Was PM right in terming Aiyars forebodings on CWG as 'purely ideological ' ?

The PM in an interaction with the media said that former Sports Minister Mani shankar Aiyar's letters to PM about CWG were "Purely ideological" . In fact  Aiyar warned him about the financial improprieties as early as 2007 through a spate of letters running to 63 pages,as has been recently exposed by a TV channel.But Aiyar did concede that his fault was that he did not carry conviction,as his primary concern was ideological.Aiyar did initially say, given the levels of poverty and under-development in the country, expenditure on the CWG appears wasteful.But in his subsequent letters to PM he has pointed out huge gaps between initial expenditure projections and the revised expenditure projections.He even sought a meeting with the PM to discuss about the "profligacy of CWG OC chairman Mr.Suresh Kalmadi " .Aiyar also says though his primary concern was idelogical, he also realised about the alarming financial impropriety and this was also conveyed in his letters to PM. Aiyar goes on to say "Everyone thought it was a personality clash" .But what is intriguing is that, despite Aiyar bringing his letters to the notice of the PM,Cabinet and GOM (group of ministers ),no body took his charges seriously and he was overruled in the GOM by the finance Minister.How can the FM turn a deaf ear to a complaint about extravagant spending against projections ?.Aiyar also said  since now the letters are in public domain,it will refresh the PM's memory. Aiyar says  the next step was he was sacked and Kalmadi was retained.Aiyar said he did not not want to share a cell with Kalmadi in Tihar jail.It is surprising that PM said his office has no mechanism to look into all minute details .In his letters Aiyar wrote Kalmadi violated all norms.Does not the PMO has mechanism to verify violation of norms ?It is also surprising that Aiyars letters did not get any reply from the PMO .The PMO's office also did put to cold storage Subramaniam Swamy's letters to PMO regarding 2G scams .The PMO replied Swamy only after court's intervention .Aiyar had also written a letter to PM’s Additional Secretary that he would initiate talks with Sonia Gandhi about the scam. But his efforts to convince Sonia also did not succeed.The VK Shunglu Committee which probed the CWG scam did mention about the letters  written by Aiyar to the PM, but the committee was silent on the PMO's silence .It must be borne in mind Aiyar was seeking PM's intervention to stop corruption in his own ministry.He was the Sports minister then.May be, the  PMO believed Aiyar's letters were  due to  a personality clash between him and Kalmadi.But it is an undeniable fact that the corruption in the run up to the CWG was known to the PMO ,but for some strange reason  PM was inactive.It may be noted that Aiyar did also send a letter to  then Finance Minister P Chidambaram giving all relevant details  of CWG Organising Committee (CWG-OC) chief Suresh Kalmadi violating norms, but it did not evoke any  action from Chidambaram. It is reported that Kalmadi managed to release funds directly from the Finance Ministry without even giving proper account of the expenses.Aiyar in his letter, addressed to Chidambaram on Dec 5, 2007, had requested the Finance Ministry to remove the Sports Ministry from the procedure of allotment of funds to the CWG Organising Committee.It is a pity PM ignored a spate of letters form his own ministerial colleague and when the shinglu comiittee tabled its report ,the Media advisor to the Prime Minister, Harish Khare, said "The Prime Minister has taken a serious view of the findings in the first report of the Shunglu Committee" .Was the PM trying to close the stable door after the horse has bolted ?And when  the PM's media Advisor said the the report has been sent to Cabinet Secretary KM Chandrasekhar for "immediate examination", it was highly incongruous. 

Manmohan singh is often referred to as the architect of India's economic reforms.But of late he is seen as an avatar of inaction.Why is he not acting decisively ? Some time back in a meeting with media men, PM said there were coalition compulsions to explain about his in-actions in the 2G scam . But in CWG scam, a ministerial colleague from his own party  was doing everything possible to bring to his attention about an "gargantuan gap " between projections and actuals of CWG expenditure .Unfortunatley PM did not act on the warnings of his ministerial colleague.Fingers were pointed to PMO in 2G Scam Antrix,Devas deal ,appointment of CVC and now CWG scam .Will the PM call this also an error of judgement ?It is unfortunate a world renowned economist's ,clean image is taking a beating ,because of his inactions. Manmohan Sing per se may be honest .But as an honest person he should not have allowed persons to loot the nation.The PM wants public commendation for his honesty .But he is shying away to fight the corrupt lot around him. 

Ceaser's wife,Manmohan and Jaitley

In the congress Party's 83 rd Plenary session  Prime Minister Manmohan Singh compared himself to ceaser's wife implying that he should be above suspicion. Obviously he was refering to the 2G scam,JPC Probe and other corruption scandals that have hit UPA governement recently.It was followed by his offer to appear before PAC for any inquiry. He also said ."I have nothing to hide".

Ceaser's wife Pompea hosted a festival to celebrate Ceasers appointment as the Chief Priest of Roman religion in BC 62.No man was permitted to attend this fest.But a man called Clodius,disguised as a woman manages to enter the festival for seducing pompea.He was caught and prosecuted .Ceaser did not give evidence against clodius and he was acquited.But soon after ceaser divorced Pompea saying " my wife must be above suspicion".

Jaitley was quick to comment on Manmohan's speech and emphatically said "PM has something to hide" .Else why did he keep quiet on 2 G scam for over one year?.He also said ceaser's wife had no choice to appear before which forum.But PM wants to appear before PAC and not JPC.Jaitley Should remember BJP's Karnataka CM Yeddy wants a probe for land scam by the retired judge and not by the Lok ayukata.Why double standards Mr.Jaitley?

The political oneupmanship between the Congress and BJP is no more interesting and entertaining to the the general public.The corrupt and the guilty politicians are making a mockery of our democracy.One thing is sure, the corruption ridden governments of our nation,be it a state government or the central government make our deficit spending more acute and welfare lags.It is a sorry state of affairs that corruption is seen at all leves from lowest rung government employee to high profile politicians,police,sports bodies and sadly including military establishments and judiciary.Corporate sector is also not far behind in stealing the honours and vie with government employees in shady deals and corruption.Look at the magnitude of corruption in our country.The world Bank has suspended milions worth of loans to Indian health sector after finding out corruption in procurement.It must be understood corruption is gradually eating up our nation .Corruption has become all pervasive.I feel Indian citizens should rise against this tendency by a spout of RTI petitions across the nation on transactions that are not transparent and  force a change for the better.It may be a slow cure,but a start has to be made somewhere.This would atleast address accountability and efficiency.Inefficiency and not accountable are the two important causes for rampant corruption in many areas.

Race for the saddle

On June 2nd the world will know about the next Indian Prime minister.Though it is too early to predict the outcome,there are too many aspiring Prime ministerial candidates form a host of parties.This includes some regional parties also.Who will don the PM's mantle is a million dollar question.Notwithstanding the uncertainites of the poll outcome,given below is a list of possible PM aspirants .

BJP is projecting L.K.Advani as its PM candidate.As of now Advani is the only potential PM candidate from BJP.In fact BJP's entire campaign is pivoted around the theme 'For a strong PM,vote for BJP'.

Like Last elections, Congress is not projecting any one,as its prospective PM candidate.This has nothing to do with the fact that the PM is recuperating after a surgery.PM being a Rajya Sabha member will continue to be a sitting member of the Rajya Sabha until 2010.In case, the UPA manages to secure a majority to form the government,Congress could decide one way or the other.(choose a potenetial candidate from its Lok sabha members or continue with Manmohan singh).However there could be hardcore sycophants in Congress, who would want Sonia Gandhi to assume the PM's mantle.An equal number of youth congress men could vie with fellow congresmen in favour of Rahul Gandhi also.The unfortunate guy in the Congress would be its 'All Purpose Man' Pranab Mukherji.But if Pranab becomes a surprise candidate, it could be a marvel.No doubt Pranab is a competent candidate to be the Prime Minister.

The alternate front(third front) comprising Leftists,TDP,JD(s),AIADMK,BSP,TRS etc also have Prime Ministerail aspirants.The foremost among them is BSP's Mayawati.She does not in any way hold back her aspirations.She has vociferously voiced her thoughts on this.But the constituents of the third fornt have decided not to name any potential PM candidate until the elections are over.This decision is only to appease others in the front, who have similar aspirations.Obviously they don't want the front to break before the elections on the question of declaring the prospective PM.The implied threat is from the AIADMK supremo Jayalalitha.She is also nursing Prime ministerial ambitions.In the event of a fractured mandate, she is capable of doing a hard bargain and achieve her goals.Leftists apparently want a say in deciding the Potential PM from third fornt,should things move to such a situation.CPM committed a blunder years ago forefeiting a PM's chance to Jyoti Basu.Prakash Karat has gone on record this time,in case third front assumes power,CPM might join the government.Does it mean he has some trumpcards up his sleeve?Does the PB of the communist party want to do some amends to its earlier folly?Though Chandrababu Naidu and Devagowda have said they are not in the race,one gets the feeling that the wily Gowda would be hoping, that in case of difference of opinions among third front parties over agreeing to a common candidate,history could repeat itself and he could becme a compromise candidate once again.

Apart from the three major political fronts there are a host of other PM aspirants from other parties also.Some people have expressed it overtly also.People like Sharad Pawar,Mulyam Singh Yadav,Ram Vilas Paswan and Lalu Yadav have also expressed their desire to be the PM at one time or the other in their political career.Anything can happen in politics.There could be dark horses emerging form nowhere.Whatever it is,the stewardship of the nation should rest in the hands of a safe,able,competent,efficient and qualified Prime Minister.

Polarisation of Indian Politics

The leftists were running the government by proxy.But it seems on the Indo-US nuclear deal,they have rubbed the congress on the wrong side. Even an accomodative PM like Manmohan Singh finally decided to take on the lefts opportunistic withdrawal of support and challenge them on the floor of the house. The left pushed the PM too far on the nuclear deal issue. PM has rightly said that it was a 'mis judgement' on the part of Prakash Karat. The government has got a lease of life .But the next general elections are not far off.

The rise of a third front has become real now and is almost inevitable. Parties like Ajit singh's Lok Dal and Deve Gowda's JD(s) have fallen a prey to the baits offered by another power monger Mayawati.With Mulayams SP aligning with the congress, naturally Mayawati's BSP got a hearty welcome in the UNPA. Regional parties like TDP, Biju's JD,Chautala's Lokdal and JD(u) have welcomed the leftists joining with them as it would strengthen the third front.
All the more the leftists also had no other go. Having come out of the UPA, they can not obviously join with the NDA .They need to support the formation of an alternate third front at least for their own survival in the ensuing polls.The only other regional party worth its salt that is out of all the three fronts is Jayalalitha's AIADMK.Since AIADMK has no MP's in the current LOk sabha, understandably she has been keeeping a low profile. Had AIADMK a couple of MPs's in the current Lok sabha,she would also have jumped in to the fray. She is playing a waiting game.She is currently undecided on her possible allies at the state level. That makes her keep her cards close to her chest. In all likelyhood the congress DMK alliance may continue.That means the PMK may have to find another alliance partner.There is the likelyhood of a third front in TN also. With Vijaykant's DMDK and Sarat Kumars SMMK trying to form a third front with them in the lead. The left may have two options in TN.They can either align with the proposed third front or with Jaya's AIADMK front. But joining the AIADMK would mean that she will not have any truck with BJP in the state and central elections. This remains to be seen. All this points to one thing that is certain. The coming state elections in TN and the next Lok sabha polls would be fought between three fronts.The congress led UPA, BJP led NDA and a third front including leftists and fringe parties. All said and done the leftists have committed an 'historical blunder' by withdrawing support to the UPA. Mr. Jyoti Basu of CPM said some time back, by refusing to allow him become the PM long time back, the CPM commited an 'historical blunder'.This time the CPM has committed the same 'historical blunder' courtesy Prakash Karat.

If the leftists get a major chunk of the seats in WB,Kerala and Tripura,with a sizeable win for BSP in UP,TDP in AP along with few fringe parties support the third front will be a major force to reckon with and the leftists will again call the shots .They will not obvioulsy join the government,but would enjoy power by proxy.The coalition politics is here to stay.Hence with the national interest in mind the indian electorates would do well to give a decsive mandate in future polls so that we may not have to witness the ugly horse trading once again and bring the nation to shame in the eyes of the international community.

Indo US nuclear deal

The Manmohan singh government is under pressure to go ahead and approach IAEA to ratify the India specific safeguards. Time is running out for the Union government . The leftist allies of UPA are stalling this move, primarily because it is a deal with US. They don't seem to have a valid reason other than this. They are using the 'support pull out' so effectively, since majority of the congressmen are also not in favour of a snap poll. Governments failure to control inflation, and the recent gains by BJP in the just concluded assembly polls have made the congress, and its other allies minus leftists in UPA wary of early polls.

Nuclear power generation is the only answer to our increased energy demands. These energy demands will only grow further in the years to come.Further growth and development in nuclear power generation is possible only with external technological assistance.Most importantly for our nuclear fuel requirements, we have to depend on others. Continous hike in crude oil prices will be a regular affair in the coming years.There are no signs of crude oil prices coming down.under these circumstances, nuclear energy is the only viable alternative. After the pokhran test,other nuclear countries are not giving technological assistance.We are not a signatory to the NPT also. Getting fuel from NSG countries is a must for our nuclear plants.

Besides,as PM feels, it is a question of credibility for the country.India will cut a sorry figure in front of the international community. It will surely be a step backward for India. BJP is opposing the deal, for political compulsions. The scientific community, however has both supporters for the deal and those who oppose the deal.

By and large, majority of the public are in favour of the deal, as long as the deal does not jeopardise India's sovereignty.If SJP comes to the rescue and supports the government on the nuclear deal issue, the Manmohan singh government must muster courage to go ahead with the deal, at the risk of severing the ties with the leftists in the interest of the nation.

But the SJP could strike a bargain with congress.Support could be extended for the deal by the SJP in return for a consideration.Obviously the consideration would be dumping the 33 % women reservation Bill in cold storage again. It is a pity political parties have a self centered agenda also,apart from their ideologies. Most of the time compromises are made on ideologies, but not on the hidden agenda. Well, that is politics!