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Strategies, Strategists and Votes: Golden boy Prashant Kishor swept by Saffron wave?

The BJP is all set to cross the 300-seat mark in Uttar Pradesh - a thumping 3/4th majority in the state assembly. This is the largest ever win for the party in the state and mimics its success from the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. Someone who ended up on the wrong side was that poll strategist incomparable Prashant Kishor. The master-poll strategist would now do well to lie low - given that he has been proved wrong in not just Uttar Pradesh but also in Uttarakhand, where the saffron landslide has been such that even the sitting chief minister Harish Rawat lost from two seats.

After he worked on BJP's 2014 poll pitch and then got Nitish-Lalu's strategy bang on in Bihar, Kishor was hired by the Congress to set its house in order in Uttar Pradesh primarily. He was then the man with the Midas-touch, the golden boy who could do no wrong. Except everyone forgot the moral of the story - the Midas touch wasn't a boon, it was a curse. And Mr Kishor, through no fault of his own, was attributed such magical powers at winning elections.

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE UTTAR PRADESH ELECTION RESULTS

It is said that Prashant Kishor persuaded the Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Partyto go in for an alliance with the Congress. It seems however that Uttar Pradesh didn't like the saath after all. Together they polled about 30% of the votes, a chunk in which Congress was a single-digit contributor. In terms of seats, it seems the Congress will get 7-8.

Nagaland Assembly Budget Session from March 21

The budget session of Nagaland Assembly for the 2017-2018 fiscal is scheduled to be held from March 21.

The session assumes significance since this would be the last budget of the ruling Naga People’s Front (NPF)-led Democratic Alliance of Nagaland (DAN) Government before the 2018 State general election and also the first under the State’s new CM Shurhozelie Liezietsu. Liezietsu is the third CM in this third innings of NPF, which will end in February 2018.

The upcoming Assembly session will also witness election of a new Speaker since Chotisuh Sazo, who was the Speaker, has been inducted as a Cabinet Minister for Public Health Engineering in Liezietsu’s Ministry.

Meanwhile, Nagaland Governor PB Acharya has appointed Imtikumzuk, Deputy Speaker of Nagaland Assembly to take charge of duties of Speaker till the new Speaker is elected.

Assam Mulls to Revive Glory of APSC

In a bid to restore the lost image of Assam Public Service Commission (APSC), the Assam government will take all possible steps; this was promised by Parliamentary Affairs minister Chandra Mohan Patowary in the assembly on Thursday.

“In the last few years, the loss of image of the Commission has been a matter of grave concern, but from now, we have introduced reforms ranging from appointment of APSC members to conduct of exams,” informed Patowary.

Meanwhile, former chief minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta, who raised the APSC issue on the floor of the house during zero hour, by asking, “Why have not the appointments of APSC chairman and other members of the Commission not yet been terminated after their arrest?”

Replying to this, Patowary informed that a committee had been formed to appoint two Members of the APSC, while the Governor had sent a proposal to the Centre following a State Cabinet decision seeking removal of the former APSC Chairman who was arrested recently for his alleged involvement in the cash-for-job scam.

However, echoing in the line of Prafulla Kumar MAhanta, another AGP MLA Pabindra Deka urged the government not to select the chairman and other members of the commission under any political considerations.

Assam Assembly Urges Government to Soon Complete Subansiri Project

At a time when a large of civil society organizations, including KMSS and AASU are vehemently opposing the installation of lower Subansiri Hydro Electricity project, Assam assembly on Thursday has asked the state government complete the stalled 2000 MW Lower Subansiri Hydro power project soon.

Declaring a consensus of state legislative assembly, Speaker Hitendra Nath Goswami said, “Even if the matter is a sensitive one, it involved greater public interest and needed an early solution.”

He further stressed that without power, industrialisation and growth of the state is not possible. “However, the concerns raised by various segments, and apprehensions in the minds of people regarding the safety of the dam, impact on the downstream people must also be thoroughly addressed to reach a mutual agreement along with ensuring adequate free power supply to the state.”

“The government can move a resolution regarding this in the house on a later date,” he informed. Meanwhile, minister of state for Power Pallab Lochan Das, while presenting the government’s side, revealed, “56 percent work of the NHPC project is complete and the recommendations of the expert committee regarding dam safety are also incorporated in the project.”

He also asserted since Assam do not have any water-sharing treaty with neighbouring China, in the wake of any dispute, it is the claim on usage of water by both India and China that will count. “With the Lower Subansiri project, the state can have adequate power to cater to the upcoming projects.”

“Assam government is in touch with the Union Power Minister and Prime Minister Narendra Modi to increase its share of free power from the 533 MW power allocated to Assam,” he mentioned.

Centre, Assam Govt Ignoring Illegal Bangladeshi Migrants Issue: Bodo Groups

Bodo groups in Assam, including the All Bodo Students Union (ABSU) and Bodo People’s Front (BPF), are up in arms against the Centre and the state government for being “soft” on illegal migrants from Bangladesh, who they say are swarming Bodo-dominated areas.

ABSU, which has revived its agitation for a separate Bodoland state in October 2016, accuses the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Assam government of adopting a “careless and mild approach” to the fast-rising population of illegal Bangladeshi migrants in their areas.

The BPF, a party in coalition with the state government, maintains that the central leaders are not willing to solve the issue as they do not understand the gravity of the problem.

“Today the situation is such that illegal migrants have encroached not just on our forest lands but also other areas. The BJP state government is extremely careless on the issue. Assam is going to lose everything, as the indigenous Bodo people are facing the threat of major illegal migrants influx,” Pramod Bodo, President of ABSU, told IANS.

He said that only Bodos have rights to areas belonging to the community in Assam, and they won’t accept any government decision to give land to illegal Bangladeshi immigrants, irrespective of whether they are Muslims or Hindus. He said the Bodoland Territorial Area Districts (BTAD) have been witnessing a constant rise in the number of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants for several years, with the population now standing at nearly 250,000. In 2012, a major riot broke out between the Bodos and Bengali Muslims in BTAD which left over 70 people dead and rendered 400,000 homeless.

BPF, which operates the BTAD, feels that the issue of illegal migrants has turned grave. BTAD areas include Kokrajhar, Chirang, Udalguri and Baksha — a total of 8,969.98 sq km. “In Assam the problem of illegal immigrants is turning grave. Whichever government has come till now has not shown any interest in dealing with the issue. Our Indian national leaders are not interested. If they were keen then the problem would have been solved much earlier,” Biswajit Daimary, a senior leader of BPF and a Rajya Sabha MP from Assam, told IANS.

According to Daimary, the central government “does not understand” the problem that rising population of illegal migrants poses in tribal areas of Assam. “If the central leaders, either the BJP or the former government, had cared to understand the problems of Bodos, then solving them would have become very easy,” said Daimary.

According to Assam Police, Bangladeshi immigrants have encroached on the land of Bodos, including reserve forest land. “There is a huge influx of illegal immigrants in the BTAD areas. In fact, large sections of them have started encroaching on the reserve forest situated in BTAD areas,” said a senior Assam Police officer, who did not want to be identified.

Asked why the Police were not evicting illegal migrants from the forest land, the officer said, “There needs to be an order by the government. Until there is an order nothing can be done.” The BJP has, however, denied that it is “soft” on the issue of rising illegal Bangladeshi migrants in Bodo areas or the rest of Assam.

“The Assam government is certainly taking stringent initiatives against illegal immigrants in Assam. There is a legal procedure to identify them and we are doing it. The BJP is not at all soft on the issue of illegal immigrants,” Bhabesh Kalita, General Secretary of BJP Assam Pradesh, told IANS.