•It appears as though the British policy of “divide and rule” has taken hold in the the Maharashtra Assembly elections’ outcome. The BJP and SS and MNS stood divided and therefore none of them could emerge as the single largest party. In contrast, the Congress-NCP alliance has endured, allowing them to take the reins in governance again. This outcome is not unpredictable; when there are several political parties with similar ideologies and agendas, people will prefer to vote for the main political party so as to ensure a stable government.

— S. Krishna Kumar

Dombivli

Other bottlenecks

•The ‘Maha Crater’ (IE, October 21) has perfectly portrayed the image of Maharashtra as a typical developing state. Against the backdrop of the monsoons and the alarming rate of suicide no party has raised the issue of development of agriculture in this election. The case for poor governance is well-argued. This failure has contributed to the disinterest from industries.

— Shishir Sindekar

Nasik

Train talk

•This refers to ‘Death in dawn train crash’ (IE, October 22). Several questions have been brought to the forefront after the railway accident. First, what has happened to the Indian Railways dream project, the idea of putting anti-collision devices on the trains operating on trunk routes? This device can be used to stop locomotives should another train be coming on the same track from the opposite direction. There is also the issue of auto-signalling which can result in tragedies such as these. There should be a mandatory gap of at least three stations between the two running trains.

... contd.