AP Politics and runup to 2014 General elections

[Muppalla]

LK Advani says that govt should only introduce vote of account in this session of Parliament and nothing else.

Let him first stick to it and ensure that any other bills are not passed. BJP has the experience of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

[ShyamSP]

LK Advani says that govt should only introduce vote of account in this session of Parliament and nothing else.

Three cheers to Advani saar for saying that. I hope the rest of the parties and MPs have the brains to stick to this. Kongis are damaging the democracy and dhesh for their own selfish ends.

In 2009, there was news Congress may not win majority so immediately there was fire in secratariat housing some important files.
It was AP's bad luck he got 51% to win second term.

Congress is doing same "burning" act.

[vina]

TV showing gas masks recovered from the Lok Sabha. So much for "self defense" argument in use of pepper spray. It was a well planned and predetermined thing. The Govt looks like it will slap attempt to murder chargers on this L. Rajagopal dude.

I hope they get the banks to call in all their NPAs in Lanco and take it over and sell it off in an auction after wiping out all of L Rajagopal's assets and collateral.

[Yogi_G]

I agree we need separate lines for MPs/MLAs everywhere. Common man needs to be separated from such goons.

[johneeG]

[

In 2009, there was news Congress may not win majority so immediately there was fire in secratariat housing some important files.
It was AP's bad luck he got 51% to win second term.

Congress is doing same "burning" act.

I am convinced it was evm magic. And the kongis got vote because of YSR's united AP pitch in the second phase of election. And TDP got burned by allying with TRS. TDP had over-estimated the power of TRS.

BTW, this whole affair shows the utter failure of TDP leadership in countering the kongis and their Bs. It is also the failure of the BJP that they have been unable to make inroads into AP despite such failure by both parties particularly the kongis. Just goes to show that kongis survive due to the inefficiency of its opponents rather than its own merits. BJP should have brought down this kongi sarkaar immediately after 4-0.

----
Vina,
you seem to have some grouse on Lanco which seems to be clouding your mind on this issue.

[kmkraoind]

TV showing gas masks recovered from the Lok Sabha. So much for "self defense" argument in use of pepper spray. It was a well planned and predetermined thing. The Govt looks like it will slap attempt to murder chargers on this L. Rajagopal dude.

I hope they get the banks to call in all their NPAs in Lanco and take it over and sell it off in an auction after wiping out all of L Rajagopal's assets and collateral.

It seems so, even Sachin Tendulkar has been tipped of earlier by SA MPs Probably those masks were hoarded to be used in any bio-nuclear attack, but paid media is brandishing it as a big conspiracy.

[RajeshA]

TV showing gas masks recovered from the Lok Sabha. So much for "self defense" argument in use of pepper spray. It was a well planned and predetermined thing. The Govt looks like it will slap attempt to murder chargers on this L. Rajagopal dude.

I hope they get the banks to call in all their NPAs in Lanco and take it over and sell it off in an auction after wiping out all of L Rajagopal's assets and collateral.

Aren't gas masks standard issue for Parliament in case of enemy attack?

[anjan]

to save his homeland - Andhra Pradesh. Andhra Pradesh Assembly has already rejected the AP Reorganization Bill. Still their sentiments are not being respected, and it being put to a vote in Lok Sabha.

Really? A constitutional power exercised by the Parliament of the republic is to be stopped by violence? Screw sentiment. The power vests with the Parliament. End of story. Want to change the law? Get in line and do it the way other laws get changed. Otherwise tomorrow anyone who disagrees with anything can go around physically attacking other MPs.

Ironic how the same folks fling "Anarchist" around so liberally on the AAP dhaaga. With patriots like these we don't need the Pakis.

[ShyamSP]

to save his homeland - Andhra Pradesh. Andhra Pradesh Assembly has already rejected the AP Reorganization Bill. Still their sentiments are not being respected, and it being put to a vote in Lok Sabha.

Really? A constitutional power exercised by the Parliament of the republic is to be stopped by violence? Screw sentiment. The power vests with the Parliament. End of story. Want to change the law? Get in line and do it the way other laws get changed. Otherwise tomorrow anyone who disagrees with anything can go around physically attacking other MPs.

Ironic how the same folks fling "Anarchist" around so liberally on the AAP dhaaga. With patriots like these we don't need the Pakis.

No one is saying on Constitutional power of Parliament.

If one MP attacks another MP in Parliament, what should the attackee do? Constitutional power of parliament hasn't written anything on it. So it becomes self-defense.

Even if PM tries to shoot opposition leader, opposition leader can defend himself and shoot back. It is Nature's law. Constitutional power of parliament is damned in that case.

[RajeshA]

to save his homeland - Andhra Pradesh. Andhra Pradesh Assembly has already rejected the AP Reorganization Bill. Still their sentiments are not being respected, and it being put to a vote in Lok Sabha.

Really? A constitutional power exercised by the Parliament of the republic is to be stopped by violence? Screw sentiment. The power vests with the Parliament. End of story. Want to change the law? Get in line and do it the way other laws get changed. Otherwise tomorrow anyone who disagrees with anything can go around physically attacking other MPs.

Ironic how the same folks fling "Anarchist" around so liberally on the AAP dhaaga. With patriots like these we don't need the Pakis.

Well Pepper Spray has always been the weapon of the weak and is useful only in stalling the aggressor for a short time! It is a defensive weapon!

Let's not exaggerate the "violence" aspect of Pepper Spray. It was a protest in the face of Congress arrogance.

[johneeG]

to save his homeland - Andhra Pradesh. Andhra Pradesh Assembly has already rejected the AP Reorganization Bill. Still their sentiments are not being respected, and it being put to a vote in Lok Sabha.

Really? A constitutional power exercised by the Parliament of the republic is to be stopped by violence? Screw sentiment. The power vests with the Parliament. End of story. Want to change the law? Get in line and do it the way other laws get changed. Otherwise tomorrow anyone who disagrees with anything can go around physically attacking other MPs.

Ironic how the same folks fling "Anarchist" around so liberally on the AAP dhaaga. With patriots like these we don't need the Pakis.

Which of the two is the problem:
a) Sarkaar dodging the no-confidence motion using speaker?
or
b) pepper spray as a form of protest?

I think (a) is a bigger problem than (b).

Which of the two is the bigger problem:
a) sarkaar bulldozing through their chosen bills without taking people's concerns on board on important legislations? (Even the principle opposition is complaining)
or
b) 'violent' protest?

I think (a) is a bigger problem than (b).

Protests are natural and normal when the people in power refuse to listen. There has been a continuous peaceful protest for a long time now, but the sarkaar refuses to notice them and brushes it aside. Eventually, people are going to take up a more assertive protest to register their disapproval.

As for Fordriwal:
Even he will gain support and respect if he takes up dharnas against issues that people strongly feel about.(Infact, thats exactly how he gained the support and respect of people. He came to power riding on the back of such protests). But, he is already in power now and people expect him to deliver on many things that he had previously talked about. Instead, he is trying to fell his own sarkaar to play the victim card. And of course, the fact that he is funded by the See Eye A does not do his credibility any good.

Bringing Fordri into this discussion is really a strawman.

[Muppalla]

MPs stopping a bill to be placed, if said in polished good English as filibuster then we all would say wah wah wah. This is very common practice across parliaments. Except that everything happens chaotic is India. Across the world if the Governments tried to introduce a bill that does not have consensus and is being introduced only because of your numbers then filibuster is used. This is bill that was rejected in the state that is being divided. So the government failed to build any consensus and was never determined to build a consensus. Last week of the term they want to push it through. Blaming MPs is not right.

[Muppalla]

Well Pepper Spray has always been the weapon of the weak and is useful only in stalling the aggressor for a short time! It is a defensive weapon!

Let's not exaggerate the "violence" aspect of Pepper Spray. It was a protest in the face of Congress arrogance.

Lagadapati Rajgopal is very weak. The weakest Indians are in the area called Vijayawada - Guntur.

[RajeshA]

Well Pepper Spray has always been the weapon of the weak and is useful only in stalling the aggressor for a short time! It is a defensive weapon!

Let's not exaggerate the "violence" aspect of Pepper Spray. It was a protest in the face of Congress arrogance.

Lagadapati Rajgopal is very weak. The weakest Indians are in the area called Vijayawada - Guntur.

The numbers are 1:10. Seemandhra MPs vs all Congress MPs! As such "pepper spray", a weapon of the weak!

[anjan]

to save his homeland - Andhra Pradesh. Andhra Pradesh Assembly has already rejected the AP Reorganization Bill. Still their sentiments are not being respected, and it being put to a vote in Lok Sabha.

No one is saying on Constitutional power of Parliament.

If you read the quoted part, that's exactly what he's saying. Sentiment offended.. blah blah... okay to pepper spray Parliament. The problem being of course that tomorrow a madman like Kejriwal, who's got a permanent khujli going, will want to do the same thing.

I wonder if people see how dangerous this is. People rejoice because the party we hate, the congress, is shown to be twerps(like further demonstration was needed). The Parliament is however not just about the Congress or even this particular bunch, the 15th LS. You can't have a stable country without stable institutions. If you take the ultimate representative body in the country and break it down in this manner, then in the near future there won't be much of a country left. Agreeing on how to disagree is the fundamental foundation of democracy. Without it we are finished.

I have no quibble with self defence. Anybody initiating violence should have the book thrown at them. That however was not what he was saying.

[Muppalla]

See here
Jaipal Reddy questions Seemandhra MPs

He is saying if T is not passed, there will be violence in the form of T folks attacking SA living colonies in Hyderabad. Who will be responsible for that? This is how the affairs of division are brought down to? All are INC ministers on either side of the aisle are same. The leadership is least concerned or have any power.

[anjan]

MPs stopping a bill to be placed, if said in polished good English as filibuster then we all would say wah wah wah. This is very common practice across parliaments. Except that everything happens chaotic is India. Across the world if the Governments tried to introduce a bill that does not have consensus and is being introduced only because of your numbers then filibuster is used. This is bill that was rejected in the state that is being divided. So the government failed to build any consensus and was never determined to build a consensus. Last week of the term they want to push it through. Blaming MPs is not right.

So? No difference between pepper spraying people and filibustering? I'm curious why with such attitudes you continue to vote. If violence as a means of coercing other MPs is acceptable, why bother at all? What differentiates this approach from that of a Naxal? Atleast they're less lazy and actually pick up a gun and follow through with this philosophical train of thought and apply violence at the lowest level.

Edit: Between this complicated system of fight election, elect an MP - get them to do violence business and the overthrow the government Naxalism there are many shades possible. So I ask, is booth capturing via violence okay? After all you don't seem to think there is much difference between a reasoned speech and violence in conveying your point of view.

[ShyamSP]

No one is saying on Constitutional power of Parliament.

If you read the quoted part, that's exactly what he's saying. Sentiment offended.. blah blah... okay to pepper spray Parliament. The problem being of course that tomorrow a madman like Kejriwal, who's got a permanent khujli going, will want to do the same thing.

I wonder if people see how dangerous this is. People rejoice because the party we hate, the congress, is shown to be twerps(like further demonstration was needed). The Parliament is however not just about the Congress or even this particular bunch, the 15th LS. You can't have a stable country without stable institutions. If you take the ultimate representative body in the country and break it down in this manner, then in the near future there won't be much of a country left. Agreeing on how to disagree is the fundamental foundation of democracy. Without it we are finished.

I have no quibble with self defence. Anybody initiating violence should have the book thrown at them. That however was not what he was saying.

"Constitutional power of parliament" doesn't give to Congress to introduce bill with Goondas. If it gives as you say, same "Constitutional power of parliament" gives right to defend.

Yes you please throw book at Congress. He just used pepper spray.

[Muppalla]

MPs stopping a bill to be placed, if said in polished good English as filibuster then we all would say wah wah wah. This is very common practice across parliaments. Except that everything happens chaotic is India. Across the world if the Governments tried to introduce a bill that does not have consensus and is being introduced only because of your numbers then filibuster is used. This is bill that was rejected in the state that is being divided. So the government failed to build any consensus and was never determined to build a consensus. Last week of the term they want to push it through. Blaming MPs is not right.

So? No difference between pepper spraying people and filibustering? I'm curious why with such attitudes you continue to vote. If violence as a means of coercing other MPs is acceptable, why bother at all? What differentiates this approach from that of a Naxal? Atleast they're less lazy and actually pick up a gun and follow through with this philosophical train of thought and apply violence at the lowest level.

Don't put words in my mouth. There got to be changes so that chaos can come down. Currently, it is a two way street. Right now in every assembly of India the fillbustering is in the form of chaotic sitting in the well with placard around speaker's podium. Shouting down others. Last parl it was display of money and this parl with gas masks etc. This got to change and without changing the way legislative things are conducted, there is nothing much you can complain. This is the current process. Kamal Nath was saying that per law, MPs cannot be frisked and hence knives and sprays entered parl.


Numbers cannot be sole reason to pass bills. Building a decent consensus and then getting them as bill should be there. Remember, Bush inspite of having both houses could not do much as late Ted Kennedy and others wasted senate time to not allow certain bills that are very passionate to Dems. Nowhere you can easily push stuff when your own party members and cabinet members don't like certain things. You got to wait. Things are always chaotically resolved in India and that is not different either in a bus or in Parl.

Where is women's reservation bill? Same fate.

added later:
If you ask my personal opinion, all these SA congress jokers should be put behind bars and ban them from contesting elections again. These are the real reason for the weakening of AP leadership and also division of the state. Some may join BJP and they may win too but they will not change.

[Singha]

brace yourself folks - there will be OUTRAGE on TIMES NOW tonight! Ornob is very angry!

[Muppalla]

At the end my hunch is T-bill will be passed with a voice vote.

[Singha]

how is Jagan expected to fare in elections and who will he support from outside ?

[habal]

Arnab should be congratulated, he has given a lot of new perspectives to Indian media. He has managed to organize the first saas-bahu equivalent for middle-aged & older men.

[vina]

Well, the Seemandhra YumPees are making it harder for ordinary Seemandhra folks. Their focus seems to be on "harvesting" the anger and getting re-elected, while throwing the people under the bus.

Folks, get used to the idea here. Telengana is going to come about. Every party had it in it's manifesto in each of the past 3 elections in Andhra.It is a long pending demand. Not that it materially changes anything for anyone if handled properly. With the monkey antics of the Seemandhra YumPees, you are going to make it very difficult for yourselves to access Hyderabad and use the opportunities there as you would in the normal course of things and why, for those monkeys to re-elected! Have a clean and bitterness free separation, and things will be fine. Multiple examples abound.. Bombay - Guj & MH , Madras in to TN and Andhra, Bihar /Jharkhand, MP/ Chattisgarph, UP/Uttaranchal, Punjab into Haryana & HP. Poison the well, and no one will be able to drink from it.

[Virupaksha]

Unfortunately people in Seemandhra were waiting for Vina Bible.

Now that it has come out, all of them will follow

The first state from public demand was created by them, they have been grappling with this issue on and off for the past 60 years and you think the locals dont know

[Pratyush]

The question that is there is simple. the bill has not been cleared in the state aseembly. how can it be presented in the parliament. can come one answer this.

[Virupaksha]

The question that is there is simple. the bill has not been cleared in the state aseembly. how can it be presented in the parliament. can come one answer this.

because of article 3 of the constitution.

It was created so that during the initial mergings and divisions of royal states by Vallabhbhai Patel and co, they wanted to make sure that no state possessed a veto over its state boundaries.

So article 3 requires that such a bill be sent to the assembly to get its views, however the views are not binding on the parliament. So if you see the andhra pradesh assembly resolution, it specifically asks the parliament to reject it. The rejection by the assembly in itself has no constitutional value.

[Altair]

brace yourself folks - there will be OUTRAGE on TIMES NOW tonight! Ornob is very angry!

I think with proper BRF grooming Arnab can be a great asset for Media Mobilization. Hope he has time to go through our slang!!

[vivek.rao]

Here is the dynasty sycophant doing poojas for MAFIA and their family.

There are 2 angles:

1. This is just a show by Andhra CONGi MPs to get suspend so that SONIA can pass the bill and they can get glory. They will win as independents and crawl back to Sonia after 2016 when Rahul hopes AAP will create enough chaos to bring MAFIA back in.

2. Every one in CONgress is looking for an exit

For 10 years, SONIA and MAFIA could not create a consensus in her own party?If Rajagopal has to be banned, should not MAFIA be banned from politics for another 30 years for this reprehensible behavior? They push a bill they promised in 2004 in last 3 months before their term expires?

[vivek.rao]

Exclusive: How Congress pre-planned the action-drama today

A Congress MP reveals to Sheela Bhatt the Congress plan to protect the Speaker and home minister and provide muscle to push through the tabling of the Telangana bill in Parliament.


Komatireddy Raj Gopal Reddy, the Congress Member of Parliament from the Bhongir Lok Sabha constituency near Hyderabad, is a staunch supporter of the creation of Telangana.

The MP told Rediff.com in an exclusive interview that on Thursday morning he and other Telangana MPs from the Congress met Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath in his parliamentary office. Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde was also present at the meeting, at around 10.15 am.

Reddy, a young and well-built man, says the party discussed how to protect Shinde and Speaker Meira Kumar from aggressive MPs of the Congress and Telugu Desam Party from the Seema-Andhra region, who are against the creation of Telangana.

All of them, he claims, were aware of the plans of the anti-Telangana MPs to disrupt Parliament so they wanted to ensure security for Shinde and Kumar.

The idea of using elected representatives for security was devised because the Speaker refused to deploy Lok Sabha marshals inside the House to provide security.

At the meeting, it was decided they would adopt the same strategy that was adopted on Wednesday when Railway Minister M Mallikarjuna Kharge was not allowed to read out the Rail Budget, but could still present the budget officially.

Today, the MPs under Kamal Nath's leadership decided that the Telangana bill would be presented amid the chaos.

The plan was conceived and executed by Kamal Nath, says Reddy.

Shinde was required to be physically protected and not the other ministers because he was to table the bill. He was to be given a couple of minutes to read out the bill before tabling it.

The Speaker's presence was essential to ensure that it could be announced that the bill had been officially tabled.

Kamal Nath, an eight-time MP, knows the tricks of the trade. He chalked out the plan to assign young able-bodied MPs to provide security and muscle to table the Telangana bill. Reddy admits that he has done such things in his college days.

Mohammad Azharuddin, Raj Babbar, Arun Yadav, Manik Tagore, Vijayashanti, Ashok Tanwar and Reddy created a ring around Shinde and Meira Kumar's table on Kamal Nath's instructions.

They were supposed to use muscle power to ensure that the Telangana bill could be tabled in the quickest possible time and the Congress could claim victory.

[vivek.rao]

We don't think government tabled T-bill: Oppn

"The government has claimed that the bill has been introduced, but we do not accept," Leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj told reporters after she led a delegation of six parties to the Speaker to lodge their protest in the matter.

"I was sitting in the House even after the (pepper) spray incident and wanted to stay inside till I was advised by marshals to leave as it could cause harm to my health," she said, noting that she did not know when the bill was introduced even though she was inside Lok Sabha.

Other parties whose leaders accompanied Swaraj were SP, BJD, CPI and Trinamool Congress, saying they do not accept the introduction of Telangana bill.

YSR Congress chief Y S Jaganmohan Reddy was the first to raise questions over the introduction of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill.

He said it was a "mockery" to say that the bill has been introduced as the whole thing was over in ten seconds and there were no 'ayes' and 'noes'.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath and Law Minister Kapil Sibal also said that the bill has been tabled.

Trinamool Congress Parliamentary Party chief Sudip Bandyopadhyay earlier attacked Congress and the government for not listing the bill in today's list of business.

"It is not even mentioned in the supplementary list of business of Lok Sabha. This is highly irregular. Most MPs were in the dark on the issue and Congress has made a mess of it," he said.

[Virupaksha]

The only MP whose suspension causes me doubt is Harsh Kumar, who is a mala(hidden christian - as officially his constituency is a reserved one).

The caste equations and egoistic battle lines line up according to my theory of kamraj plan except for him. The only thing I can think of for him is the divisions of catholic and protestants in the church business. Most converted malas are protestants. Is he being elevated as a trojan horse, like KK is in TRS (Note how KK was supported by congress in his RS election)?

[vivek.rao]

Jode nahin, tode: UPA epitaph will read – divided, but didn’t rule

Will the Congress-led UPA end its last Parliament session not on the high note of creating India’s 29th state, but on the low note of pathetic governance, an economic slide, a weakened state capability, political anarchy, and a confused and ruptured polity?

The chances are, even if the Telangana Bill is passed due to the BJP’s pusillanimity in opposing a badly-drafted law, UPA-2 will be ushered out with a huge sense of relief by a population that’s tired of daily displays of utter incompetence.

It is thus time to write UPA-2’s epitaph: Divided, but did not rule. It divided India to rule, but ended up only dividing and not ruling.

one wonders how a party that committed itself as far back as in December 2009 to the creation of Telangana failed to work out a rational compromise with the rest of Andhra even four years later. Clearly, no one did his homework. And the last-minute effort to push through a divisive bill is entirely led by ultra-short-term electoral calculations. Jode nahin, tode.

Division and divisiveness have been at the core of the Congress strategy both in UPA-1 and UPA-2. It was less apparent in UPA-1 because the Left was blamed for it all. The fig leaf of unity was blown away when the excesses of UPA-1 brought all the problems home to roost.

#1: The primary division, as has been repeatedly emphasised, was the separation of power from responsibility, with Sonia Gandhi wielding the power and Manmohan Singh the responsibility. Once you separate the two, governance ends. One need not expand on it, but this lay at the root of the government’s irresponsibility, given Singh’s absolute unwillingness to give up his chair in order to remain PM. The net result is the PM abandoned any pretence of being responsible for governance, and Sonia abandoned the government – and washed her hands off its failures.

#2: Under Rahul Gandhi, if he ever becomes PM, this disastrous dichotomy may end, but another dichotomy surfaces. He is not prepared to take any responsibility for any act of his own government of the last 10 years – unless it is about claiming credit for the good bits (RTI, and various rights legislated by the government, which are now a burden for the economy.)

#3: The central cabinet has never been more divided. Its ministers report to no one. A Raja could ignore the PM, and so could Jairam Ramesh. The previous finance minister (Pranab Mukherjee) had no time for the PM. The latter had no say in the former’s budgets. P Chidambaram, in his second coming, took his political mandate at the finance ministry directly from the UPA chairperson, not the PM. The agriculture minister, Sharad Pawar, had no say in the Food Security Bill, despite his objections. Is food security separate from agriculture?

#4: Under AK Antony, another honest but relatively spineless cabinet minister, we saw the army split into two factions – one led by former Chief VK Singh, and another rooting for the current army chief. It all was ostensibly about the age of retirement of Gen Singh, but underneath it all there was tension between different ethnic groups in the army. It is a miracle that the army is still in one piece.

#5: The intelligence agencies have been left fighting with one another. Thanks to Sushilkumar Shinde’s efforts to show up Narendra Modi as the master of fake encounters, the Ishrat Jehan case has set the Intelligence Bureau against the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), with serving and retired officers fighting each other in public and in private. One wonders what intelligence such a demoralised force will be able to gather, beyond monitoring its own personal enemies.

#6: The government was at war with all constitutional authorities – the CAG, the PAC, and the judiciary. Surely, there was judicial over-reach in some cases, but any effective government would have been able to find a compromise if it really wanted to govern. It is nowhere in sight.

#7: Towards the end, the Congress party was at war with the government. Once the high command decided that Manmohan Singh was a liability in the next elections, the party’s behind-the-scenes powers went after all his supporters. Pawan Kumar Bansal, the previous Railway Minister, and Ashwani Kumar, the Law Minister, were sent packing for allegedly indulging in a cash-for-jobs scam in the railways and for interfering with a Supreme Court-ordered investigation into the Coalgate scam. While neither Bansal nor Kumar came out smelling of roses, the man who was targeted was really Manmohan Singh. His wings were truly clipped. Efforts by Rahul Gandhi to shame the PM into resigning – by calling his ordinance to prevent the disqualification of convicted MPs “nonsense” – did not work as the PM adroitly side-stepped the insult and stayed on. Now the party is stuck with Manmohan, and Manmohan is stuck with the taint of all his failures since his party won’t accept any of it.

#8: Relations between government and opposition have never been worse. This trust deficit ensured that almost no bills were passed till the last few months, and parliament was disrupted most of the time as the Congress stonewalled responses on various scams. And, for all that, the Congress hopes that the BJP will bail it out on Telangana – and ruin its own chances in Seemandhra.

#9: Relations between politicians and civil society have never been so strained. It may have started with the Anna Hazare movement, but even with the emergence of the Aam Aadmi Party, curiously supported by the Congress in Delhi, this relationship has only gotten worse. The public is estranged from government as never before. The Congress has helped the AAP split even the urban middle classes in the hope that it will stop Modi.

#10: Ties with India’s neighbours have never been worse – despite Manmohan Singh being an alleged peacenik. A weak government allowed regional parties to dictate foreign policy and sabotage it. Thus Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, despite offering hands of friendship, were left dangling. And Pakistan, which never offered a hand of friendship, left Manmohan Singh with egg on his face. As for China, it was never a friend; Manmohan Singh made it more belligerent by displays of weakness. Even tiny Maldives, whose government was saved from a coup by Rajiv Gandhi, cocked a snook at India, and Nepal, if it was not so internally divided, would have done so too. Even ties with the US, India’s most important geo-strategic partner, have gone downhill after the Devyani Khobragade affair.

#11: Suspicions between the Centre and states have never been greater. Regional powers that had no reason to join forces banded together to defeat the introduction of the communal violence bill and the setting up of the national counter-terrorism centre. If the next government is a coalition, this relationship is the first one that needs mending.

#12: Relations between government and business have never been more standoffish. Government wants to revive growth, but industry will not invest due to suspicions over policy, and the negative impact of laws such as the land acquisition bill, and high inflation. Foreign investors are skittish and wary too. This is why Vodafone and government were unable to break the ice on their tax dispute. The trust is gone.

#13: Election 2014 will be the final frontier for divisiveness, with Modi being used as the ogre with which to frighten the electorate into voting for Congress and various regional parties. We have to wait to see if the UPA’s divisiveness will win or lose.

[vivek.rao]

Chaos in Lok Sabha over T-Bill shows it's time for PM to go

Just before the session began at noon, Seemandhra and Telangana MPs of the Congress and other Andhra parties were near the Speaker's chair in the well of the House.

It was a mockery of democracy that Arun Yadav, Madhya Pradesh Pradesh Congress Committee president, Raj Babbar and others were guarding the area to protect Speaker Meira Kumar and allow the government to table the Telangana bill in the House.

As soon as the Speaker arrived, Telugu Desam Party MP Jagannathan went to hit the Lok Sabha staff and tried to tear off the papers. The Congress musclemen -- I mean those MPs deployed to stop the Seemandhra MPs from obstructing the House got back at them.

Then, in a matter of seconds, Rajagopal produced his pepper spray, and the Speaker, Finance Minister P Chidambaram, Kamal Nath, Sushilkumar Shinde, Rahul Gandhi and others started running out of the House.

The prime minister and Congress president Sonia Gandhi were not present in the House. (This MAFIA is too smart. They have an alibi now. Ha Ha… Where was PAPPU? Was he in London or Spain or Italy?)

In the ruckus, Sharad Yadav fell and some Congressmen punched Rajagopal.

A Telugu Desam Party MP, M Venugopal, brandished a knife, which was why they ran out, some Congress MPs said.

It was during this ruckus that Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath said Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde read out from the Telangana bill, which he inferred as the tabling of the Bill in the House, which was seconded by Law Minister Kapil Sibal.

However, the Lok Sabha secretariat contradicted this, saying it was not sure if the Bill has been tabled in the House.

[vivek.rao]

[Vamsi.R]

Can someone tell me why BJP is quiet ?

[Shanmukh]

Can someone tell me why BJP is quiet ?

It is not quiet. LKA said that the government should table only the Vote on Account and no other bills in this session.

http://www.indiatvnews.com/politics/nat ... 14857.html

SS said she was in Lok Sabha and yet never saw the Telangana Bill tabled.

http://zeenews.india.com/news/nation/wa ... 11186.html

[merlin]

Can someone tell me why BJP is quiet ?

D4.

[Vamsi.R]

Can someone tell me why BJP is quiet ?

It is not quiet. LKA said that the government should table only the Vote on Account and no other bills in this session.

http://www.indiatvnews.com/politics/nat ... 14857.html

SS said she was in Lok Sabha and yet never saw the Telangana Bill tabled.

http://zeenews.india.com/news/nation/wa ... 11186.html

Ok..what is this vote on account thing .and also can the govt introduce the bill on voice vote ?

[Shanmukh]

Ok..what is this vote on account thing .and also can the govt introduce the bill on voice vote ?

Vote on account is in place of the budget. Money allocation for the remainder of the term, until the next government can present the full budget.