Parimal Nathwani, a Gujarati born and brought up in Mumbai, elected to the Rajya Sabha from Jharkhand


The victory of Parimal Nathwani, the 52-year-old President (Corporate Affairs) of Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries Ltd, in the Rajya Sabha polls on Wednesday was symbolic of the UPA's leaderhip's inability to put up a consensus candidate. Despite having 43 MLAs in the 81-member House, the alliance drew a blank in the elections.


The opposition NDA, with a combined strength of 35 MLAs, saw its candidate Jai Prakash Narayan Singh (BJP) sailing through with as many first preference votes. But former Delhi Municipal Corporation's councillor Kishori Lal, who was fielded by the JMM, and Supreme Court lawyer R K Anand, who was officially backed by the Congress and the RJD, failed to make the cut.



In fact, Independent MLA and UPA Chief Minister Madhu Koda abstained from voting. "I wanted the UPA to fight the polls as one. But since that did not happen, I decided not to be identified with any of the two candidates," he said.



Meanwhile, Nathwani, who benefitted from this unexpected turn of events, says he will be a "brand ambassador" for the state. Nathwani, a Gujarati born and brought up in Mumbai, bagged 16 first preference-one of a BJP rebel, nine from the JMM, two from Congress, three from RJD and one of Independent MLA Enos Ekka. He also raked in six second preference votes - four from BJP rebels, one from the RJD and one from the JMM. Initially, Nathwani's candidacy had been proposed by 10 JMM legislators and BJP MLA Tala Marandi.



"I have come to this land with a model of development. I will fulfil this mission with the help of the Government. I will open an office here and hear the problems of the people," said Nathwani, who said he would be touring the state every month.



in.news.yahoo.com/indianexpress/20080328/r_t_ie_nl_politics/tnl-reliance-executive-s-win-marks-upa-d-0058794.html













If Chief Minister of Jharkhand could not vote right candidate for Jharkhand then what about public?



Independent candidate Parimal Nathwani and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) nominee J.P.N. Singh were elected to the Rajya Sabha from Jharkhand Wednesday.



Of the total, Singh secured 35 and Nathwani 16 first preference votes. Nathwani was declared winner on the second preference votes.



Another Independent, R.K. Anand, secured 17 votes but Nathwani got five votes of second preference.



Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) candidate Kishore Lal secured only eight votes, though the party has 17 legislators.



Of the total 81 members of the assembly, 78 cast their votes, but Chief Minister Madhu Koda, Ramchandra Ram of Communist Party of India (CPI) and Vinod Singh of Communist Party of India-Marxist-Leninist (CPI-ML) abstained.



Koda said: 'The UPA (ruling United Progressive Alliance) failed to find a consensus candidate and this is the reason I did not cast my vote.'



Two votes were found invalid.



indiaenews.com/politics/20080327/106854.htm

















First businessmen, now their agents in the Rajya Sabha



Anil Ambani's decision to hitch his wagon to the Samajwadi Party and become a member of the Rajya Sabha was generally seen to have been one of the contributing factors to his split with Mukesh Ambani. Like their father Dhirubhai Ambani, Mukesh was rumoured to have been of the belief that, while political influence was important for the group's business operations, there was little to be gained by openly aligning with political parties.



That bit of conventional wisdom has come unstuck in the week gone by. At least three Mukesh Ambani men--two of them (Parimal Nathwani and Y.P. Trivedi) wholetime directors of the elder Ambani's Reliance Industries, and the third (former bureaucrat N.K. Singh) a visiting fellow at the Reliance-sponsored thinktank Observer Research Foundation--have entered the house of elders, drawing the support of BJP, NCP, JMM, JD(U), among other parties.



There is even talk that a fourth Mukesh Ambani candidate may sneak through, although one news channel which did a story on the Reliance link has reportedly been served a legal notice. With so many businessmen sneaking into the Upper House--think Vijay Mallya, Rajeev Chandrashekhar, Rahul Bajaj, M.A.M. Ramaswamy, the late Lalit Suri, et al--and with so many parties helping them do so for not entirely political considerations, there were obvious questions to ask. Now, with their henchmen doing so, the circle it seems is complete.



In Jharkhand, Parimal Nathwani stood as an independent. Yet, according to unconfirmed reports, a number of cabinet ministers were willing and, in fact, did vote against the official UPA candidate while the chief minister himself abstained.



churumuri.wordpress.com/2008/03/29/first-businessmen-now-their-agents-in-the-rs/













One more invisible line crossed



The election to the Rajya Sabha of Parimal Nathwani, identified in most news reports as an executive of Reliance Industries, from Jharkhand has sent the proverbial "shock waves" in the political class. Managers across the political divide are squirming in helplessness in the face of the new assertive money power.



"One more invisible line has been crossed," remarks a former Rajya Sabha member, who prefers to remain anonymous. Another former member says he feels so embarrassed by the Jharkhand precedent that he would rather not use the "ex-MP" suffix on his letterhead.



The done thing so far has been for industrialists and businessmen to seek membership of the Upper House for themselves. Any number of industrial barons -- the late Lalit Suri, Anil Ambani (since resigned), Vijay Mallya, Rahul Bajaj and many others --have in recent years managed to secure their way into the Rajya Sabha.



Whether or not there was a quid pro quo, the critical aspect is that the industrialists have secured their passage with the cooperation, indulgence and votes of the established parties.



A few years ago, the famous arms dealer, Suresh Nanda, sought to negotiate unilaterally his way into the Rajya Sabha as an independent from Uttar Pradesh; on the other hand, the political leaders of different parties had reached an agreement among themselves so as to avoid a contest and thereby reduce the possibility of any money-induced uncertainty. Mr. Nanda, in effect, tried to break up this cartel.



The reaction of the political leaders in Lucknow was swift and the solution found to "the Nanda problem" unorthodox. Though the details are hazy, there is unanimity that the self-made businessman was physically thrashed on the Vidhan Sabha premises and was practically told to leave town. It was an offer he could not refuse, to use a much caricatured line from the movie, 'The Godfather.'



Now one industrial house has done a kind of "Suresh Nanda" on the political parties in Jharkhand. Not only the wishes and preferences of the political leaders were spurned, what is more, an industrial house has managed to put one of its executives in the Upper House. Though the party system is probably the weakest in Jharkhand, this could well be a turning point for our polity.



The role of money in our public life has had a deleterious impact on the policy choices and moral integrity of political institutions. Apart from the aberrant case when an odd money-bag deemed it expedient to try to suborn the loyalty of a political or bureaucratic executive in order to sabotage or promote a policy, the business houses have over the years acquired a quasi-institutional voice for themselves. As the electoral process has become very expensive, the role and reach of money power has become all too obvious.



However, it seems that the industrialists are no longer content with acquiring leverage in the political process by donating large sums of money during and between the election times. They seem now keen to pack the Upper House with their "men." They want to have their agents in the middle of the action.



Jharkhand has set a disquieting precedent. According to unconfirmed reports, a number of Cabinet Ministers were willing and, in fact, did vote against the official UPA candidate; the Chief Minister himself abstained. Consider this: 10 Jharkhand Mukti Morcha MLAs had signed party candidate Kishori Lal's nomination; in the event, he got only eight first preference votes - and lost.



"A moment of shame for all of us," says an AICC secretary.



hindu.com/2008/03/29/stories/2008032961421700.htm










Preventing Degeneration of Polity





AS a result of the latest biennial elections to the Rajya Sabha, the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance has lost its majority in the âEUROOEUpperâEURO of the two Houses of Parliament. If not many people have noted this, it is because the ruling coalitional loss by a small margin âEURO" it now has 115 seats in a house of 247 âEURO" is no big deal. The Janata government that came to power after Indira Gandhi's defeat in the post-Emergency general election was in minority in the House of Elders. But it could muster enough votes to set up special courts against her. In any case, come to think of it, there is some advantage in the ruling party or combination not having so huge a majority in the two Houses as to be able to amend the Constitution at will.



However, another outcome of this poll in Jharkhand ought to send a chill down the spines of all those still interested in preserving at least elementary norms of democracy. For it accelerates the havoc that crass politics and money power have been causing steadily to legislatures in general and the Rajya Sabha in particular. An astute analyst has described the event as the crossing of âEUROOEone more invisible lineâEURO . Facts are stark.



Mr Parimal Nathwani, described as an ân executive of the Reliance Industries, became Jharkhandis' representative in the Rajya Sabha, defeating the official candidate of the ruling UPA. Three ministers of the state government voted for Mr Nathwani and the Chief Minister chose to remain neutral. Cross voting in Rajya Sabha polls has been fairly frequent. But never before has it been so brazen and so corrosive. Even by the standards of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha that forms the core of the UPA in the state - it first attracted limelight when its leaders accepted suitcases full of cash to save the P V Narasimha Rao government in New Delhi from falling in 1993 - what has come to pass in Ranchi is shocking.



Money power, like muscle power, has been playing an increasing role in eroding countryâEURO(tm)s politics and governance for a very long time. The culprits often cite the soaring costs of elections as a convenient excuse. Yet there was a time when big businessmen were content to make handsome donations to political parties of their choice in the hope of garnering âEUROOEgoodwillâEURO , not necessarily to strike specific bargains. By the seventies the principle of quid pro quo had come into play. By then, the Congress government had, for fear of money being diverted to Swatantra, a party (now defunct) devoted to the cause of big business, had banned company donations, driving all the tarnished transactions between party bosses and tycoons under the table. Todayâs generation of politicians seems determined to perpetuate this scandalous state of affairs.



Perhaps inevitably came the time when captains of trade and industry âEURO" with their cash and clout magnified manifold by globalization â " decided directly to partake in policy making rather than go on manipulating the levers of power from the shadows. For this purpose they saw the Rajya Sabha as the appropriate forum. This was a carefully calculated move even though the time was when men of wealth and influence could get elected even to the Lok Sabha with the help of leaders with enviable following in particular areas. For example, the legendary hotelier, Rai Bahadur M S Oberoi was elected from what is now Jharkhand because the tribal people would vote at the behest of their then leader, Jaipal Singh for anybody or anything he wanted. The next time Jaipal got Minoo Masani, a Socialist turned an advocate of free economy, chosen from the same constituency. However, towards the end of the last century, pocket boroughs had become a thing of the past. The Rajya Sabha, with a very limited electoral base, was easy to get into. It was another hotelier, the late Lalit Suri, who started the influx into the Rajya Sabha of others of his ilk There have been some interesting nuances, of course. For instance, Mr Rahul Bajaj got elected from Maharashtra through the support of the Nationalist Congress Party ofMr Sharad Pawar and Shiv Sena, regardless of the NCP being in coalition with the Congress both in the state and at the Centre. Mr Anil Ambani had got elected easily enough but later considered it expedient to resign.



In a class by itself was the case of Mr Suresh Nanda, the prominent arms dealer now in deep trouble over the Barak deal with Israel and alleged bribery of income tax officials. He tried to break new ground and get elected to the Upper House of Parliament as an Independent candidate from UP where defections from all parties have been notorious. But, surprisingly, political leaders closed rank and literally forced Mr Nanda out of Lucknow. For once muscle power reportedly triumphed over money power. However, what Mr Nanda could not do then, the Reliance Industries has done now. And since nothing can be more contagious than bad example, a dangerous and depressing new trend may well have been set. What the wielders of Big Money are doing is of a piece with what the political class as a whole has done already to maul and distort the Rajya Sabha out of all recognition. The Constitution had envisioned it to be not just a second chamber of Parliament but also a true representative of the states in IndiaâEURO(tm)s federal parliamentary system. It was to be the Council of States, rather like the Senate in the United States, with the notable difference that while in America every state, big or small, has only two senators each, in our Rajya Sabha the representation of each state depends on its population. But the Constitution had strictly laid down that every member should be domiciled in the state concerned and that the indirect election to the federal Upper House must be on the basis of proportional representation and through secret ballot.



All these wholesome provisions have been thrown to the winds. Party or personal favourites unable to get elected in any other way started registering themselves as voters in states where they seldom set foot. More embarrassing than the proliferation of this chicanery was the fact that prime ministers like Mr Inder Gujral and Dr Manmohan Singh were supposed to have had their normal residences in Patna and Guwahati respectively. So the domicile requirement was the first to be abolished. The secrecy of the ballot was sacrificed because of the all too often cross-voting for obvious considerations.



Meanwhile, a big nail in the coffin of the original concept of the Council of States was driven by the gross misuse of the provision for the nomination of 12 members to the Rajya Sabha. The founding fathers had clearly prescribed that the nominated members should be distinguished citizens with a record of useful service in their respective fields such as literature, science, arts and so on. Since the 1970âEURO(tm)s successive governments have had no compunction in nominating party hacks, flatterers, hangers-on and, at least in one case, a mafia don. Both Houses are now alike and duly reflect the degeneration of Indian polity.



navhindtimes.com/articles.php?Story_ID=040520










Reliance Industries Limited group president Parimal Nathwani is desperately looking for two retired Jharkhand cadre IAS



Ranchi, March 31: The newly elected Rajya Sabha members are yet to take the oath of office, but they have begun to chalk out action plan to give facelift to Jharkhand.



Reliance Industries Limited group president Parimal Nathwani is desperately looking for two retired Jharkhand cadre IAS officers to prepare the blueprint for the development of the state where more than 54 per cent people still live below the poverty line. He also intends to set up an office in Ranchi, where common people will be free to walk in with their problems.



Nathwani told The Telegraph that his men were looking for a suitable place in Ranchi to start the office.



Once the office becomes functional, he would spend maximum possible time in the state capital.



"My office will become functional in a month or so. For working for the development of Jharkhand, I need a few efficient helping hands. We are looking for two retired IAS officers from the Jharkhand cadre, who ought to be well acquainted with the real problems of the state and suggest remedies," said Nathwani, at present based in Gujarat.



Running a legal aid clinic for the weaker sections of the society and judicious expenditure of the MP local area development fund are among his other important priorities. He also intends to meet the chief minister soon with his priority list and seek his help to ensure that work begins in positive direction at the earliest.



BJP member Jai Prakash Narayan Singh, who was also recently elected to the Rajya Sabha, maintained that setting up an authority having officials from both Bihar and Jharkhand for the smooth conduct of Shravani Mela at Deoghar was at the top of his priority list.



In the absence of proper administrative control, mishaps take place every now and then during the fair. Last year too over a dozen persons were killed in stampede on the temple premises.



Completion of rail projects linking Giridih with Hazaribagh, Koderma and Ranchi is Singh's another priority area. Though the project was started six years ago, it has virtually been abandoned. Singh would first raise the issue in the Rajya Sabha. But if it fails to yield any result, he would resort to mass movement.



Talking about the MP local area development fund, Singh said: "You can't satisfy all with just Rs 2 crore in hand. Then why not 'give it' to the party, which has given me such a great opportunity?"



http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080401/jsp/jharkhand/story_9080550.jsp



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