Maharashtra grappling with Ghashiram Kotwals

Rohit Chandavarkar has made an interesting point about Ghasiram Kotwals (‘Marathi equivalent of Frankenstein’ for the uninitiated) haunting the Maharashtra Politics… But he has got some facts wrong -

• Marathas constitute 33% and not 50% of the Maharashtra population
• They do dominate politics and police forces but are weakly represented in judiciary and bureaucracy
• He refers OBCs as a single community… when 50 odd castes have the OBC tag

It should be noted that Supreme Court has restricted the total reservations at 50%... so Marathas will never get a separate quota… and OBC leader will not take a cut in their reservations… Once elections are over the issue will be referred to the judiciary where it will be kept in cold storage and will be revived in 2014 in time for the next elections!

Also 3M cannot believe that Vinayak Mete can organize such a large rally @ Shivaji Park without logistic and monetary support from NCP… This seems to be part of Pawar’s grand design to weaken the Congress!

BTW Chandavarkar has failed to mention the 3rd Kotwal… MNS

Bada Bhai… Chhota Bhai…

Narendra Modi made a very impressive bhashan at a rally in Thane last Sunday… He tomtomed about how Gujarat has whizzed past other states on the economic ladder!

Some interesting lines from his speech – “We were a part of Maharashtra (Read: We Gujaratis)… You are the elder brother… We are the younger brother… when we parted way, you had everything … We left the house without anything (Read: Mumbai)… and look where we are today… you have lagged behind because you decided to join hands with Congress!”

3M is amused that half a century after creation of Maharashtra, the Gujarati psyche is still troubled with the ‘Loss of Bombay’… Modisaheb, if you aspire to be the PM someday “We vs You” speeches are not going to help!

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Is Sonia giving in to Pawar’s arm-twisting?

During the NCP convention at Nashik, Sharad Pawar has demanded the sky from Congress… it would be impossible for Madam to meet all his demands… But the Maratha strongman is just looking for an excuse to tango with Sena.

Just when the local Congressmen were making noise about not giving into the blackmail, Rahulbaba makes an unscheduled visit to Pune to meet Pawar… Sonia seems to have realized that if NCP and SS were to join hand, Congress will be flushed out in the coming elections.

But Congresswallas would like the Janta to believe that Baba made a small detour to Pune before eating ‘Lagan nu Bhonu’ in Mumbai.

Marathi gobbling up smaller languages

Even as MNS and Shiv Sena rue that Hindi and English are gobbling up Marathi… Marathi itself is gobbling up smaller languages like Naiki and Kolami in Mahrashtra! BTW these are just 2 of the 196 languages that are on the verge of extiction in India.

Harishchandrachi Factory

On 15th March, Paresh Mokashi will be awarded the 18th Aarvindan Award for Best Debutant Director by Chalachitra Society for his movie ‘Harishchandrachi Factory’. The movie is based on the life and times of the father of Indian Film Industry – Dadasaheb Phalke.

3M Trivia – The first motion picture made in India was ‘Raja Harishchandra’ by Dadasaheb Phalke in 1913. Mokashi’s movie derives its name from this pioneering feat.

Maharashtra LS Elections in 3 Phases

Lok Sabha election dates have been declared and Maharashtra will go to polls in 3 phases:
16th April – Vidarbha & Eastern Marathwada
23rd April – Western Marthwada and Western Maharashtra
30th April – Mumbai and Konkan

And the results will be out on 16th May.

3M wonders which IPL will entertain India? Indian Premier league or Indian Political Leaders… wait and watch!

Arun Gawli to ride the elephant?

As BSP grows its tentacles beyond the cow belt, Arun Gawli decides to merge his party with this ‘Sarva Samaj’ party. With this new backing he plans to contest Lok Sabha elections in Mumbai.

3M wonders whether the fact that 'Daddy' is still in jail was one of the criteria for Mayawati selecting him.

दोन घडीचा डाव Don ghadhicha daav

T for Tendlya… T for Tussauds

Mahatma Gandhi, Indira Gandhi, Amitabh Bachchan, Shahrukh Khan, Salman Khan, Aishwarya Rai… now Sachin Tendulkar’s wax statue will grace Madame Tussauds in London… He is the first Indian Sportsman to join a galaxy of world celebrities…

3M Trivia – Is Tendlya the first Marathi Manoos to be honoured at MT? Yes & No… Don’t forget Salman is ‘half Marathi’!

MAHAPOL POWERLIST Mar 09 Edition

click on the image to see larger version

The complete list of 25 most powerful politicians is as follows -

1. Sharad Pawar (68) NCP +1
2. Bal Thackeray (82) SS -1
3. Ashok Chavan (50) INC 0
4. Gopinath Munde (59) BJP 0
5. Chhagan Bhujbal (60) NCP 0
6. Uddhav Thackeray (48) SS +1
7. Raj Thackeray (39) MNS -1
8. Vilasrao Deshmukh (63) INC 0
9. Ajitdada Pawar (49) NCP 0
10. Nitin Gadkari (60) BJP +2
11. R R Patil (52) NCP 0
12. Narayan Rane (56) INC -2
13. Praful Patel (53) NCP 0
14. Ramdas Athavale (55) RPI 0
15. Prakash Ambedkar (51) RPI 0
16. Vinay Kore (37) JSP 0
17. Murli Deora (71) INC 0
18. Gurudas Kamat (51) INC 0
19. Sushilkumar Shinde (66) INC 0
20. Balasaheb Vikhe-Patil (76) INC +2
21. Manohar Joshi (71) SS -1
22. Vijaysingh Mohite Patil (64) NCP -1
23. Vinod Tawde (45) BJP 0
24. Jayant Patil (46) NCP 0
25. N D Patil (78) PWP 0

Party Code

BJP – Bharatiya Janata Party

INC – Indian National Congress

JSS – Jana Surajya Shakti

MNS – Maharashtra Navanirman Sena

NCP – Nationalist Congress Party

PWP – Peasants & Workers Party (Shetkari Kamgar Paksha)

RPI – Republican Party of India (any faction)

SS – Shiv Sena

Movement on the MahaPol ladder –
0 : Zero indicates that there has been no change in the ranking over the previous month.
+X : Plus indicates improvement in ranking over last month and ‘x’ indicates how many ranks he/ she has moved upwards.
-X : Minus indicates degradation in ranking over last month and ‘x’ indicates how many ranks he/ she has moved downwards.

To understand the methodology used for the ranking click here.

The figure in bracket indicates the age of the politician.

Analysis

• In the last Lok Sabha Elections (2004), the Samajwadi Party (SP) ranked fifth in terms of votes polled while the NCP was at the 12th rank. As SP has now declared its support to Sharad Pawar as a candidate for the Prime Minister’s post, he has regained his premier position on the MahaPol ladder. Obviously, Balasaheb Thackeray is back at Rank 2.


• Uddhav Thackeray is proving to be a good crowd puller while Raj Thackeray has still not been able to organise his parties machinery to a required minimum level. So you see the cousins exchanging their ranks!


• Congress High command has entrusted the responsibility of Lok Sabha Elections in the state in Vilasrao Deshmukh’s hands… but even after his best efforts, he has not been able to induct his brother in the Maharashtra cabinet on both occasions – first when the new cabinet was declared and second when it was expanded. These two events with opposite polarities have ensured that his rank has not changed over the previous month.

• After his suspension was revoked, Narayan Rane was inducted in the cabinet… so his ranking should improve? On the contrary, he has been pushed out of the MahaPol Top 10 Hall of Fame because in the last one month he has totally lost his image as a prospective Chief Minister.


• Nitin Gadkari has not only effectively asserted his position in BJP but has also given a taste of his tremendous nuisance value to the ruling party. This has propelled him by two ranks and given him entry in the MahaPol Top 10 Hall of Fame.


• Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil has been inducted in the cabinet by putting aside the claim of former MPCC President Govindrao Adhik. This has ensured that former’s father Balasaheb Vikhe-Patil’s rank has been pushed up by two steps while Manohar Joshi and Vijaysingh Mohite-Patil had to ‘accommodate’ him by climbing down one step each.

MahaPol can be directly contacted on mahapol25@gmail.com