On the backfoot

REGIONAL ROUNDUP

While the Mumbai terrorist attacks took over the front pages of most regional newspapers, as they did the English language ones, the DMK-led halt to the country's modest disinvestment programme was covered extensively in the days prior to this. The controversy over the sacking of AIIMS chief and subsequent stay on this by the courts was also extensively reported across the country.

In Mumbai, though, there were enough local events to overshadow this news, from the rains to the defiling of Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray's late wife Meenatai's statue and the subsequent rioting by Sena activists. While Maharashtra Times completely ignored the issue, Loksatta and Sakal made editorial comments on the issue of privatisation being put on the back burner. Loksatta described the act as a classic Leninist strategy of "two steps forward and one step backward", in times of adversity. Delhi correspondents of Loksatta and Sakal also commented on the issue through their weekly columns. Loksatta also carried an article on AIIMS controversy on its oped page.

In Andhra Pradesh, even though the local body elections in the state kept all the Telugu news dailies busy, the issue of divestment in Neyveli Lignite Corporation (NLC) and removal and reinstatement of Venugopal was covered prominently by Eeenadu, Vartha and Andhra Jyothi. The stories on how the DMK stalled the process of divestment in Neyveli and the weakening of the PM's position in the episode were published in these dailies while Andhra Jyothi ran an editorial on the prime minister losing face. The Venugopal reinstatement was covered in most papers that treated him as a son of the region.

In Tamil Nadu, the disinvestment news was carried on page one with photographs, and the strike threats of the NLC employees were also big news. Tamil daily Dinamalar carried a number of reports on the front page along with photographs, and carried a four-column story stating that the employees would go on indefinite strike from July 4, with photographs on page one. Another edition carried reports on stoppage of mining and power generation operations and power cuts in some places in the state, again on page one. On July 6, it even dedicated the entire page two to NLC with stories on the daily loss due to the strike, AIADMK chief J Jayalalithaa's appeal to workers to continue the strike until the government changed its policy. The news on the fight between Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss and the director of AIIMS hit the first page on July 8. It also carried a four-column report on Court staying action against Venugopal.

In the north, Punjab Kesri led with the disinvestment story and papers like Dainik Bhaskar had a few lead articles on the edit page, apart from the usual news stories.