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There’s this to be said for Ms Mamata Banerjee as the ruling chief Minister of West Bengal — she is never short of confidence! It appears she may just go in for the next state Assembly elections about two months before schedule.

The Narendra Modi government’s inability to provide visible signs of the promised development has made it imperative for the BJP to win the Bihar assembly elections this winter. If it stumbles, then the belief will gain ground, especially in the aftermath of the party’s dismal performance in Delhi last February, that the so-called Modi wave is receding fast.

KOLKATA: With more Indian companies expressing their intent to work and invest in power production, gas pipeline laying and mining projects in Bangladesh, prospects for regional economic development in the East have brightened considerably.

I am sipping coffee at the leisure room in Burlington senior centre after my daily workout at the gym there. A white lady, whom I know to be very civic and gentle in nature as we met and talk frequently at the leisure room. She was seated opposite to me. Suddenly she asked me “where do you live?” I answered back but she couldn’t locate it. To refer a land mark, I said that I live next to Baron Park, a very big housing complex and well known. She sneered back, after a pause, “Oh! It’s a horrible place, infected by blacks.”

One wonders what was the tearing hurry for re-promulgation of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Ordinance for the third time. This was done when the Joint Select Committee of Parliament was examining the land bill. One reason may be that the Land Ordinance would have lapsed on June 3. To avoid that the Modi government re-promulgated it. Irrespective of the legality or otherwise of this step, the immediate fall out is that the opposition MPs on the joint committee are proposing to disassociate themselves from it. Sitaram Yechury, CPI-M general secretary and a member of the committee, has described the re-promulgation of the ordinance as “absolutely untenable constitutionally”.

No wonder West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is again upset with the judiciary.

BHOPAL: Almost the entire who is who of the Congress reached Mhow in Madhya Pradesh on June 2 to project Rahul Gandhi as a champion of Dalits. Mhow, a small army headquarters, happens to be the birthplace of Dr. B R Ambedkar. Those who accompanied Rahul included former ministers Sushil Kumar Shinde, Mallikarjun Kharge, K Raju, P Chidambaram, Bhakta Charandas, National Commission for Scheduled Castes chairman and Rajya Sabha member P L Punia, Manishankar Iyer, C P Joshi, Mukul Wasnik, AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh, former minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, PCC president Arun Yadav, MP Vidhan Sabha Leader of Opposition Satyadev Katare, party spokesman Raj Babbar, Rajiv Shukla, state in-charge general secretary Mohan Prakash and many others..

Pakistan’s political scene once again shows signs of turning towards a stronger democratic direction with the emergence of Awami National Party in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, citadel of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, led by the charismatic Imran Khan, former cricket captain of Pakistan. The PTI seems unnerved with the re-assertive ANP that ruled K-P a few years ago. The shaky mindset of ruling PTI was reflected when the former K-P information minister and Awami National Party (ANP) central general secretary Mian Iftikhar Hussain was arrested on May 31 after the killing of Habibullah ,a PTI worker in Pabbi area of the Nowshera district.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s maiden visit to Bangladesh this weekend is quite significant in view of the importance he reposes in ‘neighbours first’ policy. While his Bangladesh counterpart Sheik Hasina was the first international leader to invite him to visit Dhaka, Modi’s meeting with Hasina takes place after he has completed his one-year in office. Bangladesh is strategically important for India primarily for connectivity through Bangladesh to the northeastern states and maintenance of security. Modi government is keen on both issues.

Nitish Kumar may not find a place in the revived Janata Parivar. It may appear to be a nonsensical argument. But the manner in which the political developments are taking place and the RJD chief Lalu Yadav is pushing through his game plane, it simply reinforces this perception. If the strategies of Lalu Prasad are indicative of the future of the political discourse in Bihar, then the JD(U) chief Sharad Yadav would be playing the role of king maker but this time he would not be coronating Nitish.