LAND PRICES may be crashing all across the country, but not in Tamil Nadu’s Tirunelveli and adjoining districts which of late are witness to land sharks from Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and other cities descending in droves, many of them either relatives or close associates of some union ministers.
The buzz is that several auxiliary units for the Kudankulam Atomic Power Project, that is to become operational next year, are to be set up in the area, for which thousands of acres need to be acquired. After the Nandigram and Singur fiascos, the DMK government has decided not to play middleman in deals involving villagers land. But there is no shortage of brokers. Every other revenue official or village officer in the district is ready to moonlight for the right consideration. Since the buyers are the well connected, the petty officials need have no fear of retribution.
Ring, ring... no one’s answering
THE STEEP drop in their net worth is not the only reason that some of India Inc’s leading lights are taking refuge on foreign shores. A lot of them have simply vamoosed because it is the election silly season when there is increased demand on their rapidly depleting resources from the political class. Desperate politicians who store the handset numbers of such honchos on their speed dials are alarmed at their frantic calls eliciting the standard monotone response: the number you are dialling is out of reach.
The rich and the powerful from Mumbai and Delhi have switched off their primary numbers and are using unlisted ones until elections are over and demand wanes. A conservative estimate would put the joint e
xpenditure of the Congress and the BJP in the five heartland states at about Rs 500 crore and high command leaders of both parties and even chief ministers of poll bound states are enlisting the support of the intelligence network to track down the traditional liberal donors. The only one unperturbed is Behen Mayawati who, like Barack Obama, accumulates her millions in small change.
Even in these bad times, the Congress is perhaps placed better than the BJP to collect money from states that are not poll bound. It has sought assistance of its chief ministers in the financial powerhouses of Maharashtra, Andhra and Haryana to mop up resources, but in the BJP, Narendra Modi, chief minister of Gujarat, arguably India’s fastest growing state, refuses to play ball, while BS Yedyurappa, a toddler still trying to find his feet, is wary of taking risks. It can at best bank on PK Dhumal in Himachal and Khanduri in Uttarakhand and there is not much that two of India’s smallest states can do to put a smile on the face of the saffronites. But they can take heart from the flip side. At least the rich donors won’t be able to claim ownership of the party. PEOPLE have already lost confidence in politicians, but God forbid, is their cynicism now spreading to the judiciary? For years now, people kept faith in the judiciary and still continue to. Times are fast changing as cases pile up about the misdeeds of the men in black and there are rising demands that the judiciary clean the Augean stables. Fortunately, in K. G. Balakrishnan, the country has a chief justice who has heard these howls of protests and sent out the message that however high My Lords may consider themselves to be, they have to face the process of law.
The CBI and other investigative agencies are busy at work gathering information on the Ghaziabad Provident Fund Scam in which nearly three dozen judges, including one from the apex court and several from high courts and district courts across the country are under the scanner.
I am told that in a few days time, the CBI will hand over what they say is irrefutable evidence to the CJI for his perusal and whatever action he may choose to take. The heads of many sitting judges are expected to roll, several more retired ones will be shamed. The CJI has already won admiration for the manner in which he confronted tainted judges with evidence and forced some to resign though the obstinate ones are holding out. More power to his gavel.
CEC is the bugbear of the UPA
CONVENTIONAL wisdom suggests that the dates for the General Elections will be decided sometime in December after the results of the impending Assembly elections are known. Nothing could be more off the mark because there are other factors at work. True, Manmohan Singh wants to go in for early elections and Sonia Gandhi, Lalu Prasad, Sharad Pawar et al would rather wait till the last minute.
I have reason to believe that whichever way the results turn out next month, we may have to wait a couple of more months to know the schedule. The reason is a man who goes by the name of N. Gopalaswami. The Chief Election Commissioner has been the UPA government’s bugbear and in the three- man Commission, no member talks to another ( when they do, it is to agree to disagree).
The government is loath to go to the polls under Gopalaswami. The good news for the UPA is that he is due to retire on April 15. But the bad news is that the 15th Lok Sabha must be constituted by May, to enable which, the election process must start well in advance. Over- enthusiastic Congressmen are now mooting for the EC to be converted into a four- or five- member body where the extra seats will be filled up by loyalists who will not ask inconvenient questions.
One name being suggested is P. C. Haldar, the IB chief, who is to retire soon and who may be rewarded for past favours. Like the trust vote scam in July when Haldar’s inputs to his mentor, the National Security Advisor M. K. Narayanan, went a long way in making July 22, 2008, one of the most disgraceful days in Indian parliamentary history. In this season of cricketing cheer, who knows, the day will soon come when the EC has enough members to field its own Twenty20 team.
WITH THE economy slowing down, everything seems to have a “ For Sale” tag attached to it. But you wouldn’t expect our politicians to pin similar tags on election tickets, would you? You’d be wrong if you didn’t. 
'Tulsi has left a lasting impression'
xpenditure of the Congress and the BJP in the five heartland states at about Rs 500 crore and high command leaders of both parties and even chief ministers of poll bound states are enlisting the support of the intelligence network to track down the traditional liberal donors. The only one unperturbed is Behen Mayawati who, like Barack Obama, accumulates her millions in small change.
NEVER in recent times has the relationship between the government and Corporate India been as cosy as during the last four and half years of the UPA Government. It is easy to understand why business honchos prefer to be “ politically correct” and stay on the right side of the establishment. But with our politicians – both from the ruling combine and the Opposition – showing a tendency to openly wine and dine with industry titans, it almost seems as if the two are made for each other.
gs have become transparent, they have also become too frequent for comfort. In any given month, the Prime Minister, his Cabinet colleagues and even the Leader of the Opposition are seen spending more time attending conferences organised by FICCI, CII, ASSOCHAM and other such bodies than attending party workers meetings.
