KING MAKERS IN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

"The race for Rashtrapati Bhavan this year is not going to be a tepid affair it used to be before and after the Giri-Reddy contest. Coalition politics have ‘reinvented’ the Indian President".

By M Rama Rao
New Delhi ( Field Marshal)Will Bhairo Baba, as Bhairon Singh Shekhawat is addressed in his native Rajasthan, pull off a miracle, ala V.V. Giri? Two things are going in his favour, according to Political analysts. One his personal equations with all those who matter. Second the absence of a whip from political parties to their lawmakers.

In 1969, when Giri entered the fray it was a fight between the Indicate and Syndicate. The election and also the counting had all the ingredients of one-day cricket, which was yet to make its debut by then. Editors of dak editions of news papers had a tough time in deciding the page one lead and the anchor. Some of us thought we were clever and ran the profile of both the main candidates – the unofficial Giri, and the official Sanjiva Reddy.

This year, the race for Rashtrapati Bhavan is not going to be a tepid affair it used to be before and after the Giri-Reddy contest. Coalition politics have ‘reinvented’ the Indian President.

“President is never a rubber stamp, as he is made out to be. Under the constitution, our president has so much authority and residual power”, G V G Krishnamurthy, legal eagle and a former Election Commissioner told me. He had worked for two Presidential candidates- Koka Subba Rao (who resigned as Chief Justice of India to become a nominee of the opposition in 1974) and Giri.

Both K R Narayanan and APJ Abdul Kalam have proved GVG right. They are the closest to activist Presidents we could ever think of.

So, the difficulty of the Congress in making its right choice is understandable. Also the Left parties eagerness to set the ball rolling ahead of others. That is why as early as May 13, the Left made the first move.

‘The two basic criteria’, Prakash Karat, CPI (M) General Secretary, said, ‘for the candidate are political experience and strong secular credentials’.

This yardstick virtually ruled out the likes of Infosys chief, Narayanmurthi, the darling of middle classes.

APJ Abdul Kalam too emerged as the ‘popular choice’ in SMS polls conducted by the media mostly the TV channels. But the BJP spoiled his chances. That is a story without a parallel, according to a longtime BJP watcher. And the ‘bad’ news was broken to Kalam by none other than Atal Behari Vajpayee.

Kalam was not the first choice of Vajpayee in 2002. The missile scientist’s name was proposed by ‘Maulana’ Mulayam Singh. Neither the Congress nor the Left was consulted or even sounded before the BJP led NDA went public with its choice. The Congress went along with the BJP decision. For reasons which are not difficult to understand.

So, in a way, it is pay back time. “I hope they will support our candidate. It is time for NDA to reciprocate,” says Manmohan Singh, the Prime Minister, who along with Sonia Gandhi, the Congress chief, is engaged in consultations with the UPA allies on ‘the choice’.

A number of names have done the usual rounds. Some are media favourites and hence found repeated mention in dispatches. Like for instance, Somnath Chatterjee. The chances of the Lok Sabha speaker were discussed in the four-party Left Front, according to a Left insider.

But the Marxists vetoed the name. For them the first preference is Pranab Mukherjee. The veteran was amused. ‘Can Brahmin (like him) become a President these days’, he is said to have remarked when a few journos broached the subject with him. Radhakrishnan, Giri, Sharma, and Venkataraman were Brahmin- Presidents. The times they lived were different.

Pranab is a Congressman. But he is not a born Congressman. Also he was in and out of the party. His drafting skills and razor sharp memory are his plus. These are not enough to stand the loyalty test. It is also said the Congress is not sparing Pranab because it considers him as the ideal choice for Prime Ministership after the 2009 elections if a coalition supported by the Left and the Third Front were to become inevitable.

Therefore, instead of being the bride groom Pranab has become a match maker. Sonia turned to him to achieve consensus on Shivraj Patil, a Lingayat from Maharashtra. It is a tough job only he can pull off.

The Left and the NCP are not very enthusiastic of Patil. Left parties see him as a light weight who entered Rajya Sabha after tasting defeat in 2004 Lok Sabha election. NCP views him as a new Maratha in the making. “We are neither for nor against any one. We will support UPA nominee,” said NCP trouble shooter Praful Patel on record though.

Thundered A. B. Bardhan, the CPI honcho, who is being seen as the next Vice President of India, “You cannot name a candidate and ask others to support (him). That is not consensus”.

Arjun Singh, Motilal Vora, Narain Dutt Tiwari, Sushil Kumar Shinde and Karan Singh figured among the early hopefuls. At the time of writing (June 10), each one of them bowed out of reckoning. For a variety of reasons.

Vora and Tiwari had good equation with Mayawati. They could count on her support. They are both Brahmins. But it was not enough. Karan Singh as the erstwhile maharaja doesn’t fit today’s political calculus. Shinde as the dalit stood a chance. Only an outside chance because of ‘Mayajaal’ even after formal reprieve to the ‘Behenji’ in the Taj corridor scam.
Where does Shekhawat fit in the equation? “We need little backing from the South of the Vindhyas. Then we will be on auto pilot,” say supporters of the former chief minister of Rajasthan.

According to political pundits of all hues, the Vice President has acquired ‘several IOUs’. These have the potential of ending up as the ‘conscience vote’ of the day.

Naidu (TDP) and Mulayam (SP) as also Chautala (INLD) and Jayalalithaa (AIADMK) would not like to appear as supporting the Congress candidate. Ideally they will prefer a Left nominee. “Otherwise, we would like to abstain from voting,” said a senior TDP leader and member of the party’s politburo, after the Third Front had a rebirth in Hyderabad on June 6.

Such a scenario will be advantage Shekhawat. Because, many of the Third Front MPs will ‘treat’ the call for abstention as a ‘directive’ to vote for Shekhawat, who endeared himself to the MPs as chairman of the Rajya Sabha.

Interestingly, the Left is not against Shekhawat, the Vice President and the Rajya Sabha chairman. “His handling of the House (Rajya Sabha) was top class. You cannot find fault with him”, Sitaram Yechuri, the Marxist ideologue, says.

Their objection is to Shekhawat, the BJP leader, who swears by the Sangh. “After the Babri Masjid demolition in 1992, the Left parties were conscious about selecting a President with secular credentials. That principle is still relevant.”

Hiding behind the ‘lofty’ ideals of secularism, the Third Front may field their own candidate and offer second preference votes to Shekhawat. That way they can settle scores with the Congress or so they hope.

At least on paper, the odds are not in favour of Shekhawat (see the box). Then why is the BJP not responding to Mammohan’s call.

Says Ravi Shankar Prasad, BJP spokesman, “Strategy is not number crunching. It cannot be a question-answer at a press conference”.

What about consensus …..? He replies: “It is not correct to say Kalam was the consensus candidate last time. After the BJP agreed to support him, the Congress also supported him. But the Left parties fielded their own candidate”.

Suffice to say, the 12th Presidential election will be no ordinary election. It will see new king makers emerge on the scene.
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AKASHVANI, ARE YOU LISTENING…

By Malladi RAMA RAO
New Delhi June 10(Syndicate Features): In this age of information technology revolution with its dazzling array of gizmos that keep you connected to the whole world 24x7, it must be an odd man who confesses to be a radio addict. This predilection has survived the constant static nuisance in short-wave listening, shifting frequencies and the everyday plethora of gibberish from the mouth of some announcers and programme presenters. Then there are the many ‘pundits’ who pontificate incoherently on Indian and foreign propaganda stations on every subject under the sun with enviable sangfroid.

There are irritating times too when the station you want to listen to just ‘disappears’ from the precise ‘spot’ (frequency) you have marked on the radio set for listening to it. But the most trying is catching up with the fickle moods of our All India Radio, which determinedly sticks to its role of being government’s propaganda arm even though it claims to be an ‘autonomous’ body. It may be an experience not shared by many but often the afternoon programmes of Delhi ‘B’ (called the Rajdhani station) are just not audible on the medium wave frequency.

The fault, however, may be entirely of the cheap radio set’s, not that of AIR authorities whose unflappable composure in the face of a sharp decline in the quality and standards of broadcast of most of AIR programmes, accompanied by an ever increasing number of long transmission breakdowns, merits praise—perhaps a public scrutiny, if anyone is bothered about waste of the tax payers’ money.

It may be wrong to adduce the unscheduled and unexplained bouts of silence by AIR to sheer inefficiency or an act of subterfuge by terrorists and to even think that some armed hobos from a camp in a neighbouring country have overtaken an AIR station to silence it would be absurdity. The frequent spells of silence by an AIR station, presumably due to transmission breakdown or power failures are mysterious all the same. Or for that matter the way news bulletins are faded out on the FM even before the news reader completed the last sentence.

Another ‘interesting’ AIR innovation on FM is letting the listener to ‘enjoy’ multiple channels almost simultaneously with no one who is anyone in the Akashvani Bhavan caring for the listeners. May be they tend to agree with the critics that who listens to radio in these days of satellite and dish TV.

If you don’t believe what we say try tuning into the FM Gold and listen to their news bulletins and spot light programme in English and Hindi. The bulletins begin rather abruptly and end equally abruptly even as the news reader is midway through a long sentence.

If you are keen on listening to the spot light that follows the 9 pm news you will have to be prepared to hear a bit of Urdu news and some instrumental music too before the spotlight discussion comes your way with no introduction whatsoever to the participants and the subject under discussion.

Not surprisingly, therefore the AIR addict is becoming an endangered species.

SRI LANKA MEDIA UNDER THREAT

By MALLADI RAMARAO

New Delhi June 23, 2007 (Syndicate Features): For Sri Lanka journalists, threats from the Tamil rebels and from the official machinery have become an every day reality. Kidnappings, threats to life and forced detentions are norm; they have to factor in, in their working life. While the government holds the LTTE and its breakaway factions responsible for the threats to media freedom, a section of the local media holds the Terrorist Investigation Division (TID) as equally guilty.

Journalist of the Maubima news paper, Parameshwari, was forced to part with her ID card and passport by an armed group 'dressed in casual clothes' in broad day light in Colombo in early June. She recognized one member of the gang. ‘He was part of the group that had forcibly abducted and detained me in April’. Last November, Parameshwari was taken into custody for interrogation by the Terrorist Investigation Division (TID) for ‘aiding and abetting’ LTTE activists. She was released after about 90 days following a court order. The hunch is that those involved in the seizure of Parameshwari's identification documents could be from the Criminal Investigation Department.

Three Sinhalese journalists, Lalith Seneviratne, Sisira Priyankara and Nihal Senasinghe of ‘Akuna’ which is the official paper of a railway trade union, faced music at the hands of the security forces in February. The case hoisted on them was that they had visited the LTTE controlled areas and were involved in smuggling arms to Colombo.

A break away Tamil rebel group has held out death threats to two senior journalists early June for 'criticising' its activities. Karuna group has sent letters warning Asian Tribune editor K T Rajasingham and put on notice the staff of Daily Mirror.
Both Asian Tribune and Daily Mirror have earned the 'wrath' of V.Muralitharan alias Karuna Amman, who heads the Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP) for their coverage of the split in the group, which took place on May 4.

‘Karuna will not tolerate any adverse comments and he will see that you are removed from the face of this earth’, the letter bluntly conveyed to Rajasingham, who publishes the ‘Asian Tribune’. Rajasingham had his journalistic baptism in Jaffna some forty years back. His contemporary and a one time friend was Anton Silvester Balasingham who went on to become the LTTE ideologue.

’KT’ as Rajasingham is known in journalistic circles and Tigers's supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran belong to two adjacent Vadamaradchchy villages. Ideologically, they are poles apart. KT faced trouble at the hands of Tigers several times over the years even when he lived in Chennai in the eighties.

Whether it is because of this past or otherwise, ‘Asian Tribune’ is pronouncedly anti-LTTE. It is also generally sympathetic towards Karuna, who has emerged as a strong warlord in the Eastern Sri Lanka after breaking away from Tiger supremo Prabhakaran. He is believed to enjoy patronage of President Mahinda Rajapakse notwithstanding official denials.

The tilt towards Karuna has not come in the way of ‘Asian Tribune’ 'exposing' the fratricidal killings let loose by Karuna after his aide Pillaiyan engineered a split in the group. It also carried a campaign against child-soldiers in the Karuna-fold. The daily put the spotlight on the presence of more than 190 child-soldiers and more recruitment from Amparai district.

It was alleged that Karuna has telephonically threatened Champika Liyanaraachchi, editor of Daily Mirror from Colombo, but she has since told ‘Asian Tribune’ that there was no such threat. Karuna group also warned the staff of ‘Mirror’ that they would send killer squad to eliminate any journalist 'who reports adversely' against his group.

Take the case of freelance journalist, Sampath Lakmal Silva. Though his abduction and killing took place a little while ago, the very mention of the case sends chill down the spine of journalists. The 24-year-old Lakmal worked with the Lakbima newspaper, TNL television and Sathdina newspaper. He wrote extensively on defence matters. One night, he left home, according to his mother, 'to meet Kumar Sir', who had telephoned him. His body was found next day morning. One surmise is that Sampath was bumped off 'suspecting' him to be an informer to the government. But who 'eliminated' him and for what purpose remains a mystery.

Convenor of the Free Media Movement, Sunanda Deshapriya, says such killings at a time of the country is sliding towards war could pose a serious threat to independent journalists. As many as four journalists were assassinated in less than two years but those responsible are yet to be brought to book, Sunanda laments.

Any observer of Sri Lanka will agree that journalists whether they are from the majority Sinhala community or minority Tamils have been at the receiving end over several years. The list is long. It includes editors, journalists, freelancer writers, independent journalists, and even radio announcers and photographers. It is not a sudden phenomenon though it has become pronounced now and has thus attracted the notice of various human rights organisations.

Two leading media houses, Wijaya Newspapers and the Sirasa Media network have earned the wrath of pro-Sinhala groups and parties like JVP. Lankadeepa from the Wijaya is the biggest circulated Sinhala daily. Sirasa TV has won laurels for its TV coverage. Yet, the JVP publicity secretary, Wimal Weerawansa considers that both media groups 'represent' the interest of the LTTE. His advice to employees of these organizations: better find alternate employment.

Why is Weerawansa angry? It is possible that he is peeved at the lampooning he was subjected in the Lankadeepa. Cartoonist, Dasa Hapuwalana, takes delight at poking fun at the JVP leader. Not surprisingly, Weerawansa spews venom at Dasa.

Politicians in a democracy must learn to live with media criticism. They also must learn to enjoy a cartoon. Politics become dull and drab if caricaturists either go out of job or retirement. And we will be deprived of our daily dose of hearty laugh. Well, a sense of humour and an ability to laugh at one self figures prominently on the CV of most successful politicians.

For an Indian journalist, who lives and works in the safe environs of Delhi, it is difficult to imagine how journalists manage to keep to their daily deadlines in Colombo. The plight of ethnic Tamil journalist in strife torn Jaffna is something very difficult even to visualize. Not many of the tribe is left behind there, going by reports. And their number is dwindling by the day.

Selvarajah Rajivarnam, a young reporter with the daily Uthayan, one of the Tamil newspapers that has been most targeted by violence, was gunned down near his office on April 30 in the government controlled Jaffna area. 25-year-old Rajivarnam is the second journalist to be killed in April. Though he was in the profession for over four years, he was literally a student as he had been taking an evening journalism course at Jaffna University. Rajivarnam worked for three years for the newspaper Namathu Eelanadu (Our Eelam Nation), and for the daily, Yarl Thinakural.

Eelanadu’s managing editor, Sinnathamby Sivamaharajah, was murdered in August 2006. Thinakural’s scribe, Subramaniam Ramachandran, is missing since February. It is no surprise, therefore, that many Tamil publications are printed in Colombo and distributed in the Tamil heartland.

Of late, the long arm of LTTE Tigers is reaching Colombo with some effortless ease. And it is cause for concern, undoubtedly! The clamp down on the web based Tamilnet (from London) is not the answer to the problem. But that is what the authorities in Colombo did this past week saying it is ‘widely considered to be biased towards the LTTE’. The charge may be true to an extent but the fact is the news web site offered ‘alternative perspectives, insights and information’. Its editor, Sivaram Dharmaratnam, was killed in April 2005.

The ban on Tamilnet clearly highlights, as the Free Media Movement (FMM) observers, the extent to which media is censored and the free flow of information curtailed in Sri Lanka

Bhairon Singh Shekhawat enters the race

By M Rama Rao
New Delhi, June 25, 2007(NH): Despite the odds staring at him, Vice President and Veteran BJP leader Bhairon Singh Shekhawat entered the race for Raisina Hills as an Independent on Monday in what is seen as a direct fight between two Shekhawats since the Third Front balloon has burst even before it launch.

BJP managers frankly admit that the numbers are not in their favour. And hence they issued a call for conscience vote to all MPs and MLAs and their campaign is on a virulently anti-Congress platform. “We have deliberately opted for June 25 to file the nomination”, they said recalling that the internal emergency was clamped on this day 32 years back.

Bhairon Baba as the former Rajasthan chief minister is addressed by his admirers and supporters, filed his nomination papers before Mr P D T Acharya, the Returning Officer for the election at the Parliament Building. The NDA full house minus the Shiv Sena was present to express solidarity with him.

Sushma Swaraj, the NDA spokesperson, assisted Mr Shekhawat in filling up the nomination form, in her capacity as his campaign manager and spokesperson. The Vice President, who need not resign now under the Constitution, handed over two sets of nomination papers with 266 signatures to Mr. Acharya, who is also the Lok Sabha Secretary-General.

Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, NDA convenor George Fernandes, senior Janata Dal (U) chief Sharad Yadav, Akali Dal chief Prakash Singh Badal and Biju Janata Dal chief Naveen Patnaik, Panthers Party chief Bhim Singh and Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar were present along with BJP leaders L K Advani, Rajnath Singh, M Venkaiah Naidu, Murali Manohar Joshi and a host of others.

Chief Ministers of BJP-ruled Gujarat, Chattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan – Narendra Modi, Raman Singh, Shivraj Singh Chauhan and Vasundhara Raje, who are in town to attend the BJP national executive meeting also, were on hand.

Mr. Shekhawat diligently went over every single signature before presenting his papers to the returning officer apparently to satisfy himself that there would be no hiccups later on.

BJP managers are still unclear as to the way the United National Progressive Alliance, UNPA, as the Third Front styles itself, would vote –whether it will put up a candidate or whether it will offer at least second preference votes to Shekhawat.

Jayalalithaa – Mulayam – Chautala- Chandrababu Naidu, who have popped up the eight party alliance, as a part of their politics of survival and search for political space, have returned to their base camps with no clear cut plan of action. While Jayalalithaa is preoccupied with a by-election, Naidu is on his way to the United States even as his state is reeling under the fury of floods.

The Front has drawn a blank in their campaign to corner the Congress with their Kalam card. And in the process exposed the missile scientist to some unpleasant digs. Kalam, who looked for a ‘certainty’ on his election, hurriedly withdrew from the front line saying “enough is enough”.

Sri Lanka Tamil leader asks India to break peace logjam

ENDLF wants PM Singh to convene an international meet on SL

By M Rama Rao in New Delhi
New Delhi, 06 June (asiantribune.com): A Sri Lankan Tamil Group has asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to take the initiative to break the peace log jam in the Island nation charging President Rajapakse with ‘skilfully’ exploiting India’s declared policy of not interference in the Sri Lankan crisis ‘to carry on with his war designs’.

Suggesting the model of ‘Paris Peace Accord’ for Cambodia, the Tamil group, Eelam National Democratic Liberation Front (ENDLF), said India must call for an international conference to explore and find a lasting solution to the Sri Lankan conflict. This, it said, is necessary as ‘the ongoing armed conflict has clearly demonstrated that the war is un-winnable by either side’. Even United States officials have gone on record to say that there cannot be a military solution to the Sri Lankan conflict.

In an open appeal to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, ENDLF President Gnanasekaran, said “as a nation closely involved in the Sri Lankan ethnic conflict, India should initiate action to convene and chair such an international conference under the auspices of the United Nations”

The criteria for invitation to Tamil groups for the conference should be acceptance of Indo-Sri Lankan Peace Accord also known as Rajiv-Jayawardane agreement. By this yardstick, EPRLF, EROS, LTTE, PLOTE and TELO besides ENDLF will automatically qualify for the invitation as they had accepted the Indo-Sri Lankan Peace Accord.

Gnanasekaran said Sri Lankan Government, representatives of the Sri Lankan opposition and representatives of the Muslims should be invited as other parties to the dialogue.

At the outset, the ENDLF leader admitted that the backgrounds to the Cambodian conflict and Sri Lankan crisis are vastly different. He pointed out that participation of the parties directly involved in the conflict, along with member nations of the Security Council, ASEAN, Australia, Canada, India, and Japan, Laos and Vietnam and former Cambodia’s colonial power France helped reach a final settlement in Cambodia.

So, his suggestion is that Britain, Japan, Norway, EU and United States may be invited to participate in the international conference with India in chair and asked to guarantee the successful implementation of a comprehensive final settlement of the Sri Lankan ethnic conflict. As was the case in Cambodia and East Timor, United Nations should be asked to implement the final peace agreement.

He wants India to give a serious try to his suggestion saying that the peace efforts have not made no head way since 1985 when India first brought the Tamil parties and groups and Sri Lankan government face to face for a dialogue in Thimpu in 1985. The Norwegian brokered deal of 2002 also has come unstuck with the two sides locked in an undeclared war resulting in a humanitarian crisis with over half a million Tamils in North East Sri Lanka internally displaced.

ENDLF leader has criticised that India’s declared policy of not interfering directly in the Sri Lankan crisis is being skillfully used by President Rajapakse to carry on with his war designs.

ENDLF President Gnanasekaran also termed as charade the All Party Representative Committee (APC) set up by President Rajapakse to arrive at a Southern consensus on devolution. “It (APC) was a clever devise to avoid international pressure on the Rajapakse government”, he said claiming that the Sri Lankan politicians will not come up with a solution that will satisfy ‘the reasonable demands’ of the Tamils for devolution.

And added that the devolution proposals recently put forward by the ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party is ‘further proof’ that President Rajapakse is ‘not genuinely’ interested in peace talks. He recalled that Colombo had abrogated Bandaranaike-Chelvanayagam Pact and various other agreements signed with moderate Tamil leaders in the past.