If there was a general election tommorow, who would you vote for?

[bulbul]

Why BJP is so adamant to break the ties of 18 years just for an effing MOFO Modi? No man is bigger than the party and shouldn't be...

But why should BJP listen to one man when he have problem with another man? Nitish doesn't have problem with BJP , but have problem with Modi , he won majority with BJP last time why he is suddenly afraid of losing Muslim votes?

[asterix]

But why should BJP listen to one man when he have problem with another man? Nitish doesn't have problem with BJP , but have problem with Modi , he won majority with BJP last time why he is suddenly afraid of losing Muslim votes?

It's not one man... Get real, man... Other NDA partners too are not comfortable with Modi being the main BJP man... Then there could be other potential partners who could help NDA form the govt. Nitish has his own views. He lost elections when he was seen together with Modi. Then he banished Modi from campaigning in Bihar and he won handsomely after that. So he thinks that his direct association with Modi is going to harm him in future...

[bulbul]

It's not one man... Get real, man... Other NDA partners too are not comfortable with Modi being the main BJP man... Then there could be other potential partners who could help NDA form the govt. Nitish has his own views. He lost elections when he was seen together with Modi. Then he banished Modi from campaigning in Bihar and he won handsomely after that. So he thinks that his direct association with Modi is going to harm him in future...

what partners NDA have? Even in last election UPA is struggling we saw the final results.

[Sachin=GOD]

what partners NDA have? Even in last election UPA is struggling we saw the final results.

joh bhi hain woh bhi Modi ki wajah se chale jaayenge. BJP needs pre poll alliances more than Cong does but because of Modi's elevation I don't see any party apart from AIADMK which will come even close to BJP before the elections. This in turn will result in less seats for BJP in elections which means less chances of forming Govt.

[bulbul]

joh bhi hain woh bhi Modi ki wajah se chale jaayenge. BJP needs pre poll alliances more than Cong does but because of Modi's elevation I don't see any party apart from AIADMK which will come even close to BJP before the elections. This in turn will result in less seats for BJP in elections which means less chances of forming Govt.

Without Modi BJP won't even reach 3 digits.

[ganeshran]

JD joining congress would be a death knell to its long term prospects. Hopefully they join NDA after negotiating an agreement where Modi is not named PM candidate

[Sachin=GOD]

JD joining congress would be a death knell to its long term prospects. Hopefully they join NDA after negotiating an agreement where Modi is not named PM candidate

that would be the best possible scenario for BJP/JDU/NDA.

[FischerTal]

still hoping for non-modi led BJP :phehehe:

[Sachin=GOD]

still hoping for non-modi led BJP :phehehe:

still hoping for a Modi led BJP :hehe:

[FischerTal]

still hoping for a Modi led BJP :hehe:

it already is happening. advaniji already received the message :hehe:

[Sachin=GOD]

it already is happening. advaniji already received the message :hehe:

zara BJP Parliamentary Board ki next meeting tak ruko - pata chal jaayega ki kiso message bheja ja raha hai :nice:

[FischerTal]

zara BJP Parliamentary Board ki next meeting tak ruko - pata chal jaayega ki kiso message bheja ja raha hai :nice:

9 out of 12 members in Board in favor of Modi. lekin khayali pulao pakate raho :hatsoff:

[Sachin=GOD]

9 out of 12 members in Board in favor of Modi. lekin khayali pulao pakate raho :hatsoff:

Oh he won't be removed.....but still, just watch what happens :two_thumbs_up:

[FischerTal]

Oh he won't be removed.....but still' date=' just watch what happens :two_thumbs_up:[/quote'] advani will get a kick in pants again. but i already know that :dontknow:

[Sachin=GOD]

^wait and watch.

[FischerTal]

^wait and watch.

theek hain :two_thumbs_up:

[Sachin=GOD]

Is Amma aiming for South Block?

The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach and the way to the voters’ heart in Chennai is through Amma canteens, especially if you are Jayalalithaa and positioning yourself for the Prime Minister's position the post-2014 election. The Amma canteens, started a few months ago in Chennai and now launched in 9 other cities, supply cheap and hygienic breakfast and lunch to the hungry and are being applauded not only by the urban poor but also the middle class. The canteens run by women from self-help groups sell idli at Re 1 a piece (the sambar alongside coming free), offer sambar rice at Rs 5 a plate and curd rice at Rs 3 per plate. The canteen scheme, whose menu is being expanded, is expected to be a major vote puller for the party in urban areas in the next general elections, though how much the government is subsidizing it is yet to be known (and possibly never will be). Many political analysts believe that Amma is in fact harbouring prime ministerial ambitions albeit closely kept under wraps. Though her party, the AIDMK, has only 9 MPs in the Lok Sabha, the iron lady from Tamil Nadu is aiming to win all the 39 seats from the state. That may not be possible but even if the party wins 30 seats she will be catapulted to a position of strength. With the DMK riven by internal fights and the patriarch Karunanidhi now turning 90 it is not impossible for the AIDMK to get 30 seats, political analysts aver. This in a state that has seen political fortunes swing from the DMK to the AIDMK and vice versa. A self-confessed friend of Narendra Modi, Amma in all likelihood will be part of the NDA alliance. But the alliance will be post-poll and not pre-poll. Her hope is that in the ultimate analysis the BJP will not have enough seats to make Modi the Prime Minister. Since Modi will not agree to anybody else from the BJP to get the top slot (he does not want an internal competitor, does he?), the party will have to offer the job to somebody in the alliance. Of all the candidates, Jayalalithaa will be the most acceptable to Modi. Being a woman, that also with an image of a strong woman, will increase her acceptability and she hopes that her good English-language skills and oratory will stand her in good stead. Amma, however, speaks no Hindi. At the same time Amma is not closing her options: the fact that she has offered a Rajya Sabha seat to D Raja of CPI (after withdrawing her party’s own candidate) this week is an indicator of the way in which her mind is working. She might just align with the third front if it so suits her. To buttress her political constituency she has also of late beeb playing Tamil nationalism by posturing against Sri Lanka ("we will not allow Sri Lankan players to play in Chennai for IPL" being a good example of this). Whether Amma’s gameplan works out or not is a matter of conjecture. But she remains one of the most enigmatic characters of Indian politics. An Ayyangar Brahmin, she leads an avowedly Dravidian party whose main plank, like the DMKDMK's, has been anti-Brahminism. Jayalalithaa was born in Mysore. Her grandfather was the royal physician to the Maharaja of Mysore but her father is said to have been, to put it modestly, rather undistinguished. He died when Jayalalithaa was young and her mother moved to Bangalore and joined movies. Jayalalithaa’s ambition was to follow in the footsteps of her grandfather and become a doctor but when she finished school from Bishop Cotton's, her mother pushed her into films, saying that the financial condition of the family was not good. She was barely 15 years old. Slowly Jayalalitha established herself in the film industry, arrived in Chennai and started acting in Tamil films. She was starred opposite MGR, who was many decades her senior. She became his favourite heroine. After a while, however, MGR was no longer acting opposite Jayalalithaa, who had now become close to a Telugu film hero Shobhan Babu. Around 1978, however, Jayalalithaa parted ways with Shobhan Babu and was soon back acting with MGR. Around this time Jayalalithaa expressed a desire to enter politics and MGR made her the propaganda secretary of the AIDMK considering that she was a good orator. This was in 1983. A year later, MGR sent her to the Rajya Sabha as an MP; he thought that her good English speaking abilities would stand her in good stead. A few years later MGR became wary of her, when he became ill and went for treatment to the US. Somebody told MGR that Jayalalithaa was trying to destabilize him and become the chief minister. The lady was once again out of the good books of MGR but assiduously worked back to favour. In 1987, when MGR died Jayalalithaa jumped on to truck carrying the hero’s body thereby signalling to the public that she was the heir to MGR. However MGR’s wife, Janaki, became chief minister but lost in the subsequent election yielding centre stage to Jayalalithaa, who became chief minister in 1991. Jayalalithaa’s term from 1991 to 1996 was marked by serious charges of corruption and extravagance including the crores that were spent on the opulent wedding of her adopted foster son. Allegations that she had allowed her close associate Sasikala Natarajan and her family to run amok also came to haunt Jayalalithaa. Sasikala, a videographer, had become so close to Jayalalitha that she started living with the cine star turned politician managing her household first and then her political affairs. Slowly she introduced her husband and other family members and soon collectively they were controlling the affairs of the chief minister and in fact holding her hostage of sorts. After Jayalalithaa lost elections in 1996 she had to face corruption charges and was convicted to three years jail in a case. Pending an appeal she was out on bail but could not contest the 2001 state assembly elections. But AIDMK romped back to power and she became chief minister, taking advantage of the constitutional provision that allows a non- legislator to be a minister or chief minister for six months. At the end of six months she quit appointing a dummy as the chief minister. As her good luck would have it, her conviction was set aside by the Madras High Court and she contested elections and again became the chief minister. In 2006, she was again ousted out of power only to be re- elected in 2011. Meanwhile more cases relating to amassing of disproportionate assets were filed and heard. The cases had been shifted to Bangalore because Jayalalithaa apprehended that it would not be possible to get justice in Chennai under a DMK government. Much of her time between 2006 and 2011 was spent in dealing with these cases. At the end of 2011 she in a rapier sharp move threw out Sasikala from her home and her relatives from various positions (nick named Mannargudi mafia for the vice like grip that they had on her government; Mannargudi is the village from where Sasikala hails). Some of the relatives were jailed. Reports suggested that Jayalalitha learnt that Sasikala was planning a palace coup and was hoping to install her husband Natarajan as the chief minister. The coup was planned in the belief that Jayalalitha would soon be convicted once again on another case. But the grip of Sasikala on Jayalalitha was so much that three months later she was back albeit after vowing that she would nurse no political ambitions and that she did not know that her relatives were running a ‘parallel government’. But political analysts say that Sasikala has once again become the political advisor of Jayalalitha. Jayalalithaa's present term has been marked with lesser allegations of corruption and absolutely nothing about her personal corruption. Perhaps, Jayalalithaa has become wiser and her administration is controlled tightly with information difficult to access from outside. May be she is perceived in a better light by the people of Tamil Nadu comes as she does after the colossal corruption in the DMK regime. At the same time in her own state Jayalalithaa has been active in cutting at the roots of Captain Vijaykanth (another film-star) alongside whose political party DMDK, she had contested the elections. The captain’s party had won 35 seats and Jayalalitha romped home. After the elections the two however have become distant. Political analysts say that in the 2011 elections AIDMK and DMDK jointly garnered the anti-incumbency votes; but now with she being in power Jayalalitha does not want DMDK to enjoy the anti-incumbency votes. Thus Jayalalithaa’s need is to decimate the party. Analysts aver that she will succeed in this: after all from an alluring film heroine she (deliberately) converted herself into an Amma before whom all her ministers bow - and lie down - to pay obeisance. But the journey of the 65 year old Amma to the South Block remains a million dollar question.

http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/The-wonder-that-is-indian-politics/entry/is-amma-aiming-for-south-block

[Sachin=GOD]

Why Jagan is such a force

Lodged in a cell of Hyderabad's Chanchalguda jail for over a year is a 42-year-old who could be the next chief minister of Andhra Pradesh. He is accused (along with his now deceased father, the former chief minister of the state) of cajoling big business houses to invest money in his media ventures in return for various illegal benefits from the state government. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed five chargesheets against him with five more to come. The bureau steadfastly continues to oppose his bail application saying that investigations against him are not complete and once he is out he will be in a position to 'tamper with evidence' and 'influence witnesses'. The courts till now have been inclined to go with the CBI's contention. Meet Jaganmohan Reddy, a product of new-age post-liberalization politics which has turned conventional wisdom in India upside down. Many analysts believe that Jagan, as he is popularly known, will sweep the polls for the Andhra Pradesh assembly that will be held alongside the Lok Sabha elections in 2014. "I don't want to go overboard. But it's clear that he will win a simple majority," says a special chief secretary to the Andhra Pradesh government. The expectation is that Jagan's party, the YSR Congress, will win something like 20-22 Lok Sabha seats out of the 42 in the state in 2014. That will make Jagan, a kingmaker at the Centre considering that the 2014 election is likely to throw up a fractured mandate with the support of every MP important for making the government. So strong is the expectation that Jagan will sit on the chief ministerial gaddi that MLAs from the ruling Congress and even the opposition Telugu Desam party (TDP) continue to flock to him. Last week the speaker of the Andhra Pradesh assembly expelled nine Congress and six TDP MLAs for defying their party whip in favour of Jagan's party a few months ago. The legislators were unrepentant and did not even bother to offer any excuses to the speaker. Those who are in the know of things are aware that many ruling Congress party MLAs and even ministers have pushed their sons, daughters or brothers to the YSR Congress in an effort to hedge their bets. This is even as Jagan continues to have a steady stream of visitors to jail, many probably seeking a party ticket for the next elections. "The Jagan fever has reduced over the last one year that he has been in jail but is still enough to get him to power," admits a minister in the present Andhra Pradesh government. This is why analysts aver that the powers that be might push for Jagan's conviction in one of the many cases filed against him. This will render Jagan ineligible to contest elections. But the mailed fist is covered with velvet gloves. Informed sources say that the Congress party has dangled the carrot before Jagan. You merge your party with ours and everything will be ok, is the line being sold to Jagan. But the jailed neta is not biting the bait. His line is: "I will support you but will not merge my party with the Congress. Moreover I can agree to have a post-election alliance. Nothing before the elections, please," Jagan has told emissaries. Implicit in this statement: I don't mind bearing the hardships of being in jail. How Jagan can be let off, after being charged with so grave charges, after a possible deal with the Congress is an important question but the real issue is, why is he popular? Actually the guy who was popular was Jagan's dad, YS Rajasekhara Reddy (YSR), who barely three months into his second term as chief minister of Andhra Pradesh perished in an air crash in September 2009. But in his first term 2004-09, YSR had acquired a halo as a Robin Hood, who as a benefactor of the poor empowered them in ways nobody had imagined before. YSR gave the poor free houses, he enabled them to have free surgical procedures (including heart surgery) in top hospitals free of cost; the government reimbursed the college fee of the poor and needy students apart from giving free power to farmers and rice at Rs 2 per kg and many other goodies. Thus YSR was able to create a welfare state where the beneficiaries stood solidly behind him. To create a vote bank, YSR often chose to dispense the goodies on the basis of beneficiaries chosen by his party machinery, though the government machinery administered the welfare programmed. Where did YSR get all the money? First it was his good luck to preside over the state when economic growth was high. This filled the government coffer and added to it was the deliberate YSR plan to make the state a realtor, pushing land prices upwards. In one particular year, the state government earned Rs 1,200 crore from the sale of government land. This was used to finance welfare schemes. Secondly, the Andhra Pradesh government inflated the number of the poor with impunity. In YSR's time, as per government statistics as much as 85 per cent of the state's population was below the poverty line. This was a sleight of hand and done purposely because the Planning Commission channelizes more funds to poor states. It was not that the government of India did know that it was being conned into parting with more funds for Andhra Pradesh. But the powers that be did not mind because YSR was one of the major fund collectors for the Congress party. Parallel to his welfare schemes, YSR - brought up in the badlands of the dry and drought-prone Rayalaseema of Andhra Pradesh, where faction fights and use of violence and bombs is an accepted part of life and where survival requires cutting the throat of the competitor - was creating a band of men loyal only to him. In the 2009 elections, 76 of the 155 Congress MLAs elected were first-timers who were handpicked by YSR. They knew nobody else. Traditionally the Congress in Andhra Pradesh has been the party of the Reddys who are the landlords in the feudal state of Andhra Pradesh, where land reforms have taken place only on paper. Although the Reddys constitute just 8 per cent of the population they wield disproportionate influence over society by virtue of their control over land. YSR, a blue blooded Reddy, kept the Reddys in good humour. At the same time YSR was also a Christian: this enabled him to connect with the sizeable number of Dalit Christians who form some 10 per cent of the populace. They were in any case beneficiaries of the welfare state that YSR had created. Realtors also loved YSR because land prices were being pushed up and so did contractors because of the massive government works in irrigation to benefit the farmers. Hundreds of engineering colleges sprung up benefitting from fee reimbursement from the government and so did hospitals providing medical aid to the poor but paid to by the government. All of them added to create a significant support base. When YSR died suddenly all the loyalties that he commanded were automatically transferred to his son, as would be in a feudal set-up. Jagan with hot blood running in his veins was not willing to play second fiddle to the dictates of the high command and give up the political empire that his father had established. He made this clear and quite openly. Displaying the same energy Jagan began touring the countryside raising expectations that he as the chief minister would follow the policies of his father. Meanwhile, a slowdown in growth was straining the coffers of the state leading to curtailment of some of the welfare measures. This led to apprehension among the erstwhile beneficiaries who thought that only Jagan could bring back the golden age. Kiran Kumar Reddy has been the chief minister of the state for the last three years. At 52 and a Reddy to boot, Kiran was anointed to stem the exodus of Reddy votes to YSR Congress. He also began his own welfare programmes do an YSR encore even as the message was being beamed that it was the Congress-led Union government, and not the YSR government, which had begun the welfare measures. But the message has failed to move the masses. The Reddys have almost totally migrated to YSR Congress and so have the Dalit Christians. The Congress is now fighting an unequal battle in Andhra Pradesh. There is many a slip between the cup and the lip and how events work out remains to be seen. Nevertheless, Jagan Reddy is an extraordinary personality in Indian politics the like of him has never been seen.

http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/The-wonder-that-is-indian-politics/entry/why-jagan-is-such-a-force So it does look like Jagan will have a post poll alliance with UPA in case Cong wins enough seats to form the Govt. @those in AP - whats the effect of TRS and how many seats are they expect to win. Also, what about Chnadrababu Naidu - is he now finished as a political force?

[adi B]

feck the allies for the time being,main objective for BJP is to get to 160+ seats (possible) even if they project modi as the face,later they can of course play out a card where maybe someone else might be the pm candidate,allies will automatically form when u have the numbers as ravi shankar prasad said... with advani as the face from now till the elections i am not sure if bjp can rake up even 130 seats..

[someone]

feck the allies for the time being' date='main objective for BJP is to get to 160+ seats (possible).[/quote'] The objective for BJP or for that matter, any good party should be to improve the voting rates. If this voting percentage increase, BJP stands with the greatest benefits and all those Congress calculations, minority BS becomes less relevant. We need more votes and more people to understand the importance of their votes as India needs that to work stronger.