhi Assembly elections. Kaur lost the 2014 Naidu’s intention was to act as an honest broker — he firmly believes that he is the only margin. Then why was Malaviya not fielded again? elections by a margin of just 20,000 votes. one who can persuade both Mamata and the Congress to the come to sit at the same Apparently because of the influence exercised by n Ghazipur: You might have thought that table. He shared his ideas over a phone call to other Opposition leaders, including DMK’s Union Minister Thawarchand Gehlot who also between united opposition candidate and well- Stalin, JDS’ Kumaraswamy and Samajwadi Party’s Akhilesh Yadav. Naidu even suggested belongs to this region. The BJP decided on a neutral known mafia leader Afzal Ansari and Union that opposition leaders should meet President Ram Nath Kovind, urging him to consider candidate and this could be a recipe for disaster, Minister Manoj Sinha, the choice would be 22 parties as a single bloc, while inviting the single largest group — rather than a party — given that the Congress won four of the five obvious. But it is not. Sinha is facing a tough fight, to form the government in the case of a hung Lok Sabha. “Whatever has been said about Gandhi or Assembly segments in the 2018 assembly polls. given that at the height of the Modi wave he Godse, these kind of statements are very bad n However, Mamata’s irritation with the Congress (which has put up candidates in every and worth contempt... In a cultured society, this Patiala: A seat much in contention. Preneet managed to win the seat in 2014 by a margin of constituency that has a sizeable Muslim population, thus cutting into the TMC’s votes) type of language is not permissible... Though Kaur, popularly known as Maharani Sahiba (she is only 33,000 votes. Moreover, caste, rather than is palpable and she really doesn’t want to share a platform with the party that, in her she has apologised, I won't be able to pardon Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh’s wife. He development, is a big issue here. Yadavs, Dalits view, is enabling a BJP victory. her with my heart" is the Maharaja of Patiala) will face sitting and Muslims are 50 per cent of the voting Hence Sonia Gandhi’s decision to step in. Gandhi believes Mamata will not be able to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on BJP’s Bhopal candidate Pragya Member of Parliament Dharamvir Gandhi, a population. Modi is popular but, if the Opposition say ‘no’ to her. Singh Thakur calling Nathuram Godse a deshbhakt, 17 May cardiologist by profession, who prefers to use a unites Sinha could be in for a shock. reason behind Pragya Thakur's candidature a national loss. They should understand this. OPINION from the BJP? Do you buy their claim that They have stopped funds related to toilets and they want to prove there is no such thing MNREGA as well. Even government officials RAM NATH KOVIND such as saffron terrorism? have been brainwashed by the BJP and RSS peo- This is a doomed experiment. You must ple. Like MP, they also tried to create a fake elec- remember how they fielded Kiran Bedi in Delhi tricity crisis during the election. We have started and she lost. Similarly, Pragya Thakur will face an inquiry against them. We are doing our bit A message to IFS a heavy defeat. In the Sunil Joshi murder case, to solve the problem. the then BJP government of Shivraj Singh Chouhan lodged the FIR against her. She is a When the Congress was in the Opposition, it trainees: Reach habitual offender. Her brother lives in sought dismissal of controversial senior IPS Chhattisgarh and she was arrested here for a officer S R P Kalluri. But when it came to knife attack. Even for a moment, if we believe power, he was put in-charge of the Economic the argument that she has been framed in the Offence Wing? out and serve Malegaon blast case, my question is: Who The reason is very clear. He is considered to be framed her? The BJP was ruling in Madhya a close aide of Raman Singh, who made him I warmly welcome you to Rashtrapati Bhavan. It is always a Pradesh for 15 years, the party is at the Centre meet Prime Minister Modi defying all protocols. pleasure for me to interact with our youth, and more so, when for the past five years now. The accountability I thought let him investigate the scams that they happen to be the ones ready to enhance our external should have been fixed against the officers who took place during Singhs' era. Now, he has been relations and contribute to nation-building. framed her. As far as saf- transferred to the post of I congratulate you on joining the Indian Foreign Service fron terrorism is con- additional transport com- (IFS), and the two Officer Trainees from the Royal Bhutan cerned, the term was “NOT ONLY IN missioner. He has not been Foreign Service. It is, indeed, a privilege to represent one’s coined by former home sec- given any field posting. country. This privilege entails a deep commitment from you to retary R K Singh. He was CHHATTISGARH BUT serve the people of India. I hope you will attend to this higher given a ticket by the BJP ACROSS THE Chhatisgarh is a Maoist- call of duty with pride, humility and dedication. I am happy and was even made a COUNTRY, PEOPLE affected state. What is your that, as a group, you represent India’s diversity in every sense of Cabinet minister later. road map to tackle the the term. It is equally satisfying that we continue to see greater HAVE SUFFERED situation? gender balance in the newer batches of the IFS. ILLUSTRATION BY BINAY SINHA Like in Madhya Pradesh, FROM STEPS LIKE If the previous government You have had an intensive six-month training at the Foreign the Chhattisgarh DEMONETISATION had taken the right steps, this Service Institute. It has given you an all-round exposure to the Chhattisgarh Chief Minister BHUPESH BAGHEL played a crucial role in delivering a two-thirds government has also problem would not have political, economic and cultural facets of India. You have learnt majority for the Congress party in the 2018 Assembly elections. He remains assured that the party announced a farm loan AND THE increased this much. The about our national interests and its linkages with the outside will make a clean sweep in the Lok Sabha election as well. Excerpts from an interview with waiver. What is the INTRODUCTION OF Maoists, once limited to four world; of our hard-power options and soft-power influence; of Sandeep Kumar where he discusses various issues — from politics to Left Wing extremism and the model? Is the government THE GOODS AND districts, are now operating our expansive global agenda; and of the geopolitical future road map for the mineral rich state’s development waiving the loan with its in 14. Confidence building is complexities facing us. budgetary provision or SERVICE TAX” the only measure that can There could not be a better time to join the IFS. India’s role banks are also writing off solve this problem. We want and influence in the international arena is expanding. some of the amounts? to build confidence in the Geopolitics and geo-economics are drawing Asia to the center See, till date, we have tribal people of Naxalite- of global power relations. And, in this matrix, India has an waived off the loan with “WE WANT TO affected areas. The western important role to play — as a driver of global growth and as an ‘Jobs, agrarian the help of the exchequer. BUILD CONFIDENCE model of development can’t influential voice in global governance. We have initiated the win their trust. We returned We are living in an age of rapid changes. As a country, we process but due to the IN THE TRIBAL them the land acquired by have taken 70 years to become an economy of $2.5 trillion, but model code of conduct, it PEOPLE OF Tata group.