Steep petrol price hike in the offing?

With elections in five states out of the way, the government-run fuel retailers on Monday ratcheted up their demand for an increase in petrol prices by as much as Rs 5 a litre. The demand could leave the government with a political cleft stick, coming on the day Congress received a severe drubbing in the assembly polls.

Piling losses of state-run firms appear to leave little choice for the Centre but to allow some hike, perhaps Rs 3 a litre or so. But the jury is still out whether it will have the guts to bite the bullet just ahead or during the Budget session of Parliament scheduled from March 12 for fear of drawing flak from emboldened allies and resurgent regional parties like Trinamool and SP.

Officially, the state-run fuel retailers are free to revise petrol price in tandem with the fuel's rates in regional bulk markets. But in practice, they do not move without an informal cue from parent oil ministry - the majority shareholder.

After the fuel retailers last revised petrol price on December 1, when the fuel was at $109 per barrel in regional bulk markets, the ministry waved the red flag against further tinkering in view of ensuing assembly polls. The bulk prices have since topped $130 a barrel, making the companies lose more than Rs 5 on a litre of petrol.

As a result, the state fuel retailers are estimated to have accumulated a loss of over Rs 5,000 crore in the fiscal - Rs 900 crore since the last revision in December. The government would not compensate this loss since petrol is outside the ambit of its pricing controls, unlike diesel and kitchen fuels.

While the government may still give the go-ahead for an increase in petrol price under the plea that it does not have any say on the fuel, it may find revising diesel and kitchen fuels much more difficult. If at all, such a revision would happen only after the budget session, by which time the political dust kicked up in the assembly polls are expected to settle.

Polling begins in Goa today

Voting began this morning in Goa to elect a new 40-member Assembly amidst tight security.

The polling started at 7 AM.

A total of 10.25 lakh voters, spread over two districts - North Goa and South Goa - are will exercise their franchise at 1,612 polling booths, which will be manned by 10,644 security personnel, officials said.

The fate of 215 candidates, including nine women and 74 independents would be decided. Two major alliances - ruling Congress-NCP alliance and Opposition BJP-MGP combination - are the main contenders for power in the tiny coastal state.

For the first time in Goa, the Election Commission (EC) has introduced a monitoring system wherein photographs and fingerprints of all voters will be captured on computers.

The EC has identified 180 polling booths as sensitive where additional forces will be deployed.

In the 2007 Assembly polls, Congress had won 16 seats and formed the Government with the help of NCP (3), Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (2) and some Independents.

BJP had won 14 seats.

This time, Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP), Goa's oldest regional outfit, has withdrawn from the Congress-led alliance and joined hands with Opposition BJP.

Will Mayawati's magic work in 2012?

Her rock solid Dalit support may still be intact. But with charges of corruption and poor governance enveloping her, Chief Minister Mayawati may find the going tough in Uttar Pradesh, say political activists and pundits.

The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) is determined to retain power it bagged in the country's most populous state five years ago on its own, stunning foes and friends alike. It will be no bed of roses this time, though.

For starters, there is disenchantment, widely referred to as anti-incumbency. Mayawati and government are battling corruption allegations too. Even admirers say she seems to have withdrawn from the people she claims to represent.

Then there is the opposition factor. The Samajwadi Party is charged up, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is determined to regain the support base it has lost while the Congress wants to make a spectacular comeback.

"She may not win a majority this time," political analyst N Bhaskara Rao said, referring to Mayawati, the four-time Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh.

According to him, neglect of the basic "bijli-sadak-pani" (electricity, road, water) issues cast doubts on her ability to win an outright majority from the staggered seven-phase election starting Feb 8.

Rao admits that Mayawati's decision to deny tickets to a third of her legislators and sacking of 16 ministers over corruption charges shows she has strong decision-making capabilities.

But the 2007 magic -- "social engineering" -- has more or less broken down. Compared to five years ago, Brahmins and other upper castes don't seem to be backing her that enthusiastically.

Badri Narayan, an expert on Dalit issues with the Allahabad-based Govind Ballabh Pant Institute of Social Sciences, says that Mayawati's popularity was declining.

"Her Dalit vote bank is intact but sections of Muslims, Brahmins and Kurmis are shifting towards the Congress," Narayan said.

In his view, though Mayawati has an image of an iron lady, the distance between her and her party workers has increased over the past five years.

"As a person she is good, understands rural society, and has politically proved herself many times. But her exclusivity is going against her," said Narayan.

After her political baptism in 1977 by BSP founder Kanshiram, school teacher Mayawati had a meteoric rise in the party. She was made his heir in 2001 and became the party chief two years later.

In 1995, Mayawati created history by becoming India's first Dalit woman Chief Minister in Uttar Pradesh.

It was a short stint. She returned to power in March 1997 for another brief stint, and again was chief minister May to August 2002. She finally became chief minister on her own right in May 2007.

But even as her ambitions soared, the 2009 Lok Sabha election checkmated her. The BSP won just 19 seats, far below the 40 it hoped to capture. That was in part due to a Congress comeback, thanks to Ranul Gandhi.

Today too, Rahul Gandhi is going hammer and tongs against Mayawati.

Assembly elections: Voting underway for tight fight in Punjab, Uttarakhand

Polling began on a dull vote in the Assembly elections in Punjab and Uttarakhand on Monday with around 10% polling recorded in both states till 10 am.

In Punjab, only about 10 percent of around 1.76 crore voters exercised their franchise till 10 am when reports last came in.

The polling remained peaceful in the initial two hours with no reports of violence received, special Chief electoral Officer Usha R Sharma said.

She said the polling is likely to pick up as the day advances.

The fate of 1078 candidates, including two Chief Ministerial aspirants Parkash Singh Badal and Amarinder Singh in fray for 117 Assembly seats, will be sealed today.

The polling is taking place at 19,841 polling stations across 22 districts of Punjab where.

Prominent candidates whose fate would be sealed today include the Chief Minister from his traditional Lambi Assembly seat, his predecessor Amarinder Singh from Patiala city, their sons Sukhbir Singh Badal (Jalalabad) and Raninder Singh (Samana), former chief minister Rajinder Kaur Bhattal (Lehra), former Punjab top cop P S Gill (Moga), former Principal Secretary to the chief minister D S Guru (Bhadaur) and former SGPC chief Bibi Jagir Kaur (Bholath).

A total of 70972, including 225 paramilitary force personnel have been deployed to conduct the elections.

At least 2627 video cameras and 554 digital cameras have been installed at polling booths. Around 203 polling stations are using live web-casting.

Of the polling stations, 2718 have been identified hyper sensitive and 6379 as sensitive.

Ludhiana East (16), Patiala rural (13) and Jalalabad (14) are the assembly constituencies where maximum number of contestants are in the fray. The least number of contestants are in Attari (4).

Out of the 1,078 candidates in fray 417, including 45 women, are Independents. At the last hustings in 2007, after scrutiny and withdrawal there were a total of 1,055 candidates, including 56 women, in fray.

Low turnout in Uttarakhand

Polling for the Assembly elections in Uttarakhand to elect 70 legislators began a dull note this morning despite a clear sky.

Till 1000 hours, only 10 per cent polling was recorded, said state chief electorate officer [CEO] Radha Raturi. However, the polling was peaceful, she said.

In most of the polling booths, people began queuing up as the day progressed, officials said.

Over 63 lakh voters are expected to exercise their franchise in the elections where the ruling BJP is locked in a close fight against Congress.

The elections will also decide the fate of top state leaders including Chief Minister B C Khanduri from Kotdwar, former chief minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank from Doiwala, the leader of opposition Harak Singh Rawat from Rudraprayag and PCC chief Yashpal Arya from Baajpur seats.

The polling which began at 0800 hrs would end at 1700 hrs in the evening.

A total of 788 candidates are trying their luck with main contenders BJP and Congress contesting all the 70 seats.

PM Manmohan Singh to campaign in Punjab, Sonia in Uttarakhand

With the poll date approaching, the Congress is reaching out to the electorate in poll-bound states in a big way.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will address poll rallies in Amritsar and Ludhiana on today. Punjab goes to polls on January 30. The Congress under former chief minister Amridner Singh is looking to wrest power from the Parkash Singh Badal headed SAD-BJP combine.

Interestingly, the Prime Minister had begun his New Year from Amritsar, when he along with his wife Gursharan Kaur paid obeisance at the Golden Temple on January one.

Meanwhile, party president Sonia Gandhi is concentrating on Uttarakhand where the Congress hopes to unseat the BJP government led by BC Khanduri. She will address a rally in Almoda today; last week she had campaigned in Roorkee.

On the other hand, Rahul Gandhi is continuing with his ‘Mission UP’. He would be campaigning in the Bundelkhnad region today.

Team Anna not to target Congress during polls

Taking cue from past mistakes and fast waning popular support, anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare on Tuesday declared that Team Anna will not target the Congress government during its campaign for a strong Lokpal Bill in the five poll-bound states.

The veteran Gandhian also said that team Anna will tour all five-poll bound states extensively to create awareness among people about the Lokpal Bill.

Confirming the development, key Team Anna member Arvind Kejriwal said, “Anna Hazare ji has agreed to the Core Committee’s decision not to target any political party during our campaign for a strong Lokpal bill in five poll-bound states.”

“We have decided to tour all five poll-bound states,” he added.

To a question whether Anna Hazare will also campaign in these states, he said, “Anna has said once he recovers fully from his ailments, he will extend his support to the Lokpal campaign.”

Kejriwal also refuted allegations that Team Anna has suffered heavily due to its aggressive anti-Congress stance by saying, “We were never anti-Congress.”

The decision comes a day after the Core Committee of Team Anna yesterday met in Ghaziabad to assess the political situation and chalk out a plan on how to keep up the pressure over the Lokpal issue without targeting any political party.

The meeting came against the backdrop of poor public response to Hazare's agitation in Mumbai and Delhi in the last week of December and taunts from Congress on its anti-Congress plank.

Team Anna members Arvind Kejriwal and Prashant Bhushan also travelled to Hazare's village Relegan Siddhi in Maharashtra and apprised him of the outcome of the Core Committee's eight-hour meeting that took place yesterday.

The Lokpal movement has come to a faux pass after the UPA government evaded a vote on Lokpal Bill in Raj Sabha and Anna suspended his Mumbai fast due to ill health and poor public response.

Anna Hazare ends fast, cancels jail bharo campaign

Smarting under poor response and bad health, Anna Hazare called off his fast a day ahead of schedule and repeated his threat to campaign against Congress in the five poll-bound states for not brining a strong Lokpal.

The 74-year-old activist made the surprise announcement midway through his three-day fast at MMRDA grounds which reported poor attendance of people for the second continous day, in stark contrast the mass swelling in Delhi earlier this year during his three fasts.

Hazare did not make any reference to the earlier plans of coming to Delhi for a dharna of the residence of Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi and about the jail bharo agitation (filling up of jails) after that.

"...Whatever we are seeing today in Parliament is tragic. So I have decided to call off the fast today. There is only one way now. We will make a programme in the five states and go and awaken people there. I will tell them don't vote for traitors," he told a sparsely attended protest meeting in the afternoon.

"Now two years are left for the general elections. In between, I will go to various parts of the country and keep awakening the people till next general elections," he said.

The ending of the fast by Hazare, who was having fever of 100 degree F, came doctors advised him to call off his protest saying continuing it will lead to kidney failure.

Hazare said he was already fasting four days before the start of the protest strike yesterday here.

Team Anna member Arvind Kejriwal replying to questions from media also said that they have withdrawn the proposed jail bharo campaign for the time being, but will campaign against the Congress in the forthcoming assembly elections in 5 states.