1. First DMK tells us, Congress is asking for too many seats. We can't give them 63, we can only give 60. Infact DMK tells us that 60 is way more than their field strength. And despite agreeing for 60 seats, why is the Congress now demanding 63 seats? DMK gets angry and decides to pull out its ministers from the Union Government. Then, true to the script, Congress leaders call on DMK to give them some more time. Essentially, the word from the field was that the Congress cannot go alone. It will lose heavily. Also DMK cadre were against any splitting of votes. So the two parties again started to patch up. Resignations were first postponed by some 12 hours, then by a day. And then a deal was reached. Congress got its 63 seats! Two allies of DMK agreed to part with one seat each. One more seat, the DMK agreed to give. Why would the DMK give more seats to a party, when it strongly believes that their field strength does not warrant it? This whole deal making thing has to be viewed in the 2G spectrum background. We don't know what the Congress promised the DMK in return for this 63 seats (maybe we will know soon :) ). And as usual, this deal making thing was shown as the brainchild of Sonia Gandhi. Apparently, she was very "tough" and said that DMK threatening UPA with resignations is not the coalition dharma. Looting the country can be tolerated under coalition dharma, but you see threatening with loss of power cannot be tolerated!
Also, buoyed by this "victory", the Congress apparently got tough with negotiations in West Bengal. Mamta Banerjee is ready to offer upto 60-70 seats but the Congress now wants ~100 seats it seems! The final word on these negotiations is not out yet, so we have to wait and watch how that drama will unfold.
2. The lies in the CVC case just seem to be never ending. After the Supreme Court quashed the appointment of the CVC, the Prime Minister made a statement in Lok Sabha first. He listed the sequence of events, and then said that we accept and respect the court's verdict. Sushma Swaraj then expressed surprise that the Prime Minister, who took responsibility outside the Parliament, is not doing it inside the Parliament. The PM then accepted an "error of judgment" and accepted responsibility. Sushma Swaraj was satisfied with this response. The Left parties were not, so they walked out. He made the same statement in the Rajya Sabha the next day (and included the "error of judgement" part too). However, the opposition parties here were unrelenting. They bombarded him with questions, and the Prime Minister then tells us that he did not know about a pending case against P.J.Thomas, because the Minister incharge (Prithvi Raj Chauhan -now the CM of Maharashtra) for preparing the note did not mention it ! Details of the case was all over the press, and we are to believe the Prime Minister did not know. The Prime Minister of the country is briefed daily of various happenings, and we are to believe this was "not bought to his notice". He then goes on to say, that since PJT served as Chief Secretary of Kerala and as Telecom Secretary, there must have been necessary clearances (he just assumed, didn't deem it fit to verify even AFTER the matter was bought to his notice!). He however did not answer why he did not want to wait for one more day to ascertain facts. When specifically asked who will be held accountable for this lapse, he says I am responsible. The next day, Prithvi Raj Chauhan blames Kerala government. Kerala government leaks a letter in which it recommended that PJT was NOT eligible for an appointment at the Centre. Amidst all this confusion, the matter was allowed to die a natural death. And the Prime Minister got away with another lie on the floor of the Parliament.
3. This blog written earlier this week, documents the vandalism that goons created in Hyderabad. The violent turns the Telangana "agitation" is becoming dangerous by the day. I say dangerous because even those who merely condemn the violence are being tagged as "Anti-Telangana". And for the fear of being branded like this, many political parties are even stopping short of condemnation. What sort of a civilised society are we living in, where we don't even have the freedom to condemn violent acts by reprehensible goons? 64 people were arrested for this vandalism, and the Telangana Joint Action Committee is proposing a protest on Monday to condemn these arrests. You read it right - they are condemning the arrests, not the vandalism and destruction, aptly termed Cultural Tragedy by a leading telugu newspaper. That's all, Your Honour!
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