Golden opportunity

Every political party is supporting the bullion traders' demand for excise duty rollback on gold jewellery. RJD leader Lalu Prasad went to meet the Finance Minister on this issue. The Congress also requested him to consider the jewellers' demand sympathetically. The reason: The forthcoming MCD election in Delhi, where traders would be influential voters. So, each party is working hard to express its concern. They also know that the Finance Minister will announce his decision after the polling.

Ekla chalo re?

The Mamata Banerjee government is yet to complete a year; even so, the future of the ruling Trinamool and Congress coalition is hanging in the balance. Both parties have already traded accusations, leading to the resignation of a Congress minister. Be it the infamous Park Street rape case, restricting mainstream media subscriptions in state-sponsored libraries, or the mushrooming of chit funds in the State, the Congress has expressed its differences. Now, with a year to go before the panchayat polls, the state PCC chief is non-committal on whether the parties will go it together.

Week of reckoning

The week is expected to be quite important for former chief minister B. S. Yeddyurappa's career: the Supreme Court-appointed Central Empowered Committee and the Forest Bench of that court will deliver their judgments in two cases involving him. The BJP leader in charge of Karnataka, Mr Dharmendra Pradhan, is expected to arrive in Bangalore to get first-hand knowledge of the situation in the State party. BJP watchers say that if Yeddyurappa overcomes these hurdles, it will become very difficult for the High Command to keep the CM's gaddi away from him.

Poverty line

The Maharashtra government, which is already facing the heat due to a series of scandals and allegations of favouritism by its ministers and bureaucrats, finds itself in an ever-deeper morass. The abuse of power and position in the Adarsh case, and in Subhash Ghai's Whistling Woods case, has already rocked the State Government. Now, a leaked report of the CAG has alleged that a few ministers had declared a very low monthly income, so that they could acquire large apartments under the government quota in suburban Mumbai.

Super CM

Telugu Desam Chief and former chief minister Chandrababu Naidu says Ghulam Nabi Azad is the “super CM' of Andhra. At a news conference, he said the High Command rules the State by remote control. This is because the current Chief Minister, Kiran Kumar Reddy and the PCC(I) Chief, Mr Botcha Satyanarayana, seem to be at loggerheads. As the ruling dispensation's fortunes at the hustings and on the State's performance on the economic front continue to slide, the party is simmering with internal strife. The liquor syndicate, the mining scandals, and the growing number of party politicians, corporates and state bureaucrats being questioned by the CBI are only adding to the growing infighting. Scope for intervention by the high command are bound to increase.

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