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LUCKNOW: Only the results of by-elections for 12 assembly seats will tell whether unilateral decision of BSP national President Mayawati to end gathbandhan with Samajwadi Party was right or not. By-polls are taking place as MLAs from different political parties made it to Lok Sabha. For the first time BSP is contesting by-polls and will have to perform better to impress the voters for assembly elections scheduled in 2022.

It may never be possible for official investigating agencies to calculate how much money has been illegally pocketed by Bengal Trinamool Congress (TMC) leaders through their highly organised ‘cut money’ racket. It cannot be denied that TMC leaders have been engaged in financial corruption on a massive scale since 2011 can no longer be denied.

It was expected that with the elections just over, and several promises made by the Prime Minister, health will get a more suitable place in the 219-20 budget than ever before. But it was disappointing to note that in two and half hour budget speech not a word was mentioned on health by the finance minister. On many things (including health), she said that these are mentioned in the text and one can read it. This is belittling the importance of the issues.

The spokespersons of both the BJP and the Congress were probably right in their comments on the political instability in Karnataka. While the Congress alleged that the BJP was “buying” the ruling alliance’s MLAs to grab power in the state, the BJP asserted that it could not be blamed if the Janata Dal (S)-Congress government could not keep its own house in order.

If Prime Minister Narendra Modi has a choice he may not like to expand the current size of his council of ministers to keep the government truly slim and trim to deliver maximum governance. The present 58-member council of ministers, including the prime minister, is bigger than the one he had at the start of his previous term. In 2014, Modi was sworn in with an initial council of 46 ministers, including himself. Yet, before the end of the previous term, the NDA government had as many as 71 ministers, including the prime minister. Interestingly, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in her budget speech, echoed the Prime Minister’s sentiment linking the size of the government with governance standard.

Iranian socialists’ warning that the seizure of an oil tanker by British marines could precipitate a dangerous escalation towards war cannot be ignored. Britain claims to be enforcing EU sanctions on Syria. But the assertion from Spain’s Acting Foreign Minister Josep Borell that our troops were operating on US instructions is all too plausible.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Communist Party of India(Marxist)’s faultlines were badly exposed, once again, when the Supreme Court severely rebuked the Pinarayi Vijayan Government for non-implementation of the apex court’s verdict on the long-standing dispute between the Orthodox and Patriarchal factions of the State’s Malankara Church.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s maiden budget carries forward the Modi government’s stated position that the government has no business to be in business. So, it is natural that the finance minister has proposed new measures to dilute the importance of public sector.

Three cheers for Rahul Gandhi. What he has done none of his predecessors had, ever. Rahul has decided to resign owning the moral responsibility for the Congress debacle in May 2019 Lok Sabha elections and stuck to it. He did not succumb to pressure from the party’s rank and file and senior leaders to take back his resignation. His image among the people has gone sky high. While quitting, he has laid the path the Congressmen should follow. He exhorted Congress to radically transform to take on the might of the BJP and assured the party that he would always be available for inputs and advice.

Shameem Faizee, National Secretariat Member of Communist Party of India, passed away on Friday night. He was suffering from cancer for the last few months.