Tough battle ahead

The Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman election saw the Opposition come close, yet remain firmly away from scoring a victory over the BJP. The electoral outcome reflects the hard political competition and cold arithmetic that marks the landscape ahead of elections in key States later this year and the Lok Sabha polls in 2019, as well as the continued edge the Narendra Modi-led NDA enjoys over an opposition that’s struggling to unite.

Mysuru

Apropos the news report ‘NDA candidate Harivansh Singh elected Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman’ (August 10), the BJP’s top brass must be feeling at the top of the world after the NDA candidate and JD(U) member was declared elected, securing 125 votes as against 105 polled by opposition candidate BK Hariprasad. It was nice to see Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Leader of the House Arun Jaitley (who is recuperating after a renal transplant) and Leader of the Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad all ‘congratulating’ him on his elevation to such a key position.

But the highly jubilant Harivansh Narayan Singh, who later presided over the proceedings of the House amidst big applause and thumping of desks, had to begin his new assignment with the adjourning’of the Upper House till 2 pm. He, however, will get enough opportunities to prove his political maturity and his mettle too.

Amit Shah, the BJP’s chief, deserves to be complimented for so astutely playing all his political cards that virtually turned the tables on the overconfident ‘United Opposition’ as the NDA badly lacked the requisite numbers in the Rajya Sabha. But then, lady luck finally smiled on the NDA here too. In fact, the BJP must truly be grateful to Congress President Rahul Gandhi for committing a self-goal by not doing enough to ensure that all the constituents of the so-called ‘Mahagathbandhan’ actually voted in favour of Hariprasad, a candidate of his own party.

Interestingly, it’s also reportedly gathered that the RJD also voted in favour of the NDA candidate. More significantly, the AAP, the BJP’s well known bete-noire, also thought it wise to abstain from the voting as Rahul Gandhi failed to make a courtesy call to Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal. Perhaps, Rahul still has miles to go before he attains the much needed political maturity.

Panchkula, Haryana

In the article ‘Some are more equal’ (August 10), the author has nicely collated the relevant information and lucidly elucidated the facts. The facility galore enjoyed by VIPs and lack of basic amenities to the Very Ordinary People (VOP) clearly shows the former category is more equal than the ordinary mortals. Everyone pays tax but why should there be disparity among VIPs and VOPs? It is time people at the helm of affairs changed for the better and prove that ours is a classless society.

Bengaluru

The flood in Kerala is of Biblical proportions. It is a disaster, the scale of which is beyond comprehension. It is sorrowful that 27 persons lost their lives to the deluge unprecedented in our times. The downward spread of ‘milky’ water from the top of the Idukki arch dam, telecast constantly, has become the symbol of the natural disaster. The ‘partition’ of a road was only the ‘runner-up’. The shutters of 24 dams had to be opened to prevent spill-over and breach of dam walls. Many relief camps were set up across the State. Flood waters have caused havoc throughout the State while surging into the Arabian Sea. The damage to crops, dwellings and infrastructural facilities is sure to run into thousands of crores of rupees. The Centre must declare it a ‘national calamity’.

Glimpses of heavy rainfall, rush of water, inundated lands, landslips, rivers in full spate, flooded roads with floating or stuck vehicles, collapsed bridges, uprooted trees and electric poles, submerged houses and rescue operations by disaster management personnel in the State have given us a sense of the enormity of the disaster.

Thiruvananthapuram

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