The Congress (I) leadership has produced a patchwork government for Maharashtra. It can argue that it has had little choice in the matter. Indeed, the state legislature party has been too faction-ridden to have united behind any one leader. It certainly did not behind Mr. Vasantrao Patil. In the secret … Read More
In the circumstances the Congress (I) legislature party in Maharashtra has made a good choice. Mr. Vasantrao Patil has experience, commands a considerate base at the grassroots level and enjoys the support of Mr. YB Chavan, once Maharashtra’s undisputed leader. He is known to possess a healing touch and can … Read More
In the wake of the Congress (I) defeat in Andhra and Karnataka, it was necessary for Mrs. Gandhi to send out two signals to the people who still believe in her and are willing to support her. The first signal should have been that she was willing to heed the … Read More
It is not at all surprising that the Congress (I) leadership has finally decided to replace Mr. Babasaheb Bhosale as Maharashtra’s chief minister. The fact of large-scale dissidence against him apart, he just did not fill the bill. It was also predictable that the central leadership would send its representatives … Read More
It is a sheer coincidence that Attenborough’s Gandhi should have finally arrived at this stage in the nation’s life when the Indian people have woken up as seldom before in the last 35 years to the importance of moral values in public life. But it is a happy coincidence. For, … Read More
The Cabinet reshuffle by Mrs. Gandhi is an anticlimax. Popular expectations of a drastic surgery had been aroused by the dramatic manner in which she had asked for and secured the resignations of all her ministers. This had led the people to believe that she had decided on a major … Read More
So the message of defeat in Andhra and Karnataka has gone home. Mrs. Gandhi has concluded that she can no longer ignore the warning signal if she is to survive after the 1985 poll to the Lok Sabha and protect the system which her father built with such fond care. … Read More
As we celebrate the 34th Republic Day, the spectre of political instability and disorder has once again come to haunt many of us. Indeed, some of us are beginning to wonder whether the dreaded “dangerous decades” are finally on us. It is no longer possible for us to dismiss these … Read More
IN the wake of the Congress (I) rout in Andhra and Karnataka, Mrs. Gandhi faces two apparently contradictory demands. She has to demonstrate, on the one hand, that she is not too rattled by it and, on the other, that she is sensitive to the message the people in the … Read More
Going by reports in newspapers, the two AICC observers to Maharashtra have confirmed what has long been common knowledge in the state capital. They could not have done otherwise. For there cannot be the slightest doubt that the Congress (I) legislature party is badly divided, that no “leader” commands a … Read More
