Gadkari faces heat over Anshuman Mishra's Rajya Sabha fiasco

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Why BJP is working to defeat its own Rajya Sabha candidate in Jharkhand

New Delhi:  Amidst growing criticism within the BJP over his nomination, Anshuman Mishra, a businessman and the party's candidate for the Rajya Sabha from Jharkhand, may withdraw from the electoral race today, sources have told NDTV. It is a clumsy attempt at course-correction after most senior party leaders like Yashwant Sinha and LK Advani said Mr Mishra was an unacceptable choice and demanded the withdrawal of his nomination, thus creating the sequel to the Kushwaha fiasco. Before the UP elections, the party president had welcomed former UP minister Babu Singh Kushwaha as a member after he was sacked by his party chief Mayawati for corruption. Mr Kushwaha "voluntarily" put his membership on hold after sharp criticism from most senior BJP leaders.

Mr Mishra's background and integrity have been questioned by senior leaders, who have targeted party president Nitin Gadkari for his selection. Just in case Mr Mishra does not oblige, the party has asked its elected representatives in Jharkhand not to vote for him.
Earlier on Tuesday, Mr Advani asked for an emergency meeting of BJP leaders to discuss Mr Mishra. He also reportedly said that the BJP should issue a whip to MLAs in Jharkhand ordering them to vote against Mr Mishra, who is an Independent MLA being supported by the BJP.

Mr Sinha told NDTV that his party's support to Mr Mishra would only add to Jharkhand's image as "happy hunting ground for the rich" implying that BJP MLAs could be tempted to sell their vote to the rich businessman. In strong words Mr Sinha said, "Our MLAs should not be auctioned...there are ways for our MLAs to avoid voting for him."

Mr Sinha also reportedly warned his party that the selection of unsuitable nominees makes it tough for him to serve on different parliamentary committees; choosing representatives who have questionable records, he said, will impact the BJP's image and anti-corruption plank. At a meeting of the party leadership, another member Shanta Kumar warned, "Jab satta bikne lagti hai to samapt ho jaati hai" - a warning that translates as "When power is on sale, the end is near."

In Maharashtra, Ajay Sancheti, a businessman and a member of the BJP national executive, has been nominated as the party's Rajya Sabha candidate. He allegedly has links to the Adarsh scam - politicians and bureaucrats helped themselves to flats in a building meant for war widows and Army veterans.

Mr Sinha says he had not even heard of Anshuman Mishra, who, however, claimed on Tuesday that, "I have good relations with all big BJP leaders." Mr Mishra said he was contesting elections with the support of senior leaders and if the party leadership opposed to supporting him, "I will withdraw my candidature."

There is more resentment within the BJP over the denial of a ticket to veteran leader, and BJP's deputy leader in Rajya Sabha, S S Ahluwalia.

As the crisis escalated, Mr Gadkari met with the party's parent-body, the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS), in Nagpur on Tuesday.

However, on record, party spokesperson Prakash Javadekar has denied the talk of any dissent, saying, "There is no question of anyone being unhappy within the party."

Mr Gadkari has provoked serious dissent within the party in recent months. Before the UP elections, he allowed Mr Kushwaha into the party fold. Mr Gadkari's colleagues like Sushma Swaraj, Uma Bharti and Maneka Gandhi said this would hurt the party's credibility. Mr Kushwaha was persuaded by the BJP to then announce that he had voluntarily decided to put his membership of the BJP on hold till he was cleared of corruption charges. He is now in jail.

Mr Gadkari is also finding it tough to manage a revolt in Karnataka, where the BJP is in power. Former Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa wants to return to office immediately. He has the support of more than half the party's representatives in the Karnataka Assembly and therefore has the strength to split the party and bring down the government, if the crisis should deepen.

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'Don't put power on sale': BJP leaders upset with Rajya Sabha candidates

New Delhi:  It's Nitin Gadkari versus the rest of the BJP leadership. A crisis over the party president's alleged choice of candidates for the Rajya Sabha has led to BJP veteran LK Advani asking for an emergency meeting of BJP leaders.  
Another senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha has reportedly warned that the selection of unsuitable nominees makes it tough for him to serve on different parliamentary committees; he said the selection of candidates will impact the BJP's image and anti-corruption plank. At a meeting of the party leadership today, one member warned, "Jab satta bikne lagti hai to samapt ho jaati hai" - a warning that translates as "When power is on sale, the end is near."

There are two candidates who leaders like Mr Advani are opposed to. Anshuman Mishra, an independent NRI candidate, a businessman from London. The party has expressed concerns about his integrity and his background. From Maharashtra, Ajay Sancheti, a businessman and a member of the BJP national executive, has been nominated. But he allegedly has links to the Adarsh scam - politicians and bureaucrats helped themselves to flats in a building meant for war widows and Army veterans.  

Mr Mishra's candidacy has fuelled so much opposition that Mr Advani wants a whip issued that would make it necessary for MLAs in Jharkhand from his party to vote against the entrepreneur. Mr Sinha said that it was unfair for the party to support an outsider rather than fielding its own candidate. Mr Sinha suggested that rooting for a businessman would tempt the party's MLAs to sell their vote.  

"Six Jharkhand MLAs and two ministers signed this candidate's nomination papers. That shows loud and clear the party's support for him...why bring in a rank outsider? I felt pained," Mr Sinha told NDTV, also pointing out that supporting Mr Mishra would only add to Jharkhand's image as "happy hunting ground for the rich." In strong words Mr Sinha said, "Our MLAs should not be auctioned...there are ways for our MLAs to avoid voting for him."
Mr Sinha says he had not even heard of Anshuman Mishra, who, however, claimed today that, "I have good relations with all big BJP leaders." Mr Mishra said he was contesting elections with the support of senior leaders and if the party leadership opposed to supporting him, "I will withdraw my candidature."

There is more resentment within the BJP over the denial of a ticket to veteran leader, and BJP's deputy leader in Rajya Sabha, S S Ahluwalia.

As the crisis escalated, Mr Gadkari met with the party's parent-body, the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS), in Nagpur today.

However, on record, party spokesperson Prakash Javadekar has denied the talk of any dissent, saying, "There is no question of anyone being unhappy within the party."

Mr Gadkari has provoked serious dissent within the party in recent months. Before the UP elections, he allowed Babu Singh Kushwaha, a minister in the UP government who was fired by his party chief Mayawati for corruption. Mr Gadkari's colleagues like Sushma Swaraj, Uma Bharti and Maneka Gandhi said this would hurt the party's credibility. Mr Kushwaha was persuaded by the BJP to then announce that he had voluntarily decided to put his membership of the BJP on hold till he was cleared of corruption charges.  He is now in jail.
Mr Gadkari is also finding it tough to manage a revolt in Karnataka, where the BJP is in power. Former Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa wants to return to office immediately. He has the support of more than half the party's representatives in the Karnataka Assembly and therefore has the strength to split the party and bring down the government, if the crisis should deepen.

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Trinamool won't back Congress for Rajya Sabha polls

Kolkata:  The Trinamool Congress has decided not to support the Congress nominee in West Bengal for the upcoming Rajya Sabha polls, state Congress chief Pradip Bhattacharya on Tuesday said.

"As far as I know, the Trinamool has decided not to support our candidate. I don't know what will happen later on," Bhattacharya told IANS.

"I have placed the list of probable candidates of the Congress before Pranabda (union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee) and Shakeelji (Congress general secretary Shakeel Ahmed)."

On March 30, five Rajya Sabha members from the state would be elected to fill up vacancies arising on April 2.

According to the arithmetic in the assembly, Trinamool with 185 seats is in a comfortable position to send three members to the upper house of parliament. The Left Front with 61 members can win one seat.

A candidate needs 49 votes to cross the finishing line in the Rajya Sabha race in West Bengal.

The Congress has 42 assembly members. It is also banking on the support of one independent.

The Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) has four seats, including an independent, and SUCI-C has one member. The GJM is likely to go with the Trinamool while the SUCI-C is yet to spell out its stand.

The Congress thus needs six surplus votes from either the Trinamool or the Left to send its candidate to the upper house.

Going by the coalition dharma, the Congress seems unlikely to seek support from the Left Front.

Shakeel Ahmed declined to confirm whether Trinamool would support the Congress.

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Sharad Pawar faints in Lok Sabha, discharged from hospital

New Delhi:  Senior union minister Sharad Pawar fainted this morning in the Lok Sabha.  Mr Pawar, who is the country's Agriculture Minister, was admitted to the Dr Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) hospital and was later discharged in the evening.

Mr Pawar underwent several medical tests at the hospital following which doctors advised him rest. "It is a protocol in a government hospital, they do not want to take a chance so they asked him to take some rest. There is nothing serious," PTI quoted an aide of Mr Pawar saying .

Mr Pawar refused to go in an ambulance and opted for a check-up in his own car, news agency ANI reported. Mr Pawar  was accompanied by his daughter and Baramati MP Supriya Sule and Union Minister Praful Patel. Mr  Patel later said Mr Pawar's blood-sugar level dropped and he felt dizzy.

Mr Pawar had answered a number of supplementaries on questions related to agriculture during the Question Hour in the Lok Sabha. The 71-year-old leader was in the Lok Sabha lobby when he felt a bit uneasy.He had returned to the capital from Mumbai late last night.

His Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) is a member of the UPA coalition at the centre. Mr Pawar will not be attending the swearing-in ceremony later this week of Parkash Singh Badal as the chief minister of Punjab.

The Congress, which is the fulcrum of the UPA, had said that allies are expected not to cross the lakshman rekha by keeping company with political rivals. That statement was made after Mamata Banerjee's party, the Trinamool Congress, said she had accepted invites to the oath-taking ceremonies for both Mr Badal and the new chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, Akhilesh Yadav.

After the Congress made its displeasure cleat, Ms Banerjee's party said she would stay in Bengal to attend the assembly session there, and depute representatives to Punjab and Lucknow.

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BJP wants discussion on Lokpal Bill in Rajya Sabha tomorrow

New Delhi:  Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has asked the Opposition to allow Parliament to function in the Budget Session that began today, but the BJP is working to its own plan. On Day 2 of the session, tomorrow, it wants Question Hour suspended for a discussion on the Lokpal Bill in the Rajya Sabha. A demand that puts it on collision course with the government, which would like to discuss the Bill only later in the session. Will there be another Lokpal logjam?
The Opposition had stalled much of the Winter Session three months ago on the Lokpal Bill issue. The anti-graft Bill was finally passed by the Lok Sabha in an extended Winter Session last December, but the one day allotted for discussion and voting in the Rajya Sabha was not enough and the government threw up its hands at the midnight hour on December 29, saying there were too many amendments for it to be passed in that session. The Opposition cried foul and has carried over its angst to the Budget Session.     
The BJP's Arun Jaitley, who is the Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, gave an early indication of what to expect from an aggressive Opposition when he told NDTV on Sunday, "The last session ended on a terrible note. When the government, in order to avoid a vote in the Rajya Sabha on the amendments to the Lokpal Bill, disturbed the session and had it adjourned. Logically, since they wanted time to consider those amendments. I'm sure they've had more than sufficient time. Logically, therefore, the session must take off from where it ended last time. We want the Lokpal Bill to be taken up first."
The government has said it is committed to passing the Bill this time and has promised to list it for discussion in the second half of the Budget Session. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Bansal said, "All the amendment notices from the last session have lapsed. New notices will have to be given and they have started coming in. The government will then have to review and analyze these. The government is hoping to produce a comprehensive Lokpal bill that will prove a barrier to corruption."
The BJP says it is ready with its fresh notices for amendment and it is not ready to push the discussion to another day. Or, at the very least, it wants an action plan on the Lokpal Bill spelt out by the government before other business can begin in this session.
For the government, the priority right now is the vote on account and Parliament's Business Advisory Committee has also listed an early discussion on Centre-State relations in view of the protests from many regional parties that rule states, which say that the proposed National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) is against the very tenets of federalism.
That discussion would be key to the Congress-led UPA government's political plans as well. For the Lokpal Bill it needs ally Trinamool Congress and parties like the Samajwadi Party and the BSP firmly by its side. It hopes to that by taking up the NCTC issue; one of the main opponents to the NCTC is the Trinamool Congress. Mamata Banerjee has assured the government that she will not rock the boat, but Opposition leaders have hinted that they will reach out to her and other UPA allies on the issue of federalism. As an ally Ms Banerjee does not have the best record for sticking by the UPA on all issues. She has also often accused the Congress of taking allies like her for granted, and of not consulting them before announcing big-ticket policy changes.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said today that he was confident of his government's numbers - he has been called upon to make that assertion after the Congress fared poorly in assembly elections held in five states, including UP, recently. The UP results put paid to the Congress's hopes of an easing of coalition equations at the Centre. The whipping the Congress got has also led to much speculation about a Third Front that would include Ms Banerjee. Parties like Chandrababu Naidu's TDP and Naveen Patnaik's BJD have reportedly begun coveting Ms Banerjee's political support as leaders have begun talking about early elections. Dr Singh will host a dinner for his allies tomorrow.
And as the government attempts to keep its UPA flock together through statements of hope and diplomacy dinners, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who will present the Union Budget on March 16 and Mr Bansal also met senior BJP leaders Sushma Jaitley and LK Advani to get their support for the smooth running of the Budget Session.
In this session, the government has its hands full. It has to deftly push important legislation and attempt a reform-oriented General Budget with an aggressive Opposition and allies with a populist agenda never failing to remind it of the tenuous majority it has in the Lok Sabha and its lack of numbers in the Rajya Sabha.
On the first day of the session, it used President Pratibha Patil's address to detail its strategy on the several big challenges it faces. The Presidential address, lasting over an hour, to a joint sitting of Parliament, saw five disruptions as Opposition parties and allies got up in protest on various issues.

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