Social networking websites have become very popular nowadays. It has made the world a smaller place as one can connect with a large number of people. Thus geographical distance has become irrelevant after the advent of social media. Today it has become easier to like, share content with one’s friends. Gone are the days when people used to write letter to connect with others. On the other hand, youth are getting addicted to social networking sites. Today most of them have accounts on social media and they keep a tab on the posts of their friends. There is pressure on youth to comment, share and like their friends posts. They become psychologically upset if their photos are not liked by their friends.
Social media was formed to enable people to connect with each other. However its relevance has been lost as youth are getting obsessed with how many likes they get for their posts. Thus if youth are spending more time on social networking sites than meeting real people it means they are addicted to social media. Many of them waste their precious time on social media. They get angry and irritated if they are unable to log into social networking sites. Instead of playing they spend more time indoors by using social media. Many of them think that social media is the best place for meeting people instead of meeting their friends. Most of them check their phone first in the morning to check for any updates.
Today youth has become so glued to social media that they don’t talk to people seated near them. Teenagers prefer to text to their peers instead of talking to them. Therefore youth are unable to communicate in the real world. Due to excessive use of social media many of them are unable to concentrate on their studies. They forget to submit their assignments. Usage of social media at night is also disrupting sleep of youth. Some of them complain about headache and discomfort in eyes.
Parents have a major role to play to prevent their children from getting addicted to social media. They need to keep a tab on websites visited by their children. They can ask their children to refrain from using social media while studying. Parents should monitor the time spent by their children on social media. During exam time, parents can ask their children to stop using social media until the completion of examinations. They should inform their children about the perils of social media and help them get out of it in a smooth manner.
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
All Souls’ Day which is celebrated by the Catholic Church on November 2 every year is a Christian festival that honours all Christian souls who have died. Many people visit the cemetery and decorate the graves of their loved ones. Special Masses are celebrated in cemeteries and in churches on that day.
Catholics on this day remember and pray for the souls of people who have died and who are in Purgatory – the place in which those who have died atone for their sins before being granted the vision of God in heaven. The thought behind this is that when a soul leaves the body of the dead person, it is not entirely cleansed from venial sins.
But, through the power of prayer, the people on earth can help these souls gain heavenly vision they seek. At each one’s home, a special rosary is recited to remember and pray for the souls of their family members, friends, etc.
JubelD’Cruz
Leading parties buying time
Even a week after the Maharashtra Assembly election results were declared giving the ruling alliance clear majority, constituents Shiv Sena and the BJP are in a tug of war over government formation. Maharashtra continues to hold suspense over the shape of the next government even though people of the state gave a clear mandate to the ruling coalition in the assembly election. Two alliances were in contest for power in Maharashtra, the BJP-Shiv Sena’s NDA and the NCP–Congress representing the UPA. Now, post-election, it appears all the four major parties are calculating their own moves separately, throwing out various possible combinations for government formation. Each has its own set of options before it. Maharashtra voters made it most cumbersome with a fractured mandate and that causes lots of problems in forming the government. Lots of issues are to be settled including the PMC Bank issue but the leading parties are buying time to form ministry. Vote Bank politics is taking the state by storm.
K. Ramani
Cat is out of the bag
50-50 is a bedroom secret and the cat is now out of the bag which has rocked the formation of the next government in Maharashtra. Not sure who is telling the truth but BJP deserves to put it’s men as the next CM of Maharashtra on the sheer strength of the number of seats they have won in the assembly. Promises have to be fulfilled in an alliance and Shiv Sena deserves to be given key portfolios in the next state government by the BJP.
Chief Minister heads the state but the job comes with a lot of responsibility as well. Devendra Fadnavis had done a wonderful job in the last Assembly and deserves another term as CM. Sena should concede that they have far less seats than BJP and compromise when it comes to CM’s post even if they were promised a 50-50 arrangement. The stock of Sena would rise if an amicable solution is found to form the next government than bickering and washing dirty linen in public which would only help the cause of the opposition!
S.N. Kabra
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
After announcing 100 smart cities, BJP now announced its planning to open 100 additional airports by 2024, as part of a plan to revive economic growth in Asia’s third-largest economy, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The proposal, which includes starting 1,000 new routes connecting smaller towns and villages, was discussed at a meeting last week to review infrastructure needed by 2025. With economic activity at a six-year low and prospects of further slowdown looming, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is keen to double down on infrastructure projects in a bid to revive growth and achieve a target of making India a $5 trillion economy by 2025. India, with a population in one billion plus, is the seventh largest economy in the world. The rapid pace of growth witnessed by the country is an indicator of rising aspirations of its citizens. Economic growth directly linked to labour market efficiency, has the potential to spring at a much faster rate, if citizens in metropolitan areas are provided with better lifestyle.
This is also the need of the hour, considering the country has witnessed matchless levels of migration from rural to urban India for education and professional reasons. One the way to achieve this is through focus on ease of living, build smart cities that are well equipped with public facilities, have adequate infrastructure to support needs of contemporary Indian families, and last but not the least, are affordable. According to figures on the union urban development ministry’s website, 49.5% projects are yet to be initiated but without proper guidelines..
Indore, Bhopal and Jabalpur have started implementing 20 of the 159 projects that were approved for these three cities and completed 12. Surat and Ahmedabad have started work on eight of the 49 projects and completed two while Udaipur and Jaipur have completed three of the 91 projects that were selected.
Since the time the Narendra Modi led government assumed office, it has highlighted the urgency of providing Indians with better lifestyle, starting from basic sanitation to affordable housing to building a digital India. We need to acknowledge that our metro cities are bursting at seams, and capacity building is the only way forward. Semi-urban areas need to be groomed and graduated to cities, so that education, jobs, public utilities such as electricity, public transport, and sanitation, healthcare is no more a ‘privilege’ of the few, but a matter of fact for every Indian citizen. This is contrary to the Left leaning ecosystem that has glorified poverty and sees no problem when a significant chunk of the nation does not have access to basic facilities like electricity or potable water.
Meanwhile, for a smart city to succeed government needs to create more jobs. Smart city concept came from growing urbanisation. That means an increasing population as a result of better-paid jobs. If you do not create jobs and you have more urbanisation, it will be chaos. That is what is happening to the concept of Smart city in India. Everyone thinks that painting the walls, keeping the city in fancy look is what makes city look smart but building better roads, having better connectivity, better parking, etc means Smart city.
Well! Smart cities, yet to establish its existence, now India’s plans to expedite airport development still trails that of China’s, which has set a goal of having 450 commercial airports by 2035, almost double the number at the end of 2018.
The Indian government has committed investments of 1 trillion rupees to build airports in the next 5 years. Just three years back, only 75 of India’s 450 runways were functional, as airlines avoided flying to smaller, World War-era airstrips in
smaller towns. But Modi’s subsidy programme, which partly funds airline losses while capping fares on remote routes, has helped add as many as 38 airports to the nation’s aviation map at the start of this year, while contracts were given to airlines to start flights to a further 63 airports with no or limited connectivity.
In a bid to privatise state-owned airports and allegedly to benefit a well-known corporate house, the Central government has planned to privatize six more airports. All six airports that have been listed for the second round of the privatisation – Bhubaneswar, Varanasi, Indore, Trichy, Amritsar and Raipur – will, in all probability, be awarded to the Adani group.
The government has brushed aside the suggestions given by the ministry of finance to allegedly benefit Adani. Ministry of Finance had recommended that any company or corporate house will not be awarded more than two airports, but the Modi government is planning to lift the cap that will pave the way for Adani to win all the six airports after the “bidding”. If the Adani group gets all the six airports in this round, it will become the largest group managing and developing airports in India. BJP government is accused of selling off everything from roads to airports to natural resources and profit-making public-sector companies including railways and Bharat Petroleum. All workers unions have protested privatisation of airports including RSS-affiliated Bhartiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), but the Modi government did not pay any heed to their protest. It shows that the government’s priority is to benefit their corporate friends, not the common man.
Meanwhile, the Smart city plan is slowly walking into its death. Which external investor would want to invest in cities with dismal infrastructure (potholed and congested roads, inept public transport, poor Internet connectivity)? State Governments only launch those projects, which give them political mileage and help in image building for the next State elections.
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After 100 Smart city jumla, Narendra Modi government has promised to build 100 new airports. The government is planning to start 100 new airports within next five years, which seems not possible. As per reports, Modi government has taken this initiative in order to boost economic growth. Under this scheme 1000 new air-routes would be opened to connect small cities and villages.
It is worth mentioning that with pomp and show, the smart city project of Rs 98,000 crore was launched in March 2015. The BJP had promised to create 100 smart cities in its manifesto for 2014 Lok Sabha elections. But even after five years, no city in the country could become smart. The dream project of PM Modi could not be completed anywhere. Most of metropolitan cities are in chaos because the works undertaken for smart city project is not completed.
Now they are going to start new ambitious project of 100 airports. The central government will invest Rs 71 lakh crore to build 100 new airports. These new airports are expected to start operations by 2024. The timing of its completion concurs with the Lok Sabha elections of 2024. This indicates that the government has set its agenda for the next general elections. Practically, new airports cannot be built within five years. Therefore, the ruling BJP and its leaders will go to common people and ask for one more term to complete them. Thus, it has become the strategy of the BJP to make promises and seek time to fulfil them.
Actually, for accelerating economic growth the government is planning to increase number of infrastructure projects in the next 5 years. The Modi government has set the target of making India a 5 trillion dollar economy. So, PM Modi wants to double the number of infrastructure projects to boost the economy.
Recently, a meeting was held in New Delhi in this regard.In this meeting, it was decided to train 600 pilots every year to fulfill the demand. It was proposed to double the number of aircraft fleet in the country to 1200 in 5 years. As per sources, during the discussion, information was also sought on steps to start an aircraft financing business in India.
It is remarkable that during first tenure of PM Modi, 38 airports have been added to the aviation map of the country. 63 airports will be added in future and contracts have been signed for this. Modi government started UDAN scheme for small cities in the country.
“There is nothing to see about the previously announced smart cities but despite slowdown the airline industry is growing. The government had opened one airport in northeast at a very difficult terrain. This could be one step for the government to increase air traffic. Another challenge for the government is to open 100 airports in the smaller states. There were number of schemes announced by the government that did not take off well.”
– Ashutosh
Senior Journalist
“It is not right to say that the smart city project did not succeed. Smart city project was announced and cities were selected. In Maharashtra, Pune and Sholapur were chosen. Funding was made and work got started. The respective corporation must set up special purpose channel. The initial funding will be made by the central government. In India civil aviation network is very poor. He laughs and says, “In last 70 years we hardly constructed any airport. Majority of airports were constructed in British era. We have already started construction of Navi Mumbai airport and Chhatrapati Sambhaji airport. Within a year Ratnagiri will be connected by plane network.”
– Atul Bhatkhalkar
BJP MLA
“Initially the government had announced about to build 100 new smart cities. Later on it announced that 100 existing cities will be converted into smart cities. They have not yet utilized the funds allocated for the project. At many places the work has not been started. Smart cities are about healthcare, transport, and toilets for women and facilities for common man. When asked about whether the government has missed the narrative about smart cities he said, “Yes and they have missed on the execution side too. At a time when government had announced smart airports, it seems they are fascinated about the word smart. They have to get clarity on what the smart is all about.”
– Rohit Pawar
NCP MLA
“When it comes to smart cities, people at the lower level don’t know what they have to do. There is lack of standardised format pertaining to how smart city will look like. Consultants are being hired. The work of government is to be done by passing tender. The authorities are not given proper briefing relating to construction of smart cities. IAS officers are deputed in the board of smart cities project and then the same officers are transferred. There is lack of vision. The operating cost of flights at Nanded is very high. The government has failed to rescue Air India. He laughs and says, “Industrialist’s are aware that they won’t be able to earn money in public private partnership. Today once a legislator is out of power and investigations are held therefore nobody is willing to take up infrastructure development work.”
– Uttam Abuwala
Chartered Accountant
“The authorities were not clear about how project implementation will take place, because the initial controversy was concerning to the establishment of special purpose vehicle. So there was question about whether they are taking away rights of Municipal Corporation. The commissioner will take away the powers of Mayor. The second question comprises what do we mean by smart cities. We don’t mean by smart cities consisting of good roads, greenery. We require proper ambience in the growing set up of tier 1, tier 2 cities and mega cities, which was missing.”
He smiles and says, “As we are entering 21st century we need to have a city that will accommodate migrated population. Thirdly it will give an opportunity to citizens to participate in the administration to keep the city environment friendly. But unfortunately it missed the boat because of procedural, administration and implementation issues. The idea of building 100 airports looks good, as it will increase regional connectivity. We have 130 crore population but very few use the civil aviation.”
–Sanjay Jog
Senior Journalist
“100 old houses have been demolished for constructing smart cities. In Indore a 114-year-old building has been demolished. The government has not given compensation. People were allotted homes that are similar to SRA transit camps. There is no provision of giving compensation to project affected persons. Indore Mayor managed to halt the demolition of the property required by him. Smart city is a foreign concept. The government is only making promises to construct 100 airports. Nobody is reading a party’s manifesto. The Election Commission should make manifestos promises to be fulfilled compulsorily. Whatever promises are made by party should be recorded. People should remain alert. She smiles and says political parties distribute sarees prior to five months of elections. All these practice must be stopped doing so. Airports are already built and later on it demolished and again reconstructed. The contract for renovation of Mumbai airport has been given without payment of bill. Government is doing all this to please Adani.”
– Medha Patkar
NBA leader
“Whether it is smart cities or airports these are only smart political movements. These are only smart political promises that are never to be fulfilled. This is only to lure the voters to come on their side. Their promises have absolutely no meaning. The main promise made by NDA at the inception of 2014 was to give 15 lakh rupees to every Indian. Where is that money? Therefore we are not to be guided by what they have promised. We should observe their performance.”
– Majeed Memon
NCP leader
“They keep on changing the goal post. They are giving false promises to attract voters. Neither smart cities have been established nor farmers have got minimum support price. Unemployment has increased. They had promised to bring economy on track, increase manufacturing. Real estate and textile sector are witnessing slowdown.”
– Atul Londe
Congress spokesperson
“I’ve stopped believing in meaningless statements made by any of the political parties. I think as a citizen I’ve learnt to realise that all these empty promises are part of a political agenda, which in reality is extremely misleading. But as a frequent traveller it bothers me to see how advanced other countries are in terms of airports. India too deserves to be in the big league but unfortunately all our hopes get dashed thanks to empty promises made by our political parties irrespective whether it’s the ruling party or otherwise.”
– Sumita Chakraborty
Editor of STARDUST magazine
“Although BJP could not fulfill the smart cities project but they have tried their best. We can see the difference. BJP government made around 35000 km highways across 16 states. It’s a part of great development. They started many good policies like Ayushman Bharat, JanDhanYojna, GramJyotiYojnaetc which shows a great improvement. We need to give them time. Things will not change overnight. Now their announcement about airports is a great project to connect even small cities to the metros by air. It will save lot of time and increase trade. They are trying to fulfill their promises. J&K is the biggest example. We need to give them time and have trust.”
– Komal Sharma
General Lawyer
“I don’t need 100 working airports. I just need better roads after landing into a new city. Not patches just proper road. And instead of adding new airports the government can try to improve the ones we have got. The international ones are well off. But the domestic ones needs more care taking. And I really believe that 100 working airports by 2024 is just a fantasy.”
– Aditay Paralkar
Electrical engineer
“As the manifesto of BJP back then at 2014, 100 smart cities, which got into picture by 2015 when cabinet ministers signed the proposals and spent $14 billion for it, though few are almost done and few are not yet started but can see the city like Shillong, which is almost ready to be called smart city. I think initiative was important, well it’s a slow development but its going on. I appreciate it.”
“Though 2019’s BJP’s Manifesto during Lok Sabha elections was building more 100 domestic airports to make it convenient to the travellers to commute. Though keeping this promise by BJP government, I expect at least 20-25 airports by 2024, don’t over exaggerate by saying 100 which is not that possible in developing country to have such fast reaction on the projects. Building such small airports would encourage many commuters to travel places to places even more conveniently. But building airports at proper population which has many commuters who travel, must be studied well before constructing it, as later if there are less commuters, there would be again shut down of the airport and Indian Economy would bear a good amount of loss.”
– Nishant Vilas Birje
Yuva Sena Vasai Taluka Chief Coordinator
“The growth of infrastructure is really on a tremendous pace but introducing 100 new airports seems to be a very huge number and requires lots of capital to be invested. Being a frequent flyer I haven’t seen much of a change in any of this promises (Laugh). Yes aesthetically there are improvements done in airports but I have no idea about technicalities.”
– Bhaskar Parikh
Architect
“All governments announce many things but they never fulfilled their promises. So the thought is what are all the things or changes they made which have not been promised. According to me the loyalty and welfare are there for the country from this government. At least now INDIA has made a well-known place in this world.”
– Anita Motwani
Business woman
“As a frequent flight traveller there should be more routes to connect to the smaller villages because I have seen people working with me have to travel in bus or train to reach their desired destination like for an example A person living in Dehradun has the last flight destination to Delhi. I think they should work on this. According to me the best idea I must say.”
– Jigar Mistry
Bartender carnival cruises Australia
“I am not sure whether this government will fulfill the expectation of the citizens of India. People are unhappy with the way this government is functioning, especially the Financial Sector and Auto industry, which is in a very pathetic, state. Present Infrastructure, in the country is still not up to expectations of the common Man.”
– Sethuramn
Columnist
“100 airports? Seriously? This is a Hyperbole example it seems. They should now rather focus on minorities rather than providing 100 airports. We already saw what BJP has caused us yet with some transformation we still have nothing left just recession. And promises are just another tactics to gain some support. India had its time, now its time to grow.”
In this life we live, we face choices every day that can only be answered. We dictate how we live our lives, and the way we conduct them defines us. Integrity is doing the right thing against the wrong thing. People, if nothing else, can always have their pride, their integrity. It means a lot to some people and then nothing to others. Those who value their integrity the most are good people in this world, and those who do not value it are the opposite.
The basic requirement for any citizen who want to fight corruption is that he should himself be honest. It is therefore necessary that a citizen who wants to fight corruption must first decide that he will uphold his moral character and he will not give bribe or take bribe. Basically most of us are selfish. When we face a problem, we are interested in finding immediate solutions. It may sometimes involve breaking the queue or breaking the rules or sometime it may involve a financial advantage.
Integrity, honesty, and unity are eternal values for the life harmony. Truthfulness is a virtue, common for a real man. Integrity means doing the right thing at all times and in all circumstances, whether or not anyone is watching. It takes having the courage to do the right thing, no matter what the consequences will be. Building a reputation of integrity takes years, but it takes only a second to lose, so never allow yourself to ever do anything that would damage your integrity.
We must remember that Integrity is our ability to act in ways consistent with the values, beliefs, and moral principles we claim to hold. Integrity is a divine quality that enhances energy, passion, creativity, fearlessness, purposefulness and achievement. So let us build integrity with our heart, body and mind and make it our way of life. Petty financial gains may offer us ephemeral happiness but ruin our well deserved sound sleep during the night after a day of hard work. We must realise that as an organization, we need to lead from the front in fighting corruption and in maintaining highest standards of integrity, transparency and good governance in all aspect of our operations. Friends, success will come and go, but our integrity remains forever. Profit in dollars or power is temporary, but profit in a network of people who trust you as a person of integrity is forever.
Politics should not just be about portfolios and power
BJP with 105 MLA’s in Maharashtra Assembly should have its very own Devendra Fadnavis as the Chief Minister for the next full term. Shiv Sena pressure tactics is unwarranted and BJP should not blink under pressure. In a worst case scenario, it should let Sena take support from Congress and NCP to form a government but that arrangements won’t last for more than 100 days. Politics should not just be about portfolios and power but the will and votes of the people too need to be respected. ‘Little brother’ Shiv Sena should act like a responsible party and not be lured by Congress /NCP bait in their hunger to gain power.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi today has the mandate of the entire country as his alliance led by BJP swept the Parliamentary polls held recently. It is better to be in alliance with BJP than Congress/NCP that has no presence left in the country. Hope better sense prevail and Shiv Sena supports BJP to form a firm government in Maharashtra that sails through its entire term without any glitches!
S.N. Kabra
Maha showdown
The stage is set for a Maharashtra showdown as both BJP and Sena harden their stand in the wake of forming the government in the state. Maha battle for capturing power is on the cards. People’s mandate is for the BJP and Sena should not shy away from taking the secondary role. The pact was decided before the elections and BJP stood first in the tally of seats and has the right to form the government headed by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. Bringing some politics at this stage is not a proper option as coalition politics requires the support of both the partners. Sharing CM’s chair is not an ideal option and that may lead to difference of opinion and chaos in forming the ministry in the state.
Annapurani Shanthi
Welcome day and night test matches
It’s really good to know that the BCCI has given the green signal to conduct a day and night test match with the pink ball. The Indian cricket team will play its first-ever Day/Night Test match in Kolkata against Bangladesh next month. This path breaking decision and declaration made by the new BCCI president Sourav Ganguly within a week after he was appointed the chief clearly shows that he is very much here to give a new life and a new face to modern Indian cricket. It was amazing and surprising that when almost all cricketing nations played D/N test matches a powerful cricketing nation like ours hesitated all these years to play one at home and abroad. Thumbs up to Sourav for taking this decision. We cricket lovers have already started feeling the good changes happening in the ‘cockpit of Indian cricket ‘ which is definitely for the good and with a new ‘dynamic pilot’ who has cricket in his blood. Though there was some resistance from Bangladesh players the BCCI under Sourav’s leadership was able to convince them and our Indian players readily accepted this novel test form again clearly showing Sourav’s way of dealing with players and the game. As Sourav puts it, it’s a good development and Test cricket truly needs this push. It’s a great move for Test cricket and hopefully as Ganguly said will definitely bring back crowds to the ground. True sports lovers love changes and this change in the oldest format of cricket is definitely for the better.
M Pradyu
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
Police have registered a case under section 506 (2) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) against the accused.
After that, Chaturvedi thanked Sheetal Mhatre for helping file an FIR against the “open death threat.”
She wrote, “Thank you @sheetalmhatre1 and @Iamrahulkanal for helping file an FIR against such open death threats. Disagreement is acceptable, threats aren’t.”
Chaturvedi also put out a screenshot of the tweet wherein the aforementioned person has issued death threats to her apart from using objectionable words for her.
A 13-year-old boy arrested by Kongaon police on Wednesday for allegedly raping his 5-year-old cousin. According to the police report, the minor girl was lighting firecrackers on Diwali night, at that time the accused took her to an isolated place, where he allegedly raped and killed her.
Police said the girl’s parents had lodged a missing complaint on Monday. “On Sunday evening, the girl was playing outside her house and bursting crackers. When the child’s mother came out looking for her, she found that the girl was missing,” the officer added.
On Tuesday night a passerby found the girl’s on-road and alerted police.
After that police have sent the body for postmortem. The officer further continued, “The body found near the pipeline was identified as that of the child. There were several injuries on her body. We immediately sent the body for postmortem, which revealed she was raped and then strangled to death.”
Senior inspector Ramesh Katkar said, “We formed seven teams, including some crime branch officials, to find the accused.”
The boy was produced before the Juvenile Justice Board, which sent him to a remand home. A case of rape and murder and charged him under several sections of the POCSO Act.
Reportedly, the boy said, to police he did not intend to kill her but she died as he held her mouth to prevent her from screaming.
Sitting chief minister of Maharashtra Devendra Fadnavis was elected the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislature party leader in a party meeting held in Mumbai. Devendra Fadnavis thanked Uddhav Thackeray for support during Maharashtra Assembly polls. He also thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and gave an assurance that a government will be formed soon. But power sharing is yet in debate.
BJP leader Sudhir Mungantiwar told media, “The Assembly election mandate was for the Mahayuti (as the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance is called in Maharashtra) and asserted that BJP too had various options open before it to form government. This was two days after the Shiv Sena’s Sanjay Raut said his party should not be compelled to look for an alternative to form the next government and asserted there are “no saints in politics”.
Shiv Sena spokesperson Dr Manisha Kayande said, “I will not comment on the ongoing tussle between Sena and BJP. Our party has arranged a meeting on Thursday and we will decide on future course of action.”
Devendra Fadnavis said that no 50-50 formula was agreed or discussed with the Shiv Sena, as it has insisted while demanding an equal share of power in Maharashtra. However, after the victory, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray had demanded a 50-50 per cent share of power and had claimed that BJP President Amit Shah had assured him of the same prior to the assembly elections.
BJP spokesperson Suresh Nakhua said, “As per announcement in media the Fadnavis government will take oath on November 3. An official announcement from BJP is expected soon. Devendra Fadnavis has been appointed as leader of the legislature party. We are sure that we will be forming the government.”
Whereas Devendra Fadnavis clarified that there was no formula to split the Chief Minister’s post between the two parties for two-and-a-half years each as claimed by Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray. He said that Amit Shah had never told him about any agreement of seat-sharing and also added that Shiv Sena had made no such demands.
In last week’s Maharashtra election, the BJP won 105 seats and the Shiv Sena scored 56. Together, the two have 161 seats, way past the halfway mark of 144, but with the BJP’s dependence for numbers higher this time, the Sena has set its terms.
Meanwhile, the NCP chief Sharad Pawar openly declared that his party NCP will never align with Shiv Sena. He further said that power comes and goes but commitment is necessary. Moreover, Pawar clarified that those who left NCP to join other parties will not be inducted again.
However, BJP has suffered a setback in this election. In 2014 assembly polls, BJP got 122 seats out of 260 while this assembly election the party only managed to win on 105 seats which are 17 seats less compared to the previous polls.
Shiv Sena has performed satisfactorily and has lost nearly seven seats as compared to the previous assembly polls. On the other hand, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Congress alliance’s performance in the state has improved. Congress managed to get only 44 seats while NCP won on 54 seats.
NCP and Congress along with other allies would jointly decide on the future strategy, Pawar added.
Devendra Fadnavis was laud enough in saying that he is going to be the CM once again, where as Sharad Pawar of NCP made it clear that he has no interest in aligning with Shiv Sena. Meanwhile, Shiv Sena stuck on power sharing. Shiv Sena showing old video clips of CM Fadnavis indicating compromise formula of 50/50 but BJP also came up with video clips on social media showing Shiv Sena leaders contradicting their own earlier statements. People might have many speculations after seeing these videos but the reality is that, once this drama is settled, Sena-BJP will form government in alliance. Modi and Amit Shah would never want to create an opposition out of Shiv Sena. That’s why they are still continuing with this alliance in spite all attacks from Sena. Shiv Sena has yielded too much ground to BJP in the state. This time also BJP won more number of seats in Sena bastion of Mumbai. BJP did suffer some loss in Western Maharashtra and Vidarbha but managed to hold its forte. BJP is the only party since 1990 Assembly election that has won more than 100 seats.
Shiv Sena is a career based party and a fierce opposition party. It is known to be street fighter party and its performance in governance has been below par as far as state government and Mumbai Corporation are concerned. It has been agreed between the BJP and the Shiv Sena that they will fight the elections to the Lok Sabha and later to the state assembly together. After the assembly elections, they will share the power together. While this was announced in the press conference by Uddhav Thackeray and Maharashtra CM Fadnavis, later, Shiv Sena leader Ramdas Kadam said that it was also agreed upon that there should be a Shiv Sena CM for 2.5 years and a BJP CM for the other 2.5 years. Subsequently, an audio clip attributed to Thackeray is going round that whoever has larger numbers will take CM post. Both will share seats equally, as has been agreed upon. Looks like they have deferred a potentially niggling dispute to be resolved at a later date.
Shiv Sena doesn’t have any option other than going with BJP. It would be difficult for Sena leaders to convince their voters to support for Congress and NCP. That’s why they oppose BJP but always keened a window open for reconciliation. This is an alliance of necessity rather than ideology. BJP could have gone alone in the election and perhaps have performed better. But they don’t want to create an extra opposition in states like Maharashtra and Bihar. Shiv Sena cannot go with Congress and NCP, which are contrast to their political ideology. If Shiv Sena forms an alliance with Congress/NCP it would end of the road for itself.
Shiv Sena with Congress+NCP is not a natural partner. Such an alliance cannot be sustainable and will be short lived like Karnataka like Kumaraswamy government. The experiment in Karnataka is an example where it failed miserably. Shiv Sena does not want to revive a fading political party. Congress for all practical purposes is losing. The only option remains in front of Sena is to bargain for more powers and for more accommodations within the NDA, rather than going with the strange Congress alliance. Shiv Sena has a pre-election alliance with BJP. Much notable is that Shiv Sena and BJP both contested election against Congress. If they embrace Congress now Shiv Sena will be targeted as having any moralities in politics. Shiv Sena indicated that it plans to play hardball with big brother BJP, they also indicated that it would insist on the 50:50 formulas during government formation.
Sena is insisting on dividing the 5-year tenure of the government, and occupy the Chief Minister’s office for two-and-a-half years. Whereas BJP shown no interest in sharing CM chair by dividing it in two tenures. But the BJP had not allowed the 50:50 seat share formula, which the Sena had wanted. Allowing it to contest only on 124 seats, the party had kept the lion’s share of 150 seats for itself after a grueling, and sometimes bitter, negotiation. As a sweetener, Shiv Sena was also offered the post of Deputy Chief Minister.
Shiv Sena is like tiger without claws. If Sena withdraws support to state government, BJP has alternatives, or is ready for election as well. Also Shiv Sena will divide vertically, further marginalising the party. It loses power in the Mumbai Municipal Corporation, the only one where Shiv Sena is in power.
Shiv Sena has been contesting elections with BJP since last 30 years. The party is doing fairly well. Most of the assembly elections till 2009, it has been securing more seats than BJP because it is contesting more seats. However, when the two contested separately Shiv Sena could get only half the seats of BJP. In the local body elections it could not get any municipal corporation except Thane. In Mumbai it became the largest party and that too just two seats more than BJP. Hence Shiv Sena is no more a power in Maharashtra and its reach is limited to parts of Mumbai.
Uddhav, is not a mass leader or a pan India leader like Fadnavis. His political gamble of taking on BJP and Modi has backfired him. Amit Shah is at his best when such situation arises. He definitely will play an important part in forming Maharashtra government. Neither BJP nor Sena can form Government without each other’s support and they know this fact. And voters too are sure that Shiv Sena will never join hands with NCP or Congress. So, this drama is just eyewash for time being.
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Social networking websites have become very popular nowadays. It has made the world a smaller place as one can connect with a large number of people. Thus geographical distance has become irrelevant after the advent of social media. Today it has become easier to like, share content with one’s friends. Gone are the days when people used to write letter to connect with others. On the other hand, youth are getting addicted to social networking sites. Today most of them have accounts on social media and they keep a tab on the posts of their friends. There is pressure on youth to comment, share and like their friends posts. They become psychologically upset if their photos are not liked by their friends.
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