Politics is family business in Maharashtra

State legislature assembly elections in Maharashtra are scheduled for October 13 in Maharashtra. All major parties in engaged in finalising the list of candidates. While the electoral clashes are heading towards theatrical and interesting, one bit of the polling is prominent. In each politicl party, the election is a family business. Leaders across the board have their offsprings or kins in the fray without a trace of remorse.

Leading the way is Congress which makes an obvious choice for hereditary politics. Since the time of Indira Gandhi, Congress workers are accustomed to bow before their anointed leader on the single virtue of coming from an influential family. This time around, party will have little space to take newcomers on board while struggling to make justice with sons and daughters of its leaders. Chief minister Ashok Chavan himself is such a politician who happens to be son of Shankarrao Chavan, the late Congress leader. Having graced posts of home minister and finance minister at New Delhi as also CM of Maharashtra twice, Shankarrao passed on his legacy to Ashokrao. He first tasted political water in 1987 by becoming Member of Parliament from Nanded, the seat was vacated by his father to become CM of Maharashtra. Ashokrao's brother in law Bhaskarrao Patil Khatgaonkar is now MP from Nanded.

Another prominent politician is Vilasrao Deshmukh, former CM of Maharashtra and now union minister for heavy industries. While his son Ritesh is making waves in Bollywood, his second son Amit is sure to solicit votes from Latur constituency. District Congress committee of Latur has 'unanimously' recommended Amit's candidacy. Dilip Deshmukh, brother of Vilasrao is already in the state cabinet coming from State legislature Council. Vilasrao's junior in union cabinet Pratik Patil is grandson of Vasantdada Patil who won recently from Sangli parliamentary constituency. Madan Patil, another son of Vasantdada is minister of employment guarantee scheme in state cabinet of Maharashtra. Another heavyweight of Sangli, Patangrao Kadam, who holds the empire of Bharati Vidyapeeth in Pune, is trying to field his son Vishwajit Kadam in the race. If elected, he is sure to bag a post in cabinet as Patangao is himself revenue minister currently. Towering all them all will be Raosaheb Shekhawat, president of India Pratibhatai Patil's son. He want a ticket for himself from Amrawati constituency. Praniti Shinde, union power minister Sushilkumar Shinde's daughter is in tipped to be a candidates from the Solapur assembly constituency. She will be the third member from Shinde family second being ….... Vandana Shinde, wife of Sushilkumar. She contested the seat in 2004 when Sushilkumar was CM and still lost the election. Present school education minister in Maharashtra Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil is son of veteran leader Balasaheb Vikhe Patil. Likewise, higher education minister Rajesh Tope is son of veteran Congress leader Ankush Tope.

If the list above seems exhaustive, it is not. It gives only a glimpse of what how political space is full of dynastic endowments. After Congress, Nationalist Congress Party has also turned democracy into a kind of baton relay. NCP's chief has kept two parliamentary seats with him as well as his daughter Supriya Sule. Ajit Pawar, state's water resources minister and guardian minister of Pune is his nephew. Thus, decision making in NCP is controlled by the Pawar family. Besides him, Padmasingh Patil, who is brother in law of Sharad Pawar was elected from Usmanabad recently to Lok Sabha. He was later accused of murder of his cousing Pravinraje Nimbalkar. Though, Padmasinh's son Rana Jagjitsinh Patil is a minister in the state cabinet and sure to get a ticket from NCP. State's tourism minister Vijaysinh Mohite Patil has sent his son Ranjitsinh Mohite Patil to Rajya Sabha. Ganesh Naik, who has a large following in Navi Mumbai area, was in Shiv Sena earlier but later switched to NCP. He is bringing his son to front now. Chhagan Bhujbal, another heavyweight who shifted from Shiv Sena to NCP, is now deputy CM. His nephew Samir Bhujbal was recently sent to Lok Sabha from Yewala constituency.
Shiv Sena and BJP are also not free of this element. Truth of the matter is that Shiv Sena split twice because of dynastic tendency of its chief. So much so that Balasaheb Thackerey was not ready to part with leadership other than his son Uddhav. His nephew Raj Thackerey and a stalwart like Narayan Rane left the party because of this reason. It is another matter that Rane himself has sent his son Nitesh to Lok Sabha while keeping minister's post with himself. He has openly expressed his desire to become chief minister and it is to be seen whether Nilesh Rane, his another son throws his towel in the ring.

In BJP, Dhananjay Munde, nephew of Gopinath Munde, who is member of parliament from Beed now, is willing to contest from Beed for 's assembly seat. His daughter, Pankaja Palwe is said to be ready to jump in the fray. Poonam Mahajan, late leader Pramod Mahajan's daughter was enraged when she was denied a ticket in parliamentary elections. Munde, who is brother in law of Pramod Mahajan, also expressed his dissatisfaction over the denial. This time round, Poonam is tipped to get a ticket from Ghatkopar West constituency. Some other minor leaders will also try to pass on the baton to their kins.

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The theater that is Maharashtra-Part 2

All these parties are already in the propaganda mode. While Congress-BJP alliance is harping on the development works in its ten year tenure, which is a classic case of self-eulogy, its rival alliance is also bent on giving prominence to Hindutva agenda. For a change, Shiv Sena under Uddhav Thackerey has really well etched out a role for itself in the sad series of farmer's suicide. The party is also taking up the load shedding issue, easily overlooking the fact that it can help little in the issue even if it comes to power.

Having set its target audience, MNS has little to present than the sorry state of Marathi people in their own state. Bad management of affairs by ruling alliance has made sure that MNS does not run out of fuel in its campaign. If MNS becomes a major power in the state after the election, it should thank more the ruling alliance than the voters.

As things stand out today, any of these parties can strike a partnership with any of the parties before or after the elections. It was rumours about Shiv Sena joining hands with NCP that is said to be a reason behind both the parties' debacle. It is after all only a question of convenience for the leadership of respective parties. One, NCP is fed up of living on the favours of Congress and want to have own rule. Second, Shiv Sena must have a partner to come to power as it is way short of winning the number's game. Third, both NCP and Shiv Sena thrive on the same electorate which mainly consists of rural, semi-literate youths and both the parties have same mentality. It is said about NCP that it is a party of fiefdoms. Shiv Sena is more than vocal in expressing its inclination towards the ancient way of politics. Fourth, Shiv Sena and BJP do not have the same cordiality that was 20 years ago. After passing of Pramod Mahajan, real connecting line between them has been cut. Present alliance is only a relic of two decades for amity. In fact, Shiv Sena thinks BJP more as a liability than the asset. Recent bickering in BJP at New Delhi only compounded the crisis. That is why Samana, Shiv Sena's Marathi mouthpiece daily recently compared BJP with the dead parrot while describing itself as an eagle. State leadership of BJP does not take it lightly but their hands are really tied. The party does not have a dedicated workforce to ensure smooth ride on its own. In its desperation, leaders like Gopinath Munde and Nitin Gadkari had even went further to suggest that their alliance should take in MNS as partner. The suggestion was naturally turned down by Shiv Sena because its rivalry with MNS is necessarily a clash of personal egos.

The world is a theatre, said Shakespeare. Now, Maharashtra has become an interesting theatre with a month long drama being enacted here. Let's applause the actors because without them, we would be left without any entertainment.

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The theater that is Maharashtra-Part 1

All kind of political manoeuvring is taking place in Maharashtra. With assembly election barely a month later and code of conduct in force, most of the dealings are taking place in back room discussions. This time the theatre is set in so fashion that one is having a feast of drama. There all players of all hues and colours as well as numbers in the fray. So nobody actually knows what will be the ending of this play.

In the Lok Sabha elections, it was expected that ruling Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) will get a drubbing and Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will come out handsomely. But the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena played a perfect spoilsport to the Sena-BJP alliance. The result was that Congress emerged as frontrunner with 17 seats out of 48. Even though it shares power with NCP in state, Congress was in cloud seven when NCP suffered heavy losses managing to get only eight seats. Buoyed with this victory, Congress is bargaining for more seats this time for assembly elections. NCP being at receiving end is finding it hard to preserve its quota of seats at the level of year 2004. Interestingly, even though NCP had contested less seats last time, its tally of winning candidates was more than Congress in the assembly. Obviously enough, Congress does not want a repeat of that episode. Therefore it is trying to browbeat its rival-turned-ally in conceding more seats.

Upto now, elections in the state were limited to these four parties. But this time around, there are two-three more players who can give these parties a run for there money. Actually, MNS has already proved its mettle by eating up a large chunk of votes in Lok Sabha elections in April. However, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) could not prove to be a worthy threat to the main players. Its political TRP was no doubt high but the performance on ground was almost invisible. Even in constituencies like Pune, where it touted its social engineering formula as its main plank by fielding D. S. Kulkarni and every political analyst was putting his bet on the candidate, it failed miserably to prove up to expectations. MNS has a large base of Shiv Sena activists and its Marathi Manoos agenda is already making waves in the people. I have seen it in places like Marathwada that people are ready to trust MNS and anticipate a good performance from the hitherto new party. However, the people also have too many complaints about the party not living to the expectation. It is not uniform in its activities and it seems as going into a slumber at times. Moreover, some recent incidents have put the party activists in a bad light. Accusations like extortion, kidnapping, rape and threatening have been levelled against the partymen, cases being already filed against them. Raj Thackerey, chief of MNS has shown no clear sign of dissociating himself or his party from the dirty elements. How this will affect the prospect of the party in election is better left to the people. I am never ready to make a pronouncement in this matter, because the Indian public is very tolerant when it comes to electing their representative. There is no surety that a person with heaps of criminal records or corruption charges will not get elected.

As for BSP, failure is not new to the party. It is contesting elections for over two decades in the state and has yet to make any mark. Still, it has an appreciable endurance which can help it win a handful of seats. In the October elections though, BSP's ship might sail in rough weather as various Dalit parties with splinter Left groups have joined hands against Congress_NCP as well as Shiv Sena-BJP. This new front is to address the same audience to that of BSP hence there might be a clash of interest between them. Major constituents of new front come from various groups of Republican Party. The reason for their coming together was defeat of candidates like Ramdas Athavale and Rajendra Gawai, who have hitherto earned their bread and butter by aligning themselves with Congress or NCP leadership. A main drawback of this new front is that it has only leaders and no workers. Even the front is planning to contest all 288 seats, it has hardly any chance of winning at more than a dozen seats. That a leader like Dr. Prakash Ambedkar is not in the front further limits the prospects of the front.

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Thanks Raj Thackeray, you spoke it well

Caste Politics Deserved a Beating

Raj Thackeray, leader of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena has finally spoke on behalf of Shivshahir Babasaheb Purandare. He has warned of retalitory action if any attempt is made to a harm Purandare physically.

An open letter written by Raj points to the controversy over Purandare's induction as chairman of the committee set by state government. The committe will look into issues for erecting a huge memorial of Chhatrapati Shivaji in the Arab sea, off the coast of Mumbai. The total project will cost Rs 300 Crores.

Organisations like Sambhaji Brigade and Maratha Mahasangh has opposed to the name of Purandare as chairman saying that he does not deserve it. These organisations are fighting for the Maratha caste, to which Shivaji belonged. They have an old grudge against Purandare, suspecting that he had guided the US writer James Laine for writing his book, 'Shivaji: A Hindu King in Muslim India'. The book had attracted severe criticism five years ago because it had certain comments in the form of rumours deriding Shahaji, Shivaji's father. The issue was snowballed into a huge controversy then leading to an attack on Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute. Since then, Purandare is a prime target of Maratha organisations.

As is there way, the leaders of the Maratha organisations, Vianayk Mete and Purushottam Khedekar, went overboard in opposing Purandare's appointment saying that he will be physically attacked if the appointment is not cancelled. This prompted Raj Thackrey, fresh from the success of recent parliamentary elections where his party's candidates pulled in more than nine lakh votes, to issue an open letter. Raj is known to be close to Purandare and it was Purandare who attempted unsuccessfuly but vigorously to mend fences between Raj and Balasaheb Thackeray. He is one of the closest persons to Thackeray family. Given the penchant of Thackerays to the history of Marathas and in particular Chhatrapati Shivaji, it was obvious that they share a bond between them.

This also marks a good step in the politics of Maharashtra where the casteism is taking bigger and bigger roles. Raj has pointed the casteist approach of Maratha organisation and rightfully also pointed the connection of Congress and Nationalist Congress leaders with them. Both these parties claim to have a monopoly over the secularism in the state. But their role in all this drama is clearly visible. In fact, it was NCP's overstress on Maratha card that lead to its defeat in the Vidharbha and Marathwada region since these two parts have the maximum polarisation of castes in terms of voting. Purandare is a Brahmin, that also has become a disadvantage for him.

"Maratha leaders like Purushottam Khedekar and Vinayak Mete should remember that their opposition to Purandare, who is well-known across the state for popularising the Shivaji's legend among masses, will not go unopposed. Maratha leaders are trying to divide Maharashtra on caste basis and that is why they oppose appointment of Purandare, a Brahmin. Is it Purandare's crime that he belongs to Brahmin community? He has spent his entire life researching on Shivaji's life" Raj said in a statement here.

The MNS chief's comments came in the wake Khedekar, a former state government employee, announced of strong reprisal across the state if Purandare was not removed from the panel. This is not the first time that such an issue has arisen in Maharashtra. But no leader has expressed explicit support for any side like Raj except for his uncle, Balasaheb Thackeray. Shiv Sena chief is famous for his non-partisan policies as regards castes. By pronouncing his support for Purandare, Raj has taken a big risk as most of his party workers, young one that for that, come from Maratha caste. He has shown readiness to set aside this consideration for the sake of an old and reverred historian. This is a welcome move by any political leader in India.

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The Story of Loss and Win

I am writing this post full four after the election results. I have to confess that I, like all in my fraternity, could not read the mood of voters. I thought Anil Shirole will win but it was not to be. Ex-pilot and president of Indian Olympics Association Suresh Kamadi rombed home with a satisfying win having a lead of over 20,000 votes.

It is time for introspection not only for losing political parties but also for us journalists. We were way away from the actual facts and believed that whatever trend we predicted were for real. We did not read the writing on the wall because we thought the analysis we engaged in were substantial. Now that this bubble burst with a heavy wind, we have to get back to business, that is analysis.

To be fair, there was no reason why Kalmadi was to be defeated. He had carried out various development works. He is also a suave politician and keeping with the tradition of Pune constituency, also known for his reach. He has not confined himself with a particular community of strata of society. Kalmadi can be seen in Hi-Tech Pune conference as well as at Eid Milan program organized by city Congress. There is also no criminal connection with his name. Media predicted his defeat solely on the assumption that D. S. Kulkarni will eat away his votes. But that did not happen that way.

Consider these facts: Congress had alliance with Nationalist Congress Party but guardian minister Ajit Pawar chose not to attend any campaign rally in favor of Kalmadi. Being a Brahmin from Karnataka, he had also caste factor against him. He is shrewd enough not to publicize or rather cover this disadvantage. This was the first year when Kalmadi openly spoke in Kannada in a gathering at Congress Bhavan in Pune.

We are always proud of being in the midst of people and having our ears to the ground. But these election results have shown us how far we are from the ground realities. So Congress' win is a loss for us. A loss of face and loss of confidence also.

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Who WIll be Next PM?

We will Know by Tomorrow  

The name of the next prime minister of India will be clear by tomorrow evening. Several things have been discussed during the two months. First time in the history of independent India, the election was a very dull and useless affair, which was also largely trouble-free. But it does not mean that this trial was not interesting. Political parties continued to promise several things for the public. Still, it is absolutely clear that no party can gain power.

Congress, a party with a long history behind it seems to be closer to victory. Bharatiya Janata Party will also be able to succeed in having the seat of power. The important names which could come for the post of PM include Dr. Manmohan Singh, Lal Krishna Advani, Mayawati and Sharad Pawar.

Personally I think Anil Shirole will win in Pune. Shirole, who is a BJP candidate MP can manage to win owing to his clean image. Suresh Kalmadi, who was MP for the five years since 2004 has not fared that bad but people are very unhappy with him. One reason for this is lack of communication between him and voters. Anil Shirole is not a very popular man either, but he will benefit from his clean image and also the dedicate workers of BJO behind him.

And me? I did not vote in Pune. Because I have my name in the voter's list of Nanded, so I could vote only there. The contest there is also much interesting because it is a constituency managed by chief minister himself.

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Counting of Votes On Saturday

Will It Ease the Administration

Curtains will come down on the election process of Pune on Saturday with about 4,500 employees deployed for the counting work. This will be the first time in the history of Pune district that such a large number of employees will be deployed for the exercise.

Counting of all four constituencies — Pune, Maval, Shirur and Baramati, will take place at Shivajinagar godown on Saturday. The counting process will be over before the noon itself. But the Election Commission has ordered to depute maximum employees for the counting. That is why, for each constituency one thousand employees will be deputed. Till now, there were only three constituencies in the district.

District collector Chandrakant Dalvi on Thursday informed that the administration is ready to carry out the counting process. Counting boxes from all four constituencies are placed in the 20 godowns. A total of 508 rounds of counting of votes will take place, Dalvi said.'

For common citizens, it also means that administration will return to working mode, at its usual slow pace. All the functions of the administration were put on back burner for last two months in the garb of code of conduct. As much as the usual problem of water supply, which is an annual exercise for the administration is also on hold. There is acute shortage in the district of drinking water. But hardly anybody has paid heed to it.

Counting in Maharashtra will be held at 39 centres. “Counting will begin at 8.00 am and almost all the results are expected within 8 hours”, according to Debashish Chakraborty, Chief Electoral Officer of Maharashtra.

The exercise will begin with the counting of postal ballots followed by assembly wise counting of votes. These will later be aggregated to obtain the result for the Lok Sabha constituency. Counting of votes will take place for one or more Lok Sabha Constituencies at a particular counting centre.

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Why Voters Did Not Vote?

By now, it is official that Pune's informed and politically aware citizens turned out in the lowest number in the history of the city's election. People are still ranting about the dismal show. But for any one who has eyes and ear, it is crystal clear why the Jago Re failed to achieve its impact on the polling process. I can give a drop down list of the reasons for people not turning up:

• Absence of Cheer Leaders : Gone are the days when the voting was a field where only leaders could graze. This is an era of IPL where viewers are not satisfied with a ball hit or bails bowled. They want drama, they want colors. Hence, the normal beep of an electronic voting machine could not satiate the thirst for an entertainment. The poll managers of political parties should take this into consideration. They should engage cheer leaders (in short and suggestive dresses only) at the polling booths. They should be preferably kept with party symbols in their hand.

• Lack of Geographical Knowledge : Pune is always considered as the center of the universe

  by those who throng here from all corners of the world. It is not for nothing that a simple looking tea stall in a corner of the city can boast of being an internationally famous shop. But the people seem to have lost a simple fact from their memory cell that the earth revolves around itself as well as sun. This large movement can cause the places to move from one place to another. It is small wonder then that the addresses and constituencies of the voters just slided down to other areas. The voters could have helped themselves simply referring to their old school books.

• Sun Did Not Have a Holiday : It is true that the election commission of India had ordered every establishment to remain closed on polling day. Unfortunately, the order was not applied to Sun god which came as usual and kept heating itself all day. That is why the temperature soared up and up. Poor people, they just thought that the heat stroke will take their life and they can not risk it just for the love of democracy. They lived their lives more. So if the result of the election turns up again to be unsatisfactory, you know whom to blame.

• Candidate Did Not Came Calling : Touted to be the biggest fare of the world, election is the only time when a candidate comes to visit the voter. It is his pious duty to apprise the voter of his features, postures and faces which might change within few days once he is elected. Unless he does not obliges, how can a voter show up at the polling booth just because he is unhappy with the current situation. It is no mandatory for the elector to know on his own who is soliciting his vote. In case someone is arguing it should be so, then he is clearly anti-democracy.

• Better Location : Why the hell EC did not care to put up the polling booths at posh and upmarket locations? How could it expect the adults to return the schools for the sake of giving away their votes to an unknown person? Least they could was to put the polling booths at emerging construction sites so that the common citizens could check the prospective properties?

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More Educated Voters Cast Their Vote

Percentage of Voting Fall Down to 42%

The traditional voters failed to register presence this time in the Pune Lok Sabha Costituency. On account of summer heat and general lack of enthusiasm, the voters turned in in small number for the poll today. Citizens from educated and middle class areas outnumbered those from slum areas. 

Large changes in the voters list in the form of addresses and voting centers as well as general lack of enthusiasm among the voters towards made the voting percentage go down. In the last election, total 48 percent of voting was registered. This time it is 42 percent. 

However, the silver lining is that mainly educated areas recorded more voting percentage than the slum areas. 22 people have been taken into custody by police for the violation of poll conduct.

Among the assembly constituencies in Pune, Kothrud, Parvati, Shivajinagar and Kasba Peth are known as having educated and middle class voters in large numbers. These areas have hitherto remained aloof from the election till now. But this time now, citizens of these areas turned up in large areas. For example, till 3 PM, Kothrud has registered 36.09 percent, Shivajinagar had 30.22 percent, Kasba Peth had 35.07 percent of votes. Compared to it, areas like Pune Cantonment and Vadgaon Sheri assembly constituencies recorded voting of only 12.57 percent.

At the end of the day, a total 42 percent of voting was recorded in the Pune Lok Sabha constituency.

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CAMPAIGNING COMES TO END

VOTING FOR FIRST PHASE ON THURSDAY

The campaigning for the election to the Lok Sabha came to an end in Nanded constituency today evening. In the last 13 days that I am here, there was no trace of hectic campaigning in the constituency. This when the chief minister of Maharashtra, Ashok Chavan represents the district in the Legislative Assembly. His brother in law Bhaskararao Patil Khatgaonkar is the candidate for the seat here. Sambhaji Pawar from Bharatiya Janata Party is his main opponent. Also, Preeti Shinde, a young candidate who has done her MBA in Fashion Marketing from Milan is also oin the fray from the Jan Surajya Party ticket. She has managed to grab much attention because of her credentials as also her campaigning has managed to create a good impression. She is sure to give a run for the money for both of these heavyweight candidates. Besides these three main faces, there are 22 candidates who are in the ring. Two electronic voting machines will have to used for them.

Nanded is one of the 124 constituencies spread over 15 states and two Union Territories going to the polls in First phase on Thursday. A total of 14 crore 31 lakh voters will exercise their right to vote in this phase.

R. Balakrishanan, deputy Election Commissioner said in New Delhi that over one lakh 85 thousand polling stations have been set up and over one lakh polling staff will man them. 1715 candidates are in the fray in this phase. Out of them 122 are women. The violence has started to engulf the electioneering process. In Bihar, activists of outlawed CPI (Maoist) torched off vehicles of contesting Janata Dal (United) candidate in Karakat Parliamentary constituency in wee hours on Tuesday. Maoists also blew up two school buildings by using dynamite at Barachatti in Gaya district.

Bahadur Sonker, Indian Justice Party candidate from Jaunpur in Uttar Pradesh was murdered on Sunday night. The Election Commission has sought a report from the Jaunpur district administration in Uttar Pradesh on the incident. 

In Andhra Pradesh, the campaigning is at its peak in the 22 Lok Sabha and 154 Assembly constituencies where polling is to take place on Thursday. Meanwhile, a new incident surfaced there when Shubha Rani, the president of Women wing of Praja Rajyam Party nearly assaulted a cameraman of NTV Telugu. However, she later apologized for the incident. She was miffed by an attempt of Sting operation.

In Maharashtra, Hingoli parliamentary constituency which is formed after the delimitation will go to the polls in the first phase of the Lok Sabha elections on Thursday. It includes Hingoli, Kalamnuri, Basmat, Kinwat, Hadgoan and Umerkhed assembly constituencies. Bhokar assembly constituency has been excluded and Umerkhed assembly segment from Vidharba region included in this newly framed Lok Sabha constituency.

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Brahmins Vow to Vote Heavily

It is a sacred duty, says Brahmin Mahasangh

The Multilingual Brahmin convocation was a much talked about subject in the last month. The two day event held in Pune had hit the headlines after an academician was forced to abandon her speech favouring modernism for women. Thereafter  there was talk that the even was ">hijacked by the politicians. Shyam Deshpande, chairman of Standing Committee in Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) and Vikas Mathkari, leader of Bharatiya Janata Party in PMC expressed unhappiness over the manner in which Sheila Dixit, chief minister of New Delhi and Suresh Kalmadi, Congress member of parliament got prominence on the dias. Deshpande even vent his ire on the dias itself refusing to accept the felicitation by organisers. Even Shalinitai Patil, leader of Kranti Sena and herself from Maratha community gave a political speech against the reservation quotas.

Now, a month after the event, some Brahmin activists again held a meeting in the city last Thursday. The meeting organised by Akhil Bharatiya Brahmin Mahasangh has called on the community members to vote in maximum numers in the ensuing parliamentary elections. It is aimed to have 70 to 80 percent of voting through the community members. A release brought out by the Mahasangh has also appealed the community members to not only vote but to encourage others also to vote in the election. The things to be considered while voting will be deliberated in the next meeting.

It is not clear how much following the Mahasangh has. It has announced that it will create a new record for blood donation in during the meet. But the organisers of the meet failed miserably. There were also some dissenting voices during the meet itself. The caste factor, an important part of the Indian politics will not be that much important this time. As Bahujan Samaj Party has put up a candidate of Brahmin caste. Suresh Kalmadi, the present Member of Parliament representing the constituency is also from the same caste. He is likely to get a continuation this time also. That means we might expect a Brahmin v/s Brahmin fight this time. 

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