The Verdict 221009 :: BATTLE FOR THE STATES :: 7/8 Video

The Congress-NCP combine retains Maharashtra for the third term, Raj Thackeray's Maharashtra Navnirman Sena does the damage for the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance. Haryana throws up a hung house as the Hooda-led Congress is short of majority and Om Prakash Chautala's INLD says they have the numbers to form the government and its a clean Congress sweep in Arunachal Pradesh as the party it takes 42 of the 60 seats. CNN-IBN's Battle For States gets you the long view on the Assembly elections as well as an assessment of what they mean in terms of national politics.

On the show to debate the verdict were CNN-IBN Editor-in-Chief, Rajdeep Sardesai; Editor-in-Chief Loksatta, Kumar Ketkar; Senior Journalist and Editor Rural Affairs The Hindu, P Sainath; Senior Columnist, Swapan Dasgupta; Political Editor Hindustan Times, Vinod Sharma; Political Observer, Sudheendra Kulkarni; CNN-IBN National Affairs Editor, Diptosh Majumdar; MP and Congress Spokesperson, Manish Tewari; Author and Columnist Shobhaa De; and BJP Leader Smriti Irani.

Is State Verdict 2009 A Mandate For The Congress?..............

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/the-verdict-a-long-view-of-the-assembly-elections/103772-37.html
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Topic Of Relevance :- Bal Thackeray blames people for pushing state into 'hell' :-

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/bal-thackeray-blames-people-for-pushing-state-into-hell/103782-37.html ,
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Abridged Extract :-

.....In an editorial in the Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamna, which expressed the party's shock and anguish over its rout in the 2009 Assembly polls, the Sena chief and the newspaper's editor wondered what were the great achievements of the Democratic Front government in the past 10 years that made people vote for it.

"There was corruption, load-shedding, Maoist terror which killed policemen, suicides of thousands of farmers, Mumbai terror attacks, etc," Thackeray noted in the editorial.

.....Comparing the latest elections to the Mahabharata, in which truth had triumphed, Thackeray said the only difference was that in this electoral Mahabharat the Kauravas (untruth) had emerged victorious.

"If the people re-elect the Narakasura for the third consecutive time, what can we say," he said.

He hit out at the Congress for adopting the old British policy of 'Divide and Rule' and said the party had split Marathi votes to capture power..............