ELECTION REULTS-A MIXED BAG

Election results, this time, threw no big surprises. The congress led UPA managed to hang on to power. They are very experienced to hang on as they have been doing so for the last five years, but this time the mandate allows them to hang on more firmly.

For many, (like me) this outcome could be very disappointing one, because of their hope against all hopes to see BJP in power this time. LK Advani as PM was expected to make India stronger and safer by taking tough decisions on all fronts especially on cross border terrorism. That did not happen. And in TN segment, AIADMK was expected to do better but they managed only nine seats. Of course nine seats- is lot better than zero which they managed in last edition.

More or less, the same trend of voting has been followed in the centre and TN. The votes against ruling party were split between various opposition parties and ultimately helped the ruling combine. In TN, DMDK and BJP split those votes which could have gone for AIADMK. And in the centre, too many regional parties and some last minute clashes within in the party took the votes away from BJP and marked a significant gain for congress.

The fact that the congress in the centre and DMK in TN got the major vote share can’t be denied. At the same time neither can be termed as the overwhelming favorites of the people, as hyped by the media. One can be sure that the congress and DMK leaders themselves wouldn’t have expected to win this many seats.

Some good things which happened in this election are
i) One national party got enough number of seats, to dominate the alliance and not to dance to their tunes.
ii) Numerous candidates with criminal records have been shown the door.
iii) Many so called powerful Ex-ministers, to name a few, Lalu, Paswan, Manishankar Iyer-failed to retain their seats .
iv) Parties known for creating constant troubles- DMK, SP, BSP, TMC, JMM- will have less say in this govt.
v) Congress had been generous to government employees, and hope they continue in that same mode.


Tail piece:

As far as TN is concerned, Karunanidhi is already in Delhi, with his ration card in hand, so as to get a ministry for each member of his family. We can hope to see 8-10 ministers from TN, and Azlagiri, Kanimozli, Maran in the cabinet for the bright future of Tamil Nadu.

IPL-INTERNATIONAL PREMIER LEAGUE??????

IPL, basically an Indian event, seems to be slowly getting into the clutches of foreigners. Last edition had only one foreign captain but this edition has four in Warne, Mccullum, Gilchrist and Peterson. Almost all teams have foreign coaches and support staff. If there are no restrictions on number of foreign players in the playing XI, one can’t find an Indian face in the teams. Above all, IPL too has moved out of India. What next?

Tail piece

There was a news about IPL, which is a separate body, is evading taxes using loopholes in the law and that has the blessings of BCCI. I don’t know the technicalities of the issue and the genuineness of the news. But, this trend is troubling. The cash rich BCCI is setting a bad precedent.

CRICKET AND CONTROVERSIES

I thought of writing this even before the beginning of IPL-II, about a controversy – but never managed to do so. In the meantime, another controversy started in the name of “fake IPL player”. That sounds interesting but I should admit I haven’t gone through that blog yet.

Cricket and controversies are like politics and corruption, can’t be separated. The recent one, other than the previously mentioned item, is the ‘ MULTI CAPTAIN THEORY’ floated by John Buchanan. This move – as seen by many- was clearly aimed to diminish the strong hold of Sourav Ganguly from the KKR setup and to ease him out, at least for the next edition of IPL.

John Buchanan’s credentials touched a new high after he coached the mighty but arrogant Australians. Frankly, coaching Australians of his tenure- must have been the easiest job in the world, simply for the fact that there was none in their team who needed coaching. Steve and Mark Waugh, Hayden, Langer, Ponting, Martin, Gilchrist, Warne, MgGrath, Gillespie formed a formidable side, which functioned like a well oiled machine. “Bang-Bang…..huge score…..pace –spin…..opposition bowled out” was the order of the day.

Coming back to Mr Buchanan, on his part, he never played International Cricket and that not necessarily mean that he was very successful in domestic cricket. Somehow he got into coaching, and ended up with the all conquering Australians but his contribution to the Australian outfit and their phenomenal success was very little or less than that. On top of everything, many Australian players openly questioned his role or lack of it in their scheme of things.

Indian media played a big role in creating so much hype about the -so called- extraordinary coach. Such buildup is unnecessary for a coach and JB doesn’t deserve that. Shane Warne, another controversial cricketer and the best captain Australia never had, demonstrated time and again that winning is all about man management.

Sunil Manohar Gavaskar, who never minces words while criticizing Australians and the Englishmen, has pointed out, in one of his regular column, how Mr John has brought many others from Queensland into the KKR setup in various capacities and nicely milking the franchise owner. But that comment has not gone down well with the affected owner SRK. He has asked SMG to purchase his own franchise and then comment. Rubbish!

Mr JB once opined that T20 is only for youngsters. That theory has already gone for a –‘Yusuf Pathan’ six. So far, seniors have performed in IPL II. Sachin, Dravid, Kumble, Ganguly, Jayasuriya, Gilchrist, Warne, and Hayden have proved their might.

Personally I am very happy about KKR so far, because despite the dominating presence of a miraculous coach, they are losing every match. Their new captain hasn’t totaled fifty runs in 8 matches he played so far. Mr JB, What are you doing? Filling your bags with your foolish owner’s cash or formulating new theories that has no takers?