IN A panic reaction to the prevailing public mood towards the ruling BJP, the Gujarat Government has postponed the gram panchayat elections due next month. Through an ordinance promulgated last night, Governor Sunder Singh Bhandari has announced
postponement of the elections by three months.
The terms of the village panchayats and more than 80 municipalities had expired in July this year, but were postponed to the first week of December due to drought conditions in the state.
Though the State Government has again cited drought as the reason, political observers believe that the people's mood following the fiasco at the Narmada dam site last week has much to do with it.
After the convincing defeat in the municipal and district panchayat elections in September this year, the demoralised BJP had sought to rejuvenate itself with the favourable Supreme Court verdict on the Narmada dam. But the show at the dam site too went
against the party's image as it was mismanaged.
The opposition Congress has said that the move has been prompted by the BJP's fear of facing the electorate.
