Thi khabar garm ke Ghalib
ke urenge purze, Dekhne hum bhi gaye the per tamasha na hua. – Mirza Ghalib
(The buzz was that I will
be publically thrashed today; I also went to see the drama; but nothing
happened.)
Wednesday 08th May 2013 was widely touted by media as
super Wednesday. Karnataka assembly poll results and Supreme Court’s hearing on
CBI’s affidavit in Coal Block allotment case were widely seen as critical for
the political establishment of the country.
However, as it turned out, nothing happened. Karnataka poll
results were exactly on the lines we
expected. BJP lost. Congress did not make it big. B. S. Yeddyurappa made
ignominious exit. Supreme Court censured CBI but spared the political bosses.
Stock markets ignored both the events and moved on. Companies
with good results (e.g., HDFC, Lupin) gained; and those giving bad numbers
(e.g., Ranbaxy) were punished. A normal day, prima facie.
At least five disturbing trends continued unabated, namely-
(a)
As we highlighted in our earlier
report, corruption was absolutely a non-issue in the Karnataka election.
Despite serious allegation on Law and Rail ministers just days before the
elections, Congress won comfortably; especially the urban voters backed the
party. Kumaraswamy of JDS who was ousted last time on serious corruption
charges gained the most in terms of seats. BSY got sufficient votes to ensure
BJP’s rout.
(b)
Media vigorously debated the SC order the whole
day with many “intellectuals” generously contributing their wisdom to the debate.
No one, yes no one, not even once mentioned the name of Anna Hazare, who in his
Jan Lokpal Bill had suggested an effective solution for the malaise SC is
trying to fix in Coalgate.
(c)
SC did come down heavily on CBI in the extant
case. But this situation could have been avoided if it had taken suo moto cognizance of the allegations
made publically (in and outside the Parliament) by the SP and BSP leaders about
misuse of CBI to pressurize these parties to support the UPA II government.
(d)
The government showed total disdain for people;
refusing to react to the SC observations and concluding the Lok Sabha session
ahead of schedule.
(e)
The opposition has no plan to request a special
session of the Parliament to bring “no-confidence vote” or “impeachment” motion
against the government/PM/Law minister.
In our view, the market would be happy if early elections are
called, as this government would not be able to transact any legislative
business in remaining term and bureaucracy will not cooperate in carrying out
the administrative business also.
As for today, expect the market to largely remain unaffected by
what happens in Delhi.
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