Big Blow to BJP in Karnataka Local Polls

The Congress dealt a massive blow to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Karnataka urban local body elections by winning four major city corporations. The Congress not only made huge gains by winning the highest number of wards across the state, but the party also routed BS Yeddyurappa‘s Karnataka Janata Party (KJP) and ended the rule of Reddy brothers in Bellary by decimating their BSR Congress across central Karnataka.

Former chief minister BS Yeddyurappa’s KJP failed to make a big splash while the ruling BJP could only secure third place by winning just 876 wards while the Congress was way ahead with 1881 seats. The Janata Dal Secular (JDS) managed to hold on to its strength in the Old Mysore region and managed to win 890 wards to take the second place in the state.

The Karnataka local polls, which have been billed as semi-finals before the state elects a new Assembly in a couple of months, show that the BJP is finding the going tough and has not been fully able to counter the Yeddyurappa effect.

There are a total number of 4976 seats for which counting took place. The Congress won Bellary, Mangalore and Davanagere city corporations. The party is leading in four out of seven city corporations and is also doing very well in Dakshin Kannada.

The BJP is ahead in Hubli-Dharwad while there is close fight between Congress and JDS in Mysore. Yeddyurappa’s party has put up a dismal performance in Shimoga while the BJP has suffered a huge defeat in its stronghold of coastal Karnataka where the Independents have come third. The trends and results show that urban voters have rejected BJP and its offshoots KJP and BSR Congress.

The Bellary brothers, who had launched the BSR Congress, have been routed in their stronghold. The Congress is also leading in areas dominated by the JDS.

The results are crucial since they could be an indicator of what will happen in the state elections coming up in two months. Over 200 municipalities including seven city corporations went to the polls on March 7.

In the last urban local bodies polls in 2007, of the total 5007 wards, the Congress had come first winning 1606, followed by JDS 1502 and BJP 1180.

Modi Effect: Wharton Loses Main Sponsor Gautam Adani

Following the cancellation of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi‘s keynote address at the Wharton India Economic Forum, it transpires that main sponsor Gautam Adani, chairman of Gujarat-headquartered Adani group, opted out of the event some time ago.

“Mr Adani had conveyed his inability to join Wharton India Economic Forum long back as he has other pressing commitments,” a group spokesperson said.
“Our participation at the event is just by way of sponsorship,” he said.
The prestigious Wharton School cancelled the keynote address of Gujarat Chief Minister following uproar from a section of university professors and students.Organisers of the annual Wharton India Economic Forum (WIEF) confirmed that it was the petition that was basically instrumental in reversing their decision on Modi.

“Only one petition to our knowledge,” Tanmay Mishra, on behalf of the WIEF said.
“Mr Modi’s office was informed before the press statement,” he said in response to another question.

“Our team felt that the potential polarising reactions from sub-segments of the alumni base, student body, and our supporters, might put Modi in a compromising position, which we would like to avoid at all costs, especially in the spirit of our conference’s purpose,” the WIEF organising committee said in a statement.

Asserting that it stands by its decision to invite Modi, the organising committee said it believes that this course of action would be the most appropriate in light of the reactions of the multiple stakeholders involved.

“Therefore, we as a team, would like to apologise for being a catalyst that may have put Mr Modi and the Wharton School administration in an difficult position,” the statement said.

Arguing that they do not endorse any political views and do not support any specific ideology, the statement said their goal as a team is only to stimulate valuable dialogue on India‘s growth story, and to act as a forum where students and audiences interact with influential leaders from across India.

The Forum, an annual India-centric conference, is hosted by the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Modi had been invited to deliver the keynote address at the Forum to be held in Philadelphia on March 22-23 via video-conference, and Adani group was the platinum sponsor of the event.
Post 2002 Godhra riots, Gujarat CM has been denied U.S. visa, but recently U.S.-India Business Council had participated in the state’s biennial event Vibrant Gujarat Summit-2013 in January.
Earlier in the day, former Union Minister and Shiv Sena leader Suresh Prabhu had said he was calling off his visit to Wharton in protest against cancellation of Modi’s address.

The student organising body was extremely impressed with Modi’s credentials, governance ideologies, and leadership, which was the primary reason for his invitation, the statement said.

“However, as a responsible student body within the University of Pennsylvania, we must consider the impact on multiple stakeholders in our ecosystem,” the organising committee explained.
“Mr Modi’s keynote address at Wharton India Economic Forum has been cancelled,” the Wharton India Economic Forum said in a statement, which was welcomed by the organisers of the petition campaign.”I think one of the things that concerns us and continues to be is an attempt by a number of folks from his (Modi’s) camp as well as some camps in the business community trying to differentiate and distinguish between his economic policies versus his human rights records,” Toorjo Ghosh, assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania, one of the three professors, said.

“We believe that the two are absolutely connected and that is the reason why Gujarat has developed in a way it has,” he said.

Ghosh, who besides his teaching, works among the poor and slums in India.
Having got what he wanted, Ghosh said he and his team would continue to “expose” Modi.
“I think it is important to keep talking about what development is. The model that Narendra Modi has put forward is seriously flawed and is based on some extremely egregious flouting of human rights. That is his economic model,” Ghosh said.

“Gujarat has some of the worst human development index report. We need to unpack this rhetoric what development is. We will continue to do that,” he added.
The anti-Modi petition said that it was incomprehensible to the signatories that this was the man who the Wharton India Economic Forum wished to celebrate as an exemplar of economic and social development.
“We find it astonishing that any academic and student body at the University of Pennsylvania can endorse ideas about economic development that are based on the systematic oppression of minority populations, whether in India or elsewhere,” the petition said.
“Mr Modi still does not have a U.S. visa to enter the U.S., but Wharton plans to present him on Skype to the audience. Recently there have been efforts to whitewash Modi’s grim record and to grant him international respectability. Wharton’s invitation lends itself to doing just that,” the signatories of the petition argued.
“We urge the Wharton India Economic Forum to revoke their invitation to Narendra Modi. If it does not do not do so, we pledge to protest against his presence – virtual, as it will be – given that he remains ineligible for a U.S. visa, in a variety of ways, including at the meeting of the Forum,” the signatories said in the petition.
“We will also do all that we can to continue to educate our community about the incalculable and continuing harm done by Modi’s brand of politics to the secular values enshrined in India’s constitution,” they said.

BJP blames UPA policies for poor economic growth

Accusing the government of flip-flops, indecision and mis-governance, the BJP today said its policy paralysis and corruption have affected the country’s growth rate and left its economy in a mess.

Slamming the government for its “failure” to control price rise and inflation, it also demanded an “immediate” roll back of hike in all administrative prices of diesel, gas, petrol, rail and other services “as the common man is reeling under unprecedented economic burden.”

Targeting the government on the issue of corruption, it said, the VVIP helicopter scam and the Farm Loan Waiver scam are the latest additions in this government’s “unending list of corruption.”

“It is fascinating to note that Italy, which was to benefit from the helicopter deal, went after the bribe givers immediately when they got the wind of corruption, while India, the sufferer of this scam is not ready to trace the bribe takers. Mystery still shrouds over the mention of the recipients as ‘the family’,” the BJP Economic Resolution passed at its National Council meeting here said.

It said while the government has ordered a CBI probe, it is not ready to have it monitored by the court.

“It has neither registered FIR nor issued Letters Rogatory (LR). It is offering JPC knowing full well that it cannot investigate and come to conclusion. This fuels speculation that the government is more interested in ensuring a white wash to protect the bribe receivers rather than unearth the truth and punish the guilty,” it said.

It said the biggest failure of the UPA government is its inability to tame inflation and bring down the prices.

Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, while seconding the Economic Resolution, said India will scrap FDI in multi-brand retail policy when BJP-led NDA comes to power.

“Unfortunately, inflation is not the result of any natural disaster but is purely a gift of this government. Bad food stock management and distribution anomalies triggered the inflationary pressure in the first place,” the resolution said.

When the country is required to stock only 30 million tonne of food grains in the godowns, the UPA has stocked a huge quantity of more than 70 million tonne of food grains thereby creating shortages in the market and fuelling prices, the opposition party said.

Drawing comparison of the economic situation of the country between now and the NDA government headed by Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the resolution maintained that the BJP-led government inherited a lowly growth rate of 4% in 1998, but due to its commitment to make India an economic superpower, it had put the economy on a fast growth trajectory.

“As a result of the visionary leadership of Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee, India for the first time in decades witnessed 8.25% growth rate in 2004 when the BJP led NDA government demitted office.”

It said the NDA government had put in place the historic economic legislation – the Fiscal Responsibility and Budgetary Management (FRBM) Act which sought to rein in the fiscal deficit below 3%.

“Ironically, under the Congress leadership, it is the central government that has shown scant commitment towards this resolve while the state governments are instead broadly adhering to the FRBM targets which is reflected in their financial numbers,” the resolution said.

It alleged that inflation and corruption have become the “hallmarks” of the UPA government.

“The country also has to suffer the ignominy of experiencing economic downslide under the leadership of an economist Prime Minister under whom every economic macro-parameter has steadily declined…The BJP holds the Congress led UPA government guilty of non performance, policy paralysis and lack of direction,” the resolution said.

-PTI

FDI in retail would push country into economic slavery: Rajnath Singh

Senior BJP leader Rajnath Singh has said the decision to allow FDI in retail will push the country towards economic slavery, and his party will start a nation- wide campaign against it once ongoing winter session of Parliament ends.

There is enormous human resource potential in the country and India does not need foreign investment in the sector, Singh said.

The BJP leader, here to attend a wedding, said implementation of FDI had proven to be detrimental to the interests of farmers across the world.

BJP will start a nation-wide campaign against FDI in retail and corruption in the government once the ongoing winter session of Parliament ends, he said.

The BJP leader said in a few months, his party would be ready with the list of candidates for the 2014 general elections.

The exercise to shortlist the electoral candidates had already begun, and former Union Minister and sitting MP Murli Manohar Joshi will remain the candidate from Varanasi, he said.

Singh questioned the wisdom of not hanging Parliament attack accused Afzal Guru.

He said the SP government had waived off the farmers loan in the state but only with certain riders which was not mentioned in their election manifesto.

Referring to the SP government’s academic grants for students from the minority community, the BJP leader said there should be no discrimination in the name of religion and caste in providing educational aid.

Stage set for Narendra Modi 2014

Forget the sideshows that Sushma Swaraj or L. K. Advani may have put up in the film city this week. The political equivalent of a Bollywood blockbuster has just started rolling in the BJP.

Casting directors in the saffron joint family, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), seem to have picked Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi to be the man of the show.

This is the moment of reckoning for the principal opposition party that has shown itself to be as clueless as the ruling coalition in the face of grave economic and political uncertainty. What transpired at the Mumbai meeting of the BJP this week was far more important than a Sanjay Joshi getting the sack or Swaraj and Advani missing a crucial meeting. It was a moment of transition – from a dithering, squabbling bunch of amateurs to disciplined soldiers forging columns behind the Leader.

By letting Modi dictate terms to BJP president Nitin Gadkari in the matter of terminating Sanjay Joshi’s services, the RSS has underlined the Gujarat CM’s position in the party hierarchy. The Sangh rolled down the red carpet and Modi walked in like the conquering hero; overshadowing all other events and personalities. Even Nitin Gadkari managing a second term for himself was reduced to a non-event as the BJP’s biggest trump card was finally revealed.

It was clear in the rally that marked the conclusion of the party’s crucial strategic session that the workers, at least, are overjoyed. Modi is the undisputed king, or “Gujarat Ka Sher (The Lion of Gujarat)”, as the workers hailed him at the rally.

There may or may not be an official announcement to this effect. Modi may continue to spearhead the BJP’s campaign in the run- up to the general elections in 2014, unless the unthinkable happens and the Congress manages to defeat him in Gujarat assembly elections.

The Sangh Parivar, meanwhile, has started the Great Game. Given their own experience with Modi in Gujarat and the latest Sanjay Joshi episode, the RSS naturally has first- hand experience in just how vindictive Modi can get. They are also aware of the fact that Modi is the biggest polarising factor in India. There is a near hundred per cent chance that the minority vote will consolidate behind the Congress if he is the PM candidate. But the Sangh also realises that none of the central leaders – Swaraj, Arun Jaitley or Rajnath Singh – have Modi’s capacity to galvanise the party cadre. So, while he may polarise the minority vote, Modi also has the capacity to trigger reverse polarisation of the party faithful.

This is not necessarily in Modi’s capacity as the man under whose watch the 2002 anti-Muslim riots took place. For a large section of the urban middle class that moved away from the BJP in the last two general elections in favour of the more urbane/ educated Manmohan Singh, Modi has now come to symbolise delivery of services and corruption-free government. As the anti-corruption movements led by Ramdev and Anna Hazare have shown, this is a section that is currently clamouring for a change.

They are willing to overlook, indeed in some instances even celebrate, the perception that Modi has “taught a lesson” to the Muslims. And he has topped this by remodelling himself as the “development man” i. e. Vikas Purush, an epithet once used for the tallest leader the BJP ever produced – Atal Behari Vajpayee.

The RSS has been testing waters for Modi’s anointment by first invading Hazare and Ramdev’s movements. This was a process of assessing the disenchantment against the corruption-hit UPA in general and Manmohan Singh in particular for what is projected as his “weak” leadership. The conclusion clearly is that the time is ripe for providing the country with a truly strong alternative in the form of the strongman from Gujarat.

Another question being asked in the context is – whether Modi will be acceptable to the allies, both present and potential. This is relevant presently only to the Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. The rest, be it Mayawati, Jayalalithaa or even Mamata Banerjee, there has never been any public aversion towards Modi. In fact, Jayalalithaa has actively sought Modi out on various occasions; offering him a famous 45-course meal at some point in her palatial residence at Poes Garden.

But secularism is a shield that is wielded only when numbers are not with the BJP. Let us not forget that Nitish Kumar was the railway minister when bogeys of the Sabarmati Express were burnt at Godhra on February 27, 2002. Kumar did not visit the spot nor did he order a statutory enquiry into the incident.

He had no issues in supporting Advani’s projection as NDA’s prime ministerial candidate, despite the leader’s association with the demolition of the Babri Masjid.

Naturally, both Nitish and the BJP understand alliances are all about numbers in the Lok Sabha. If Modi can rustle them up, political acceptability will automatically follow. The RSS seems to share the sentiment. They have clearly decided to take a chance with Modi. Because without him, there may not be a chance at all.

India Today

Bharat Bandh: Most Affected Places

In the protest against the hiked petrol prices in the country, the left and the right aligned against the government. Since it is a major issue concerning the people, many non aligned UPA parties and some UPA allies too, came up with their support to the nationwide agitation declared by BJP.  There were mixed responses to the protest since it remained calm in some places while some alienated incidents of violence were also reported. Here is the list of most affected places during the Bharat bandh based on NDTV reports.

Maharashtra:

Maharashtra faced the most number of attacks in the current Bharat bandh. The impact of the bandh was mostly on the major city of this state, Mumbai. The city has reported many stone-pelting incidents. Minimum around 68 buses were damaged and many buses were set on fire. The impact of the bandh was clearly visible from the decreased number of passengers in the local trains. The number of Autos and taxis on the road was also very less comparing to the normal working days. Good number minimum 48,000 police personnel were positioned in the sensitive areas of the city

Buses were forcefully stopped from service mainly in Satara and Nagpur. Many business establishments too were forcefully shut down. The protesters even tried to stop Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan‘s convoy.

Delhi:

There were very much inconveniences caused by the protesters in the capital city. BJP activists blocked many crucial junctions and staged demonstrations in the city. This had a major impact on the city traffic. Many of the office-goers literally suffered when the protesters blocked an arterial road that connects Ghaziabad to Delhi. The Bandh was also joined by auto rickshaw and taxi unions causing more difficulty to the passengers. The traffic issues on the roads made crowding and delays in the metro station in the city.

Besides these many BJP leaders including Ananth Kumar and Vijay Goel have courted arrest in Delhi. Prakash Karat, Sitaram Yechury and D Raja were other prominent leaders who were taken in to custody during the protest.

Uttar Pradesh:

Besides being a UPA ally, the Utter Pradesh ruling Samajwadi Party had also registered its opposition to the petrol price hike by calling for a statewide bandh. The impact of the bandh was quite strong in Allahabad since SP activists blocked railway tracks and burnt effigies of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The Akhilesh Yadav-led government has also expressed its inability to take away the value added tax of the increased petrol price of the State. The Congress-ruled states like Delhi, Kerala and Uttarakhand had taken away the additional tax on petrol caused by the increase to reduce the impact of the hike.

Karnataka:

The Bandh has disturbed the normal life of Karnataka very much. In the BJP ruled state three buses were set on fire and a dozen of buses were stoned. The authorities were forced to withdraw the bus services in Bangalore. The inconvenience caused by the bus service caused many to stay back at home. Most of the business establishments and shops remained closed in the several parts of the state.

West Bengal:

Bengal, ruled by the Trinamool Congress was impacted from the bandh. People were very less in number on the streets. The supporters of bandh blocked many roads including Howrah Bridge, a major bridge which connects the metropolis to the Howrah district. There are no incidences of violence reported in the city. Some taxis and autos were also running on the streets.

Other Major Impacts

The bandh also affected train services in Bihar and Jharkhand. Three Rajdhani trains – Delhi-Howrah, Delhi-Sealdah and Delhi-Bhubneshwar – were stopped near Koderma. Rail roko in Patna staged by JD(U) workers also affected local train services.

While protesting in Bihar, the president of the ruling anata Dal (United) and the Convenor of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance was arrested in Saharsa while BJP leader Shahnawaz Hussain was arrested in Bhagalpur.

Related articles

• Bharat bandh halts normal life, rail traffic hit (ibnlive.in.com)
• Mixed response to bandh against petrol price hike (thehindu.com)
• Bandh a success in NDA states, tepid in others (ibnlive.in.com)