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One day,
three chief ministers, different tales
Wednesday November 24, 2010 08:26:22 PM,
Minu Jain, IANS
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New Delhi: One chief
minister rode to incredible victory on a development agenda,
another stayed put in office defying taint and sections of his
party, and a third quit saying he was too old - the differing
sagas of Nitish Kumar in Bihar, B.S. Yeddyurappa in Karnataka and
K. Rosaiah in Andhra Pradesh occupied the political mindspace
Wednesday.
The three chief ministers were at the centre of the proverbial
storm on a day when political developments had the nation hooked.
While Nitish Kumar led his Janata Dal-United (JD-U) and Bharatiya
Janata Party (BJP) to a historic electoral victory in Bihar by
decimating Lalu Prasad's Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the
Congress, Yeddyurappa managed to cling on as the Karnataka chief
minister despite enormous pressure on the BJP to take action
against him on allegations of corruption.
And Congress' Rosaiah, 78, paved the way for a successor by opting
out of the rat race on grounds of health.
Jubilation, righteous anger, defensive postures… the lines blurred
as the principal parties in the country took various stands on the
three issues.
The fast moving developments across the country comes at a time
when the Manmohan Singh-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA)
government and the BJP-led opposition were locked in combat over a
parliamentary probe into the 2G spectrum scam and parliament has
been unable to conduct any business for nine days. There are bound
to be widespread ramifications, analysts said.
Nitish Kumar's stupendous win, with the BJP/JD-U alliance bagging
204 seats of the 243 in Bihar, came in for kudos from all
quarters, including from the Congress and Lalu Prasad.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi admitted that the results
indicated that the party "has to start from scratch". Her
colleague Home Minister P. Chidambaram also doffed his hat to
Nitish Kumar for the "great show" and said the "development
argument has prevailed".
But the party also went on the offensive on the decision of the
BJP to let Yeddyurappa stay despite the allegations of corruption
and nepotism over land grabbing charges.
"When we compare the action that our party takes with the action
that other parties take, as you have mentioned, the BJP in
Karnataka, it is for people to judge. I am confident they will
judge us more positively than other parties," Gandhi told
reporters when asked if Yeddyurappa should quit.
Others felt that the decision of the BJP would dent its
credibility, particularly at a time when it was taking the lead in
attacking the government on corruption charges, particularly the
2G spectrum issue in which it has even named Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh.
BJP president Nitin Gadkari said the allegations would be looked
into and added: "With panchayat and district parishad elections
round the corner, the party appeals to all its leaders and workers
to work unitedly for its success."
Yeddyurappa, 67, is the BJP's first-ever chief minister in south
India.
While the BJP tossed between elation at the electoral victory and
defensiveness on Yeddyurappa, the Congress also braced for some
instability in Andhra Pradesh with the exit of Rosaiah.
He had taken over as the chief minister Sep 3 last year after the
death of Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy in a helicopter crash.
The resignation came amid mounting pressure from a section of the
party leaders to act against party MP Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy in the
wake of a programme telecast by the latter's Sakshi channel
criticising Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
Union minister S. Jaipal Reddy and state assembly Speaker N.
Kirankumar Reddy and state minister J. Geeta Reddy are among the
frontrunners for his post.
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