BUSINESS STANDARD'S PLAGIARISED REPORT ON GOAN ELECTIONS LIFTED FROM A KOREAN NEWSPAPER

Original article sourced from OHMYNEWS, a Korean online newspaper

http://english.ohmynews.com/articleview/article_view.asp?no=363939&rel_no=1

Politics Divides Families in Goa
Pragmatic solutions to Congress's one ticket rule
Jenny Coutinho
Published 2007-05-29 17:37 (KST)

In Goa, India, elections will be held on June 2 for a 40-member state legislative assembly. Two hundred and ten candidates are in the fray.
Indian politicians switching from one party to another party is not a new thing. Party ideology and principles are not the key foundation when individuals associate themselves with a particular party. The interest of the electorate and the good of society, state and country are sometimes pushed to the foreground.
On the eve of the elections many politicians switch sides after being denied tickets to put themselves forward as candidates.
Goa is now witness to families trying to dominate its state politics. Some prominent politicians having failed in the mission to secure tickets for family members have either quit the party, joined another party or are contesting as independents.
The Ranes, Alemaos, Narvekars, Deshprabhus and Monserrates all have two members of the family contesting in the assembly elections, not against each other but in different constituencies.
The Congress party policy of giving one ticket per family to contest elections in Goa has seen many a rebellion in the party ranks. A chief minister's son defying the party to contest as an independent, a husband and wife combination deserting the congress party at the 11th hour to join another party, brothers contesting on two different party labels or as independents has given the Goan elections a different color and outlook.
Indian political history abounds with stories of power being passed on from one generation to another. The Nehru-Gandhi family of first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, daughter Indira Gandhi and then Rajiv Gandhi and the present crop of congress president Sonia Gandhi and son Rahul Gandhi are the best examples of where the baton of ruling the country has been passed from one generation to another.
The promotion of dynasty rule is not just confined to the Nehru-Gandhi family. There are numerous cases where the politicians have been grooming their siblings to take over the reins or promoting their wives. The classic example is the husband-wife combination of Bihar chief minister Rabri Devi and federal railway minister Laloo Prasad Yadav.
Vishwajeet Rane's case is a peculiar one, he is the son of Chief Minister Pratap Singh Rane and was vying for the Congress ticket. The younger Rane was denied a ticket from Valpoi by the Congress, while the father got the ticket from Poriem. Now his son Vishwajeet is contesting as an independent from Valpoi.
Closer to Panjim city in the suburb of Taleigao, town and country planning minister Anastaisio Monserate created history by filling in nomination forms for two parties -- Congress and UGDP -- and then withdrawing his claim as Congress candidate, thus leaving them with no candidate in that constituency to support but the independent Somanth Zuwarkar.
The rebellion in the Congress over family members not getting a ticket did not end there, law minister Dayanand Narvekar's brother Subash Narvekar is contesting on a Janata Dal secular ticket from Mapusa. Dayanand is contesting from Aldona.
Interestingly two brothers-in-law Pradeep Dessai and Vinay Tendulkar are in opposite camps and fighting for the Sanvordem seat.
Dessai is contesting on a Congress tickets and trying to dethrone the sitting member of the legislative assembly, his brother-in-law Vinay, who is contesting on the BJP ticket.
Whether Goan family connections will help or whether they will spell doom remains to be seen. ©2007 OhmyNews

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BUSINESS STANDARD'S PLAGIARISED REPORT

http://www.business-standard.com/economy/storypage.php?leftnm=3&
subLeft=1&chklogin=N&autono=286304&tab=r

Goa politics, a family affair
Mayuresh Pawar / Mumbai/ Panaji June 01, 2007

The 40-member Goa Assembly - known for its switching loyalties overnight to bring in the new government - goes to the polls on June 2 with over 200 candidates in the fray. But, the irony is that many politicians switched sides after being denied tickets.
Goa is now witness to families trying to dominate the state politics. Some prominent politicians having failed to secure tickets for the family members have either quit the party, joined another party or are contesting as independents – (note the hyphen has not been plagiarised… now thats originality) the Ranes, Alemaos, Narvekars, Deshprabhus and Monserrates all have two members of the family contesting the assembly elections, not against each other but in different constituencies.
The Congress party policy of giving one ticket per family to contest elections in Goa has seen many a rebellion in the party ranks.
(the writer has chucked out the note on dynasty rule elsewhere… he doesn’t seem too interested in the past and parallels. The present obviously interests him more)
Says Manohar Parrikar, Opposition Leader and BJP’s chief ministerial candidate: “The entire scenario has given this election a different ‘color and outlook’ for Goa’s electioneering. You have Goa’s chief minister (Pratapsingh Rane) contesting on the Congress ticket, while his son (Vishwajeet) contesting as an independent.”
The younger Rane was denied a ticket from Valpoi by the Congress, while the father got the ticket from Poriem. Now his son Vishwajeet is contesting as an independent from Valpoi. “Vishwajeet’s case is a peculiar one, he is the son of Chief Minister Pratapsingh Rane and was vying for the Congress ticket,” adds the technocrat Parrikar.
Closer to the capital (strange, that while a Korean newspaper does not bother to reinforce that Panjim is the capital of Goa, an Indian newspaper does… one assumes that the writer thought this to be a welcome break from the monotony of plagiarism) city here, in the suburb of Taleigao, former Town and Country Planning minister, Anastaisio alias Babush Monserrate created history by filling the nomination forms for two parties - Congress and United Goan Democratic Party (UGDP) - and then withdrawing his claim as a Congress candidate, thus leaving them with no candidate in the constituency to support but the independent, Somanth Zuwarkar (another informative nugget which is missing from the original), a former Congress MLA from the Taleigao constituency.
Babush’s wife is fighting on the UDGP ticket against the three-time winner Victoria Fernandes of the Congress from Santa Cruz.
Babush blames Margaret Alva, in-Charge of Goa and Maharashtra. “The Congress party betrayed me, they had promised many things to us, but turned their back,” he claimed.
The rebellion in the Congress over family members not getting a ticket did not end there, Information Technology minister, Dayanand Narvekar’s brother Subash Narvekar is contesting on a Janata Dal (Secular) ticket from Mapusa. Dayanand is contesting from Aldona constituency (the word ‘constituency is the only informative addition to this paragraph here).
Former Congress MP, Churchill Alemao is now fighting on the newly-formed political outfit, the Save Goa Front against the Congress candidate and Industries minister, Luizinho Faliero in the Navelim Constituency. While Churchill’s younger brother Joaquim is contesting on the Congress ticket from Cuncolim.
“Most of the old faces are steeped in corruption. Can the Congress provide a clean and efficient government with the same corrupt faces,” said Churchill.
Congress observer for the Goa polls Sanjay Nirupam conceded that things went to the extent of some rebel leaders questioning the Gandhi family’s authority. “They wanted to know why the family continues to get two nominations. The Gandhi family is an exception and no one should question the party leadership’s authority,” Nirupam added.
Former Goa Pradesh Congress Committee chief is contesting as an independent with the BJP alliance in the Cumbharjua constituency.
Dessai is contesting on a Congress ticket and trying to dethrone the sitting member of the (the word legislative has been swallowed) assembly, his brother-in-law Vinay, who is contesting on the BJP ticket.