By Biswaraj Patnaik in Puri, February 15, 2019: The happiest news of the year that Mayawati who stole Rs 2000 crore from the public exchequer has to put it back from her own personal sources. She had robbed the money to build statues of elephants, her party symbol, of Kashiram her mentor, and most blatantly of herself in parks and streets across the state after getting the money sanctioned by the cabinet in brazen violation of law. Mayawati is a dalit woman leader who forgot her roots while in power by accident, and chose to impoverish the people of the state without any sense of shame.

Uttar Pradesh has some of the worst human development indicators. Government healthcare is in a shambles, infant mortality is steep and millions of children are underfed. Endemic corruption has put invariably everything – from jobs to development projects – up for sale. And the state’s finances have always been in a precarious condition since ages. However strangely, no successive governments even from bitterly opposing parties, could ever attempt to nab her down, obviously because they were all equally corrupt.

Now the Indian judiciary has proven to be one of the best in the world, particularly under the command of Justice Gogoi. This reassuring move by the Apex court makes every sensible Indian proud. The immediate past CJI had erred on several administrative fronts and received good enough beating by the senior colleagues comprising the collegium. Justice Gogoi was one of the five great rebels who had come in the open to condemn the CJI at an unprecedented press conference event stunning the entire legal community of the world.

Justice Gogoi has blasted the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati for having stolen over a whopping two thousand crore rupees from the state coffers. He has sternly passed orders to have Mayawati to cough out the money from personal sources to be put back to the people’s treasury. Unfortunately, this mad woman politician is neither shocked nor depressed with shame after the court order. She is still her usual self and reveling over the new alliance with Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party, allegedly as bad on the ethical and moral fronts.

The worst news is Rahul Gandhi, the greenhorn Congress boss, pretending to know the basics right, has also ganged up with the Mayawati-Akhilesh joint venture, indicating his fear for the Modi-Shah duo, despite his tutored rhetoric of being so correct and the BJP-led government having committed all sins in the last four odd years. Rahul seemed to have come of age while he began learning some of the poll tactics from some fertile brain in the Congress fold, but after the handshake with the BSP-SP force, people have began to suspect his intentions.

Lastly, Priyanka Gandhi joined the bandwagon to garner strength and mass support for the meekly rising oldest political party of India. Priyanka has the glamour and the makebelieve charisma to attract crowds and bring some life to the party and public support to the good leaders in the fold, but again, there has been a jolt to the outfit. She has been a bit irresponsible in public conduct for having shown extra-loyalty to an already defamed husband called Robert Vadra.

No matter whoever says what in favour of the Vadra fellow, the people of India, quite so in Uttar Pradesh, have no respect for the dwarfish, stockily-built guy with a gangster look, for having done things that do not go well with the people. He is allegedly a money launderer, a power-abuser and an irresponsible Indian who makes money by guile. Until proven innocent, he will continue to be treated as an offender of law. It is true that Rahul Gandhi’s prospect of making it big has diminished a great deal only due to the sight of Robert Vadra. Priyanka Gandhi’s image takes a big beating everytime she shows up with the Vadra fellow.

Further, Kamal Naath is having a tough time in Madhya Pradesh for his ambitious acts that are not in keeping with law or prevailing norms. Congress could do better with Rahul Gandhi alone. Priyanka has messed up, though she is acceptable individually. She better keep off the Vadra shadow and go it all alone if she is keen to help the upcoming brother rise further. Congress blunders will certainly improve Modi-Shah prospects beyond belief.

The Modi-Shah duo’s super market brain called Prashant Kishore has abandoned the saffron fold quite some time ago after realising that the whole victory event was only onetime possible as the party had nothing much to boast about or move people to vote yet again in favour. Kishore has joined the JDU sensing big prospects of fresh marketing tricks. It is not improbable that Nitish Kumar will sever the relationship with BJP at the last moment after bargaining hard and ruthlessly so for the big share in poll say, seats and more.

Overconfident and a bit of a megalomaniac Shah, the way Mayawati has always been in politics, will put his foot down to upset and irk Nitish who will walk out holding his head high as he has virtually no baggage on back. So, it seems the NDA and Congress will not have a comfortable or relaxing fight anywhere in India. They will have to slug like mad all over and have to come up with new tales of grand times ahead after profusely apologising to the masses for having failed on all promise fronts, particularly jobs for many and the one and a half million rupees in every one’s account by digging out black money stashed on offshore locations.

It is crystal clear from now that the regional parties will rule supreme in times to come. The Trinamul Congress supremo Mamata Bannerjee could have gained immensely if she had not erred on the CBI team visit issue. As per law the CBI has a right to interrogate any official especially when the Supreme Court has ordered the enquiry. Mamata is partly insane as her militant behaviour is awfully disturbing. She could have done a lot better by letting law take its own course and taking advantage from the probe teams lopsided and biased moves. The courts would have stood by her. Now that all parties that are frightened of the saffron party’s overpowering stance have sought shelter under the Mamata umbrella, will stand to lose soon because the strategy is weak and the foundations are on flimsy ground. Mamata claims aloud that Naveen Patnaik too is with her.

Little does she know that Naveen is the smartest among all sane regional leaders. He has no problem at home, virtually no battle in sight on the home turf as the Congress is now only a faint picture on the unplastered walls; and the local BJP outfit has not even one rudder-holding guide or guru. Naveen is a cool guy with strict instructions to nearly all the tamed followers to make sure the masses perceive the BJD as a pro-people, delivering outfit. The political community in the party and the government has to prove conclusively that they are endowed with grey-matter brains to be able to take critical decisions.

Or else, they go by the decisions of bureaucrats who have knowledge, skills and the confidence of getting things done. Unfortunately, it is rumored by the Naveen detractors and opponents that the supremo knows nothing about politics or state craft. Only insiders know the truth : Naveen is a hard, stubborn taskmaster who only makes his objectives express and desires them to be met anyway, no matter what the labour and time- money component remaining within permissible limits.

Thus, the populist politicians shy away as they can never get things done that way. The task therefore comes on the head of the bureaucrats who know the fine lines well, can plan scientifically and get things done. Naveen Patnaik has proven to be one of the most enigmatic chief ministers in India with absolutely no anti-incumbency factor witnessed at any one of the four elections he has won with ascending popularity.

Some poll surveys say the BJP will steal at least 13 Lok Sabha seats in 2019. But some of the real good poll masters and psephologists have forecast ‘BJD yet again with 100 LS seats and 100 assembly seats, unless its own political class goes berserk with public misconduct and arrogance!