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| Politics
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| Badal swearing-in draws political |
| Badal swearing-in draws political biggies, but not Nitish Kumar
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| INDIA
, 14-March-2012
2:38:45 AM |
| The swearing-in ceremony for Parkash Singh Badal as the chief minister of Punjab - he has been re-elected - has exposed the fissures not just within the Congress-led UPA , but its big political rival, the NDA, which is steered by the BJP. It is the list of attendees that has exposed the problems of both national coalitions, one that is in power, and another that's hoping to replace it.
Mr Badal, who is 84, will run his government once again as a partnership between his Shiromani Akali Dal and the BJP, whose president Nitin Gadkari is attending today's ceremony. Given how poorly the BJP fared in other state elections this month, today's ceremony allows a show of strength for the party and its partners. But one of the most prized members of its coalition, Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, is not present. Sources say that's because he did not want to be seen alongside senior BJP leader and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, who is among the attendees. Mr Kumar has made no secret of his position on Mr Modi - he did not allow him to campaign in Bihar during the 2010 elections. Mr Kumar did not want to alienate his Muslim voters. The communal riots of 2002 in Gujarat took place when Mr Modi was chief minister and 1200 people were killed, most of them Muslims. A year before that, during an NDA rally in Ludhiana for the general elections, Mr Modi had shared a stage with Mr Kumar and had posed for a photograph with him That incident reportedly upset the Bihar chief minister, especially because Mr Modi used the photo in newspaper ads promoting his government and money donated by Guarat to Bihar after the latter was ravaged by floods.
The UPA's increasing vulnerability was on stark display as well. The Congress had asked its partners not to violate "coalition dharma" through demonstrations of support to non-UPA members. Strong hints were dropped for allies to avoid the swearing-in ceremonies in Punjab and Uttar Pradesh, where the Samajwadi Party decimate
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