RESEARCH

... even as India votes for advertised 'truth' _______________ Surajit Dasgupta _______________ R ight wing economists must welcome a UPA Government minus the left. Let’s hope the Congress does not betray its ally, the Trinamool Congress, to shake hands with the socialists who still have some more seats with them than their rival if both Kerala and West Bengal are counted, despite the rout the communists have faced in both the states. Let us hope that 2009-10 sparkles as brilliantly in contrast to 2008-09 as 1991-92 had sparkled in contrast to 1990-91. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's first job in hand is economic reforms, held hostage by communists for five long years. Let us also rejoice the defeat of a bundle of confusions, aka the BJP, which failed miserably to read the pulse of the nation as, egged on by an obscurantist behemoth called the RSS, it clung on to a non-performing asset — a promised Ram temple in Ayodhya — in these gloomy times of economic slowdown and unemp...

UDF is likely to sweep the Lok Sabha elections in Kerala, thanks to a negative vote for the CPI(M)-led dispensation's governance in the state ______________________________ Arun Lakshman | Thiruvananthapuram ______________________________ T he opposition United Democratic Front (UDF) led by the Congress is expected to make major headways in the Indian state of Kerala in the general elections with the front to take at least 13 seats out of the total of 20 with the ruling LDF led by the CPI(M) to contend with 7 seats or even less. While the BJP, the BSP and the NCP will give stiff fights to both the camps in some seats, eventually the seats would be shared between the two major fronts. The Congress camp is bubbling with enthusiasm with all the senior leaders of the party from the union defence minister AK Antony to the state PCC president Ramesh Chennithala sharing with the press their expectation as high as that of 18 seats. However, a trip through Kerala by this correspondent sugg...

... as Prachanda-led Maoists see the country's president have a truck with India ____________ Nithin Sridhar ____________ N epal is again in news. After gaining prominence in 2005 and finally becoming Prime Minister in 2008, Pushpa Kamal Dahal, alias Comrade Prachanda, Chairman, the Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (CPN-M), finally stepped down on 4 April 2009 after a spat with the country's President Ram Baran Yadav over the issue of the sacking of Army Chief Gen Rukmangad Katawal. The drama started to unfold at 9:30 am on 3 May when a high-level meeting of five coalition partners was held at the prime minister's residence. The Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) (CPN-UML), the second largest party in the coalition, and Sadbhavana walked out of the meeting. At 10:15 am, Lt General Kul Bahadur Khadka met with the prime minister. Later at 11 am, Gen Katawal met with the Prime Minister. At 12 pm, the cabinet sacked Katawal. Later at 10:30 PM, President Yadav se...