Trouble for UPA as PMK closes in on deal with Jaya

CHENNAI/ NEW DELHI: After the failure of Congress's last-minute efforts to hold back PMK in the UPA corral, the party was close to inking a deal
with AIADMK. If PMK does make the crossover, it will be a significant shot in the arm for AIADMK chief J Jayalalitha and a blow to Congress.

A meeting between home minister P Chidamabaram and PMK leader's son Anbumani Ramadoss failed to narrow differences and Congress appears reconciled to the party leaving the UPA fold.

An indicator that the Tamil Nadu alliance was near breaking-point came with PMK's maverick leader S Ramadoss responding angrily to DMK chief M Karunanidhi's criticism that his concern for Sri Lankan Tamils was only skin deep. "Karunanidhi has reached a stage of extreme desperation and anger," said Ramadoss, pointedly underlining that Congress was DMK's only ally.

The signing ceremony is expected to unfold at Jayalalitha's Poes Garden residence on Thursday after a meeting of the PMK's general council. The PMK meeting is expected to severe ties with UPA with a "heavy heart" and Ramadoss will meet Jayalalitha thereafter. At least that was the script being considered on Wednesday evening.

Karunanidhi seems to have been running out of patience with Ramadoss whom he criticised on Tuesday for raising the Sri Lankan issue in an opportunistic manner. He said "certain leaders" had traded their concerns over events in Mullaithivu and Killinochchi for bargaining for constituencies in the state. If Ramadoss does keep his date with Amma, he will have rejoined an AIADMK-led alliance after eight years.

If Vijayakanth's DMDK remains unattached as the star has till now indicated, the scales could be tilting in favour of AIADMK. Vijayakanth is kicking off a 40-day campaign tour from Kanyakumari on Thursday. With no wave detected so far, alliances may be a key factor and Ramadoss does command a following in northern districts that have a significant Vanniyar population. It is understood that he has bargained for seven Lok Sabha seats and one Rajya Sabha berth.

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In Assam, Advani tears into Congress

KHERONI: BJP's prime ministerial candidate LK Advani on Wednesday launched his party's campaign in Assam by accusing Congress of turning a blind
eye to Bangladeshi infiltration into the state.

"I read the Congress manifesto carefully. I didn't find a word about solving the problem of illegal migration," Advani said at a meeting at Kheroni village in Karbi Anglong district. "During the 1962 Sino-Indian war, the Congress government left Assam alone to defend itself from the Chinese aggressors. Today also, Congress doesn't care for it," he added. Describing infiltration from Bangladesh as Assam's "main problem," the BJP's prime ministerial candidate said, "No country can tolerate such a menace... India
is not a dharmashala where people without passports and valid documents can come and settle." He termed the Assam agitation against Bangladeshi infiltration as the country's "biggest people's movement after Independence."

Despite SC's directives to both the Centre and the state government, nothing has been done to stop infiltration, Advani said. "Chief minister Tarun Gogoi has to give an answer," he added while referring to a Supreme Court order that has described continuing infiltration as a threat to the nation. Advani vowed to deal terrorism and subversive forces with a strong hand if his party is voted to power.

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Rice race hots up: BJP to follow Congress

NEW DELHI: The populist floodgates have been thrown open. After Congress promised 25kg of rice or wheat at Rs 3 a month for every family below the poverty line, BJP looks set to respond with a similar scheme with foodgrain for the poor at even cheaper rates.

"We will more than match the Congress on this," said BJP sources. Though they refused to spell out details, the party appears to have the Chhattisgarh model in mind where the government has offered rice at Rs 2 a kg for BPL families. The scheme was a key factor in the BJP's victory in the state assembly polls last December.

If the quantum of rice under BJP's Rs 2/kg scheme is assumed to be the same 25 kg/month as offered by Congress, it will increase the subsidy bill by Rs 7,200 crore, Rs 1,500 crore more than the subsidy that the Congress scheme entails.

With both Congress and the BJP signing off on this cheap grain scheme, irrespective of who wins, highly subsidised rice and wheat for BPL families is expected to be rolled out as a countrywide scheme. A Third Front-led government, backed by the Congress, will ensure its early implementation.

Lack of resources has not really been the reason why cheap food schemes have not been brought in nationally. The delay has more to do with squeamishness about populism, particularly after the country embarked on economic reforms with fiscal discipline as one of the key ingredients.

But today, populism as a principle of governance has found expression in some form or the other worldwide in the aftermath of the global economic crisis. The mood-altering economic slowdown and arguments that extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures have all but sumberged any concern for fiscal discipline.

Criticism of UPA's massive spending — Rs 71,000 crore allocated for NREGA and Bharat Nirman in the 2009-10 budget — was more on lack of delivery than about the outlay itself.

By all indications, BJP may try to outspend — in terms of promises — the Congress. In fact, when the BJP manifesto group met on Wednesday afternoon shortly after the Congress poll appeal was released, Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh, who happened to be in town, was invited to attend the deliberations. "It is clear that development and welfare programmes will be an important component," said senior BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu.

Besides the cheap rice scheme, the BJP will also promise the countrywide implementation of Madhya Pradesh government's popular `ladli' scheme where the government makes deposits in the accounts of every girl child attending school.

The turnaround on populism is best represented by TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu. The former Andhra Pradesh chief minister who collected accolades from fiscal disciplinarians for turning away from the culture of populist sops launched his election campaign this year with the promise of cash transfers.

If the TDP chief has done a somersault on populism — he had once famously remarked that Congress's offer of free power would lead to farmers using electricity cables to dry washing — the BJP is not too far behind. "In the past few years BJP understanding of populism has changed," said a party source.

The same unapologetic approach is evident in Congress with Jairam Ramesh, a key campaign planner, telling TOI, "If fat cats get bailouts it is called stimulus but in the case of the poor it is populism! If being pro-aam admi is populism then Congress is being populist." Clearly the rice race is well and truly on.

In the past, when revenues were bouyant, Ramesh had defended higher fertiliser subsidies as pro-farmer. In a recession, give-aways may well have an added appeal

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