New Bombay plan

The political scenario in Maharashtra is strange (‘The 71:69 trap’, IE, October 21). When the Nationalist Congress P...

The political scenario in Maharashtra is strange (‘The 71:69 trap’, IE, October 21). When the Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress forged a pre-poll alliance, they should have anticipated such a scenario, instead of now bickering over who should be chief minister of the state.

— Shafeek Ahamed Dubai

• The Maharashtra verdict could not have come at a worse time for the BJP. When the party is yet to come to terms with the loss in this year’s parliamentary elections, the Maharashtra election outcome has virtually destroyed the morale of its rank and file. What is significant about the Maharashtra mandate is that it has broken the myth of anti-incumbency. In all earlier electoral outcomes where the BJP was the ruling party, it wished away its electoral reverses and blamed it on the anti- incumbency factor.

— P.V. Raman Chennai

• The NCP-Congress alliance which has been returned to power in Maharashtra has an uphill task ahead. Its leaders have to face challenges like the state’s mammoth debt-ridden economy, the demand for a separate Vidarbha state and Mumbai’s underworld.

— H.P. Murali Bangalore

Global wishlists

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• So Ashok Malik thinks George W. Bush should be re-elected (‘Captain America’, IE, October 20). He is entitled to an opinion about our election, but I have to tell you that we would be just as keen to see the British return to India. After all, they kept things in order there, and even taught some of you to speak “goodly English”.

— David Reynolds Berkeley

Red tape pollutes

• The article ‘Bring on the penalties: it’s time the chemicals industry practiced the principle of polluter pays’ (IE, October 20) will sound like music to eco-friendly and eco-conscious ears, but it brings to mind the nagging statement that “you can take a horse to water, but you cannot make it drink”. All the policies and good intentions get into a big tangle in bureaucratic red tape. Because of complicated procedures, the whole process of implementing rules becomes hostage to manipulation and misuse. The intentions may be good, but the manner in which these guidelines are implemented is often susceptible to corruption.

— Vivek Khanna Panchkula

Panchayat ploys

• There was a time when panchayats were known for effective and timely dispensation of justice. But now, they have almost completely lost their relevance. Some recent judgements made by panchayats in different parts of the country point to the fact that they have failed to move with the times and the law of the land (‘The truth about Sonia’, IE, October 18). Judgements, especially those of a sensitive nature — like in Haryana’s Asanda village — should be reviewed by designated courts before they can be implemented.

— Mumtaz Ali Khan Bangalore