Whither Delhi’s liquor scam; Nepal at crossroad; Asian rise in football league
Opinion Watch
Whither Delhi’s liquor scam
People in Delhi will vote for the elections for the Municipal Corporation of Delhi on Sunday. The high decibel alleged excise scam in which deputy CM Manish Sisodia has faced marathon grilling by the Enforcement Directorate failed to become an issue during the electioneering. The CBI on the other hand has filed a chargesheet, naming ‘scapegoats’, while letting free the bigwigs.
The New Indian Express in its Editorial has said that while the CBI had named Sisodia, Excise Commissioner Arava Gopi Krishna, and others in the FIR, the chargesheet by the agency mentions only the nondescript functionaries, who were involved in the implementation on the ground. The Madurai-based daily stated that the “CBI finds no one guilty of any such crime”.
This newspaper from south India has Ramnath Goenka legacy, but is known for editorial timidity, and thus gives a bland news roundup in the name of an Editorial, showing that it’s written by a novice. Dozens of liquor traders have lost crores because of the New Excise Policy of Delhi, and the Enforcement Directorate remains in the hot pursuit. Excise department in Delhi has been the cash cow for Delhi government since 1993 when Assembly was revived in the city. The grapevine is that the alleged Excise scam in Delhi has connections with liquor barons from a state south of Vindhyanchal in which politicians of that state too are involved, and the probe is becoming multi-layered, with no end date.
Nepal at crossroad
Only 61 per cent voters cast their votes in Nepal, which is still counting the ballots. But Nepali Congress-led alliance is set to retain power in Kathmandu, while there are indication that they would also gain power in most of the provinces. But fractured polity in Nepal is the truth.
The Pioneer in its Editorial has opined that it’s a good news that a Nepali Congress-led alliance will form government in Nepal, while China favoured the Opposition Communists. The daily lamented growing apathy of the voters in the Himalayan nation on account of a factured polity, while an India-style horse-trading is underway to bolster numbers in favour of the two main political alliances.
In fact, the CPN (Maoist Centre) chairman Pushpa Kumar Dahal, who has emerged as a king-maker, wants to be king himself even while the incumbent PM Sher Bahadur Deuba has most of the support for being the face of the alliance in the polls. Dahal is known to nurse enmity against the Opposition face KP Sharma Oil, who had allegedly schemed to oust Dahal as PM in 2007. Besides, there are seven national parties in Nepal now. Gripping political parleys are underway in Kathmandu.
Asian rise in football league
Sports defy fixed notions. The big football teams came to the Qatar Football World Cup with aged players. The likes of Neymar (Brazil), Suarez (Ecuador), Messi (Argentina), Ronaldo (Portugal), Lukaku (Belgium), Modric (Croatia), Pedro (Spain) and some others are all in their late 30s. They are running the Qatar ground for their last touches to kiss the trophy.
Japan, South Korea and Soudi Arabia have charmed the football lovers, because of their players being more athletic, while advancing in the round of 16. Equally exhilarating has been the African teams such as Cameroon, Morocco and Senegal, who have shown sheer dominance of the football fields and artistic dribbling of the round ball. The Indian Express and The Times of India have richly lauded the Asian teams for their gains in the Qatar World Cup.
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