LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Patel’s win, a sigh of relief for Cong

The Congress party must have heaved a sigh of relief after Ahmed Patel scraped through to win the nail-biting, highly dramatic Rajya Sabha election from Gujarat. Her man Friday’s win should also come as a great relief for Sonia Gandhi. Patel is also a troubleshooter for the party and many party veterans have looked up to him in times of crisis because of his fierce loyalty to the Gandhi family, excellent hold over the party cadres, huge network of friends, and able intelligence-garnering ability. Patel’s win provides the Congress party something to cling on to after being stung by a series of reversals. Though his triumph is expected to have little

bearing on the Gujarat Assembly elections, his presence in the Upper House is enough to soothe the Congress and ruffle the BJP. Will the fighting spirit exhibited by top party leaders on Tuesday night be harbinger of things to come for the jaded Congress? Will the strategy — making ability of the party, hit hard after the Goa and Manipur humiliation, come to the fore again? Last, but not the least, will Sonia Gandhi be able to push the “young brigade” headed by Rahul Gandhi to the forefront now seen in the backdrop of Ahmed Patel’s famous camaraderie with the old timers?

— Ganapathi Bhat

Cong in real existential crisis

But for the EC declaring the two votes of the Cong. MLA’s as invalid, the victory of Ahmed Patel from Gujarat Assembly would have been an uphill task. The Congress party is really in existential crisis as said by Jairam Ramesh, the former Congress minister. Their MLAs are on a switching loyalty spree in many states seeing the growth of Modi and BJP. It should do some introspection. The party still relying on the Gandhi family is a monumental blunder. Some new blood is to be infused to bring the party

out of the ICU. —N R Ramachandran

Mahagathbandhan from Maha?

Moves are reportedly afoot to form a Mahagathbandhan type of front consisting of all non-BJP, non-Shiv Sena parties to fight the next Lok Sabha elections in Maharashtra, which sends 48 MPs to the Lower House, next only to UP (80). These “secular” leaders would be committing a cardinal mistake if they keep the Shiv Sena out of their alliance. For, the militant outfit nurses severe hatred towards the BJP that is far in excess of that possessed by all the “secular” parties put together. If invited, the SS will be too happy to jump on the bandwagon to spite the saffron party.

— Arun Malankar

Troubled times for students

The reports in the FPJ (August 9) on the FYJC admissions and the non-declaration of Law results make a very disquieting reading. One is at a loss to understand why the age-old university is making such a mess of its name and fame. Admissions to

First Year Junior College (FYJC) have always run into trouble and this year is no exception — 2,706 students have not been allotted seats so far and they will be considered in a special merit round. Out of a total of 477 examinations, the results of as many as 188 are pending since 18,297 answer scripts are yet to be evaluated and only one or two teachers are assessing the scripts. Looking at all these, one feels that the time has now come to do some thing drastic to run the university properly — like outsourcing it. — V Subramanyan Iyer

Bank rate cuts increasing by the day

The interest rate on deposits in banks is decreasing day by day. The motive may be to lure people to enter the stock market to earn more. But the Initial Public Offer for equity shares is hitting the market with a tag of huge premium. So it cannot/does not attract the elderly people who invest money in fixed deposits in banks. Be that as it may, the income tax rate on incomes accrued from deposits in banks exclusively may be suitably adjusted to compensate for their loss in incomes from interests.

—N K Das Gupta

Make laws against stalking stringent

After rape, molestation and ragging, now stalking has assumed greater importance as the highly placed political leader’s son and techies opt for that mode to satisfy their wishes and fullfil their ambitions in life. After Nirbhya case in Delhi, more and more cases are reported in the media and the print media is taking up such cases to to give maximum attention. After the Haryana episode, one more case from Mumbai has come out in open at Amboli. By ringing the doorbell at 2 am, the techie has exceeded all limits and deserves to be punished. The life of women going to work cannot be compromised as these stalkers follow them from the house and touch the working place and now reaching the flat at midnight just like a Salman Khan-Aishwarai love affair a decade ago. Working women find it hard to stop such advances and there is no other option but to report the matter to police. As in the case of rape and molestation, the police should take severe action and see that the offender is punished severely. It is time to have a law for each such offenses and see that women safety is give importance both day and night.

— Anandambal Subbu