Indian General Elections - 2014
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This Is Just One Scam That Surfaced.
Soumitra
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CBI files fresh affidavit in Supreme Court on coal scam
NEW DELHI: CBI director Ranjit Sinha on Monday filed a 9-page affidavit in the Supreme Court on the coal scam.
The affidavit states that law minister made some changes in it its status report on investigations into alleged irregularities in allocation of coal blocks, in what could have a potential bearing on Ashwani Kumar's position.
Paragraphs 18 and 19 are the most crucial part of the affidavit which states changes in the status report were made on the suggestions given by Attorney General and a PMO official as well as the law minister and the joint secretary of the coal ministry.
The affidavit also states some lines were deleted at the behest of the PMO and the law minister. Former ASG Harin Raval and Attorney General G E Vahanvati were present in the meeting with the law minister, the affidavit filed by the CBI mentions.
The affidavit also mentions that the March 6 meeting was called by the law minister because he wanted to peruse the contents of the status report. Significantly, Congress sources quoted Kumar as maintaining that the meeting was called by attorney general G E Vahanvati.
The apex court was told that consequent changes in the report neither altered its central theme nor shifted the focus of inquiries in any manner. No names of suspects or accused were removed from the status report and no suspect or accused was let off, the CBI said in its affidavit to the Supreme Court.
A day ahead of filing a crucial affidavit in the Supreme Court on coal scam which has rocked the UPA government, the CBI director had affirmed that the agency's probe into the matter was "clean and clear" and that no accused or suspect had been let off.
CBI files fresh affidavit in Supreme Court on coal scam - The Times of India
NEW DELHI: CBI director Ranjit Sinha on Monday filed a 9-page affidavit in the Supreme Court on the coal scam.
The affidavit states that law minister made some changes in it its status report on investigations into alleged irregularities in allocation of coal blocks, in what could have a potential bearing on Ashwani Kumar's position.
Paragraphs 18 and 19 are the most crucial part of the affidavit which states changes in the status report were made on the suggestions given by Attorney General and a PMO official as well as the law minister and the joint secretary of the coal ministry.
The affidavit also states some lines were deleted at the behest of the PMO and the law minister. Former ASG Harin Raval and Attorney General G E Vahanvati were present in the meeting with the law minister, the affidavit filed by the CBI mentions.
The affidavit also mentions that the March 6 meeting was called by the law minister because he wanted to peruse the contents of the status report. Significantly, Congress sources quoted Kumar as maintaining that the meeting was called by attorney general G E Vahanvati.
The apex court was told that consequent changes in the report neither altered its central theme nor shifted the focus of inquiries in any manner. No names of suspects or accused were removed from the status report and no suspect or accused was let off, the CBI said in its affidavit to the Supreme Court.
A day ahead of filing a crucial affidavit in the Supreme Court on coal scam which has rocked the UPA government, the CBI director had affirmed that the agency's probe into the matter was "clean and clear" and that no accused or suspect had been let off.
CBI files fresh affidavit in Supreme Court on coal scam - The Times of India
Soumitra
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I am very much confused with whom to vote this time for Indian Elections. Have to think a bit more about the prospects before I vote.
If you want corrupt pseudo-secular govt. who does minority appeasement then vote congress.
If you want development oriented nationalist govt vote BJP
If you want khichidi govt with no clear agenda and which will fall in 2 years vote regional parties
Bang Galore
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Karnataka results starts trickling in a little over an hour. Won't be pretty for the BJP
Aka123
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I have seen few speeches of Modi. Those are very bold and thought provoking. He addresses the youth. He seems to be much interested in Development of India. I'll see more in future though. He's a good candidate for PM. Only thing that holds me behind a bit the 2002 Gujrat thing.I have seen few videos and confessions which directly points towards him. That's when I get the feeling that India is so much cosmopolitan that the person should be secular to lead her accurately. Anyways I think Modi's pros are more than cons and he's much more matured in Indian politics now than he was in 2002. Overall I think it'll be good to have a change this time.
Regarding Congress if you say they are pseudo-secular and does minority appeasement, I'll point that they can't hide from the 1984 Genocide and hence they are no less behind. I can't say about Rahul Gandhi as am not much aware of him. Had seen a video of him in Kashmir University but that may be a part of the political propaganda who knows.
Overall whoever be it, whether Congress or BJP or any other political party I don't have much faith on politicians. They can do anything to fill up their pocket. Faith will come only when one delivers else it's NIL. Don't believe in this pre election propaganda - I'll do this, I'll do that hence vote me. The scene changes after election. Have witnessed a lot of these.
Basically it's a gamble. Anyways Thanks for your points! Still there's some more time to observe. Will research a bit more before I vote for the good of my country.
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I bet if Modi would have led the campaign from the start they wouldn't have lost that badly why the hell didn't he do that
Sashan
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I bet if Modi would have led the campaign from the start they wouldn't have lost that badly why the hell didn't he do that
I don't think "Modi magic" would have fixed the fubar BJP created in Karnataka.
anant_s
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Modi is not cure to everything that ails a BJP. Modi has gained respect for his administrative abilities and that is why he keeps winning Gujarat. But he cannot correct for stupidness of other BJP state governments.
However it is really sad to see that BJP is not able to really mobilize itself and present itself as a credible option against scam tainted UPA.
There still is time left for next general elections and sooner BJP pulls up its socks, the better.
Yes Modi will definitely win BJP some more seats but it is the collective strength that will have to pull the show.
In any case we must wait till December elections in 5 states before drawing conclusions.
agamdilawari
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Soumitra
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The Road to 272
The 2014 general election will mark 30 years since a political party won a clear majority of 272 seats on its own in the Lok Sabha. Rajiv Gandhi achieved that for the Congress with over 400 seats in 1984. Since then, in 1989, 1991, 1996 and the four general elections that followed, no party has crossed 272 seats in parliament.
For 2014, most parties’ ambitions are modest. The Congress thinks 140 Lok Sabha seats will be enough to stitch together a “secular” UPA-3 coalition. The BJP reckons it needs 180 seats to do the same for NDA-3.
Let’s examine the Congress’s numbers first. Assuming it wins 140 seats, it will need another 132 seats from alliance partners. The NCP, NC and other smaller UPA allies can realistically provide at most 20 seats between them. UPA-3 would thus have 160 seats to begin with before it draws in more allies.
Start with Mulayam Singh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party and Mayawati’s BSP. Neither is a natural UPA ally but till the CBI obtains its Supreme Court-mandated independence both will remain vulnerable. Assume 25 seats in Uttar Pradesh to either of these two sworn enemies in the (unlikely) event of one tying up with the Congress in 2014.
Next is the DMK which can be weaned back but will contribute not much more than 10 Lok Sabha seats.
Neither the TMC nor the Left is likely to be part of UPA-3, given the current state of their relationship with the Congress.
Nitish Kumar’s JD(U), with 15-20 seats, is a possibility under certain circumstances as is YSR Congress or TRS with around 15 and 10 seats respectively.
Thus the projected UPA-3 tally of second-tier allies could look like this:
SP or BSP : 25
DMK : 10
JD(U) : 20
YSR : 15
TRS : 10
Others : 5
85
Add these 85 to the core UPA-3 number of 160 seats. The tally: 245 – well short of 272 even after assuming the Congress wins 140 seats on its own. This itself is a stretch in an environment where corruption will be electorally punished in the Lok Sabha as severely as it was punished in Karnataka.
What of the BJP? Conventional wisdom suggests it needs 180 seats versus the Congress’s 140 on account of its “untouchability” factor. This argument is contrived but let’s take it at face value for the purpose of this analysis.
My last party-wise, state-wise, seat-wise projection (Countdown to 2014 – or 2013?) gave the BJP 156 seats and the Congress 107. Subsequent polls by TimesNow–CVoter arrived at a roughly similar number (and placed the Congress at 113 seats).
The moot question: if Narendra Modi is projected as its Prime Ministerial candidate, could 190 seats be within reach for the BJP? Modi’s impact on voters outside Gujarat is largely unproven. What is more certain is that Modi as Prime Minister will galvanise the party cadre, urban voters (who account for 160 Lok Sabha seats), the middle-class, and (though he has never played the caste card) OBCs.
But to lift the BJP’s base from the projected 156 to 190 seats, where would those extra 34 seats come from? Clearly, from the Hindi heartland (Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Delhi, Haryana, Uttarkhand and Punjab) and the West (Gujarat, Maharashtra and Goa). Between these 10 states, 34 extra seats is a plausible target with the right campaign strategy. Remember: the BJP won 182 seats in both 1998 and 1999, so 190 isn’t as much of a stretch as some suggest.
With a starting point of 190 for the BJP, where will NDA-3 find its 82 remaining seats? Around 30 would come from traditional allies – the Shiv Sena, SAD, AGP, HJC and others. With a base of 220, AIADMK with 25 seats and one of the Andhra Pradesh parties with 10 seats would take the NDA-3 tally to 255 – leaving it a tantalizing 17 seats short of an absolute majority in the Lok Sabha.
These could come from myriad small parties and independents but the cushion would be provided by either the BJD’s projected 18 seats in Odisha or the under-fire TMC’s likely 20-25 seats in West Bengal. Only one of these two parties would be necessary to take NDA-3 to 290+. Nitish Kumar’s JD(U), with its 20 or fewer seats in Bihar, would obviously not be part of this alliance.
The key issue is Modi’s pan-India appeal: can it deliver those crucial 30-plus seats beyond the projected 156 from the Hindi heartland and the West? Will Muslim polarisation and tactical voting against him affect this outcome significantly? How much of a difference will Hindu polarisation and Modi’s OBC/EBC caste make in the north?
On the other hand, assuming the BJP nominates LK Advani or Sushma Swaraj as its Prime Ministerial candidate, will the JD(U)’s 20 seats in Bihar make an NDA-3 more “acceptable” to a greater number of allies and therefore more plausible? Karnataka has demonstrated how devastating split votes can be. The BJP will think thrice before allowing such an eventuality in, say, Bihar.
The BJP leadership must confront all these imponderables as it weighs its options and works out various permutations. Karnataka has shown that voters will punish corrupt incumbent governments. The Congress is due to receive this punishment at the centre in 2014 – if a credible, united opposition alliance is in place.
The road to 272 by Head On : Minhaz Merchant's blog-The Times Of India
The 2014 general election will mark 30 years since a political party won a clear majority of 272 seats on its own in the Lok Sabha. Rajiv Gandhi achieved that for the Congress with over 400 seats in 1984. Since then, in 1989, 1991, 1996 and the four general elections that followed, no party has crossed 272 seats in parliament.
For 2014, most parties’ ambitions are modest. The Congress thinks 140 Lok Sabha seats will be enough to stitch together a “secular” UPA-3 coalition. The BJP reckons it needs 180 seats to do the same for NDA-3.
Let’s examine the Congress’s numbers first. Assuming it wins 140 seats, it will need another 132 seats from alliance partners. The NCP, NC and other smaller UPA allies can realistically provide at most 20 seats between them. UPA-3 would thus have 160 seats to begin with before it draws in more allies.
Start with Mulayam Singh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party and Mayawati’s BSP. Neither is a natural UPA ally but till the CBI obtains its Supreme Court-mandated independence both will remain vulnerable. Assume 25 seats in Uttar Pradesh to either of these two sworn enemies in the (unlikely) event of one tying up with the Congress in 2014.
Next is the DMK which can be weaned back but will contribute not much more than 10 Lok Sabha seats.
Neither the TMC nor the Left is likely to be part of UPA-3, given the current state of their relationship with the Congress.
Nitish Kumar’s JD(U), with 15-20 seats, is a possibility under certain circumstances as is YSR Congress or TRS with around 15 and 10 seats respectively.
Thus the projected UPA-3 tally of second-tier allies could look like this:
SP or BSP : 25
DMK : 10
JD(U) : 20
YSR : 15
TRS : 10
Others : 5
85
Add these 85 to the core UPA-3 number of 160 seats. The tally: 245 – well short of 272 even after assuming the Congress wins 140 seats on its own. This itself is a stretch in an environment where corruption will be electorally punished in the Lok Sabha as severely as it was punished in Karnataka.
What of the BJP? Conventional wisdom suggests it needs 180 seats versus the Congress’s 140 on account of its “untouchability” factor. This argument is contrived but let’s take it at face value for the purpose of this analysis.
My last party-wise, state-wise, seat-wise projection (Countdown to 2014 – or 2013?) gave the BJP 156 seats and the Congress 107. Subsequent polls by TimesNow–CVoter arrived at a roughly similar number (and placed the Congress at 113 seats).
The moot question: if Narendra Modi is projected as its Prime Ministerial candidate, could 190 seats be within reach for the BJP? Modi’s impact on voters outside Gujarat is largely unproven. What is more certain is that Modi as Prime Minister will galvanise the party cadre, urban voters (who account for 160 Lok Sabha seats), the middle-class, and (though he has never played the caste card) OBCs.
But to lift the BJP’s base from the projected 156 to 190 seats, where would those extra 34 seats come from? Clearly, from the Hindi heartland (Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Delhi, Haryana, Uttarkhand and Punjab) and the West (Gujarat, Maharashtra and Goa). Between these 10 states, 34 extra seats is a plausible target with the right campaign strategy. Remember: the BJP won 182 seats in both 1998 and 1999, so 190 isn’t as much of a stretch as some suggest.
With a starting point of 190 for the BJP, where will NDA-3 find its 82 remaining seats? Around 30 would come from traditional allies – the Shiv Sena, SAD, AGP, HJC and others. With a base of 220, AIADMK with 25 seats and one of the Andhra Pradesh parties with 10 seats would take the NDA-3 tally to 255 – leaving it a tantalizing 17 seats short of an absolute majority in the Lok Sabha.
These could come from myriad small parties and independents but the cushion would be provided by either the BJD’s projected 18 seats in Odisha or the under-fire TMC’s likely 20-25 seats in West Bengal. Only one of these two parties would be necessary to take NDA-3 to 290+. Nitish Kumar’s JD(U), with its 20 or fewer seats in Bihar, would obviously not be part of this alliance.
The key issue is Modi’s pan-India appeal: can it deliver those crucial 30-plus seats beyond the projected 156 from the Hindi heartland and the West? Will Muslim polarisation and tactical voting against him affect this outcome significantly? How much of a difference will Hindu polarisation and Modi’s OBC/EBC caste make in the north?
On the other hand, assuming the BJP nominates LK Advani or Sushma Swaraj as its Prime Ministerial candidate, will the JD(U)’s 20 seats in Bihar make an NDA-3 more “acceptable” to a greater number of allies and therefore more plausible? Karnataka has demonstrated how devastating split votes can be. The BJP will think thrice before allowing such an eventuality in, say, Bihar.
The BJP leadership must confront all these imponderables as it weighs its options and works out various permutations. Karnataka has shown that voters will punish corrupt incumbent governments. The Congress is due to receive this punishment at the centre in 2014 – if a credible, united opposition alliance is in place.
The road to 272 by Head On : Minhaz Merchant's blog-The Times Of India
Soumitra
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Why voters are poles apart on Narendra Modi
The sudden ascent of stocky, 62-year-old Narendra Modi as a serious contender for the nation’s leadership has taken people by surprise. The general election is still a year away but the average, open-minded, middle-of-the-road Indian wonders how to think about the polarizing chief minister of Gujarat. Either you love him or hate him, which is precisely why one must not react with a kneejerk but try and go beyond the shallow surface of a flawed but remarkable human being.
India today is discontented and troubled as a result of corruption scandals, high inflation, declining growth and a government in denial. Sick of the drift and paralysis, people desperately seek a strong leader, and insistently ask if Narendra Modi might be the one. Clearly, he has proven the ability to build a vibrant economy and usher in corrupt-free governance. Could he be India’s best chance to ungum the bureaucracy, tackle corrup tion and restore the economy to health? But Modi also has a clear downside: he is dictatorial with communal tendencies. Should one risk India’s precious secular and collaborative traditions for the sake of good governance and prosperity? It is a dreadful moral dilemma between equally impor tant values — a classic dharma-sankat.
No Indian leader in recent times has spoken with such passion about ‘governance’ and ‘development’. His talk of ‘less government and more governance’ resonates with the aspiring young middle-class. He has changed the language of politics with words like outcomes, accountability and unbureaucratic service delivery. Visit a mu nicipal office, he says, and you will only see clerks; but an urbanizing nation needs technical people to solve sanitation, transport and infrastructure problems; so, he hired engineer interns and gave them an opportunity to solve municipal problems in Gujarat. Implementation is his obsession and he compares two canals of equal size — the Sujalam Sufalam Yojana, which he completed in two years while the old Sardar Sarovar canal from Nehru’s days is still incomplete.
Every country must protect its environment he argues, but no one stops 750 industrial projects and delays them for years. By covering Gujarat’ canals with solar panels, he is conserving water and has made Gujarat a model of solar power. In dia’s schools face a serious problem of quality, and the Right to Education Act refuses to measure outcomes; so, he plans to make Gujarat’s schools accountable through continuous, quality testing He inspires young people, saying ‘IT + IT = IT (Indian Talent + Information Technology = India’ Tomorrow.) Not since Jawaharlal Nehru has politician given people such a sense of possibilities. They see in Modi an underdog, a David challenging the Goliath of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty.
But every temptation has a price. Modi is consid ered anti-Muslim and many cannot forgive him for the events in Gujarat in 2002. He may not have actively connived in the violence, they say, but why doesn’t he show remorse? After all, it happened under his watch, and he is responsible. By polarizing the country, people fear he might alienate India’ Muslims and this might enhance the risk of domes tic terror. The temptation to vote for prosperity and good governance must be tempered by the impera tive to keep the nation united and secular.
Those who dismiss the middle-class’s impact on elections forget that a new generation of voters has joined the middle-class after 1991, and it is in a rage over violence against women and children and longs for a leader who is tough against crime. But it also does not want an Indira Gandhi who will subvert the institutions of democracy. Modi is not likeable — Rahul Gandhi is far more affable — but people today seek an effective, not a friendly leader. India’s dilemma is that Modi is the most likely candidate to provide corruption-free governance and restore the economy to high growth, create masses of jobs and lift millions into the middle-class. But his communal past is a threat. In the end, each voter will have to choose in 2014 between several imperfect candidates and make a trade-off. Those who think corrupt free governance and prosperity are more important will vote for Modi. Those who worry about communal harmony and domestic security will not vote for him. It is an unhappy but unambiguous choice.
Why voters are poles apart on Narendra Modi by Men & Ideas : Gurcharan Das's blog-The Times Of India
The sudden ascent of stocky, 62-year-old Narendra Modi as a serious contender for the nation’s leadership has taken people by surprise. The general election is still a year away but the average, open-minded, middle-of-the-road Indian wonders how to think about the polarizing chief minister of Gujarat. Either you love him or hate him, which is precisely why one must not react with a kneejerk but try and go beyond the shallow surface of a flawed but remarkable human being.
India today is discontented and troubled as a result of corruption scandals, high inflation, declining growth and a government in denial. Sick of the drift and paralysis, people desperately seek a strong leader, and insistently ask if Narendra Modi might be the one. Clearly, he has proven the ability to build a vibrant economy and usher in corrupt-free governance. Could he be India’s best chance to ungum the bureaucracy, tackle corrup tion and restore the economy to health? But Modi also has a clear downside: he is dictatorial with communal tendencies. Should one risk India’s precious secular and collaborative traditions for the sake of good governance and prosperity? It is a dreadful moral dilemma between equally impor tant values — a classic dharma-sankat.
No Indian leader in recent times has spoken with such passion about ‘governance’ and ‘development’. His talk of ‘less government and more governance’ resonates with the aspiring young middle-class. He has changed the language of politics with words like outcomes, accountability and unbureaucratic service delivery. Visit a mu nicipal office, he says, and you will only see clerks; but an urbanizing nation needs technical people to solve sanitation, transport and infrastructure problems; so, he hired engineer interns and gave them an opportunity to solve municipal problems in Gujarat. Implementation is his obsession and he compares two canals of equal size — the Sujalam Sufalam Yojana, which he completed in two years while the old Sardar Sarovar canal from Nehru’s days is still incomplete.
Every country must protect its environment he argues, but no one stops 750 industrial projects and delays them for years. By covering Gujarat’ canals with solar panels, he is conserving water and has made Gujarat a model of solar power. In dia’s schools face a serious problem of quality, and the Right to Education Act refuses to measure outcomes; so, he plans to make Gujarat’s schools accountable through continuous, quality testing He inspires young people, saying ‘IT + IT = IT (Indian Talent + Information Technology = India’ Tomorrow.) Not since Jawaharlal Nehru has politician given people such a sense of possibilities. They see in Modi an underdog, a David challenging the Goliath of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty.
But every temptation has a price. Modi is consid ered anti-Muslim and many cannot forgive him for the events in Gujarat in 2002. He may not have actively connived in the violence, they say, but why doesn’t he show remorse? After all, it happened under his watch, and he is responsible. By polarizing the country, people fear he might alienate India’ Muslims and this might enhance the risk of domes tic terror. The temptation to vote for prosperity and good governance must be tempered by the impera tive to keep the nation united and secular.
Those who dismiss the middle-class’s impact on elections forget that a new generation of voters has joined the middle-class after 1991, and it is in a rage over violence against women and children and longs for a leader who is tough against crime. But it also does not want an Indira Gandhi who will subvert the institutions of democracy. Modi is not likeable — Rahul Gandhi is far more affable — but people today seek an effective, not a friendly leader. India’s dilemma is that Modi is the most likely candidate to provide corruption-free governance and restore the economy to high growth, create masses of jobs and lift millions into the middle-class. But his communal past is a threat. In the end, each voter will have to choose in 2014 between several imperfect candidates and make a trade-off. Those who think corrupt free governance and prosperity are more important will vote for Modi. Those who worry about communal harmony and domestic security will not vote for him. It is an unhappy but unambiguous choice.
Why voters are poles apart on Narendra Modi by Men & Ideas : Gurcharan Das's blog-The Times Of India
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