Religious Leaders Join Chorus for Narendra Modi as PM

Haridwar: Joining the chorus for Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as the Prime Minister are saints now. Modi, who shared the stage with yoga guru Baba Ramdev in Haridwar, said no riots have taken place in the state since he became the Chief Minister in 2002.

It was an event almost tailor made for Narendra Modi. Endorsing him, Ramdev said, "Crores of Indians are pinning hopes on Modi. That's why he is getting the blessings of several religious leaders in this function."

In Haridwar, the saints gave Modi a resounding stamp of approval. Modi shared the dais with 30 religious leaders who openly backed him for the country's top job.

For Modi too, it was the perfect opportunity to claim credit for a more peaceful Gujarat. "There have been no riots since I became the Chief Minister in 2002. There used to be frequent riots in Gujarat. But since the past 12 years, there have been none," Modi said.

Modi even called Baba Ramdev his brother in arms and the target of a malicious campaign. "Baba Ramdev has suffered a lot. What was his fault? I want to ask the central government that if they didn't like what Ramdev said, then does that give them the freedom to make any accusations against Ramdev," Modi questioned.

Modi spent six hours at the event, performing rituals and holding a closed door meeting with Ramdev. Even the Congress can't deny the fact that Ramdev has a huge following around the country. Narendra Modi knows very well that despite all corruption allegations against him the support of the yoga guru would mean the backing of several religious leaders across India. And that's why he is going all out to woo this community because this could well be the game changer for him in an election year.

Source: IBN Live

Narendra Modi to Contest Lok Sabha Polls from Lucknow?

Ahmedabad: After reports that Gandhinagar MP LK Advani is likely to contest from Bhopal in next General Elections, it is being talked about that former Gujarat minister Amit Shah may contest the Lok Sabha Elections from Gandhinagar.

This rumour stems from the planning Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and his team is busy with in New Delhi. Sources in the state BJP say though it is a little early to freeze plans for Lok Sabha Elections, leaders are busy preparing a strong base for what is believed to be a battle of survival for BJP nationally.

Also, for now, Modi plans to contest from Lucknow – Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s seat for five terms between 1991 and 2004. BJP president Rajnath Singh, it is believed, supports Modi in his plans.

“For a long time now, Amit Shah has candidly admitted to party members here that he wants to build his political career further in Delhi, and not Gujarat. Now that he has been made the general secretary in BJP, he does not want to be tied down to Gujarat Assembly, mandating him to spend time in the state. Besides, Gandhinagar is a safe seat for BJP consisting of mainly urban areas and Shah’s Assembly constituency Naranpura,” a senior source in the party said.

Another BJP functionary recalls that when Shah was away from state because of court orders, he realised that the next power centre in Gujarat after Modi is Revenue Minister Anandi Patel, Finance Minister Nitin Patel and Industries Minister Saurabh Patel – in that order.

"Besides, with the fake encounter case that Shah is an accused in, he will need political backing at the Centre to stay afloat – irrespective of whether it is the UPA or NDA government in power," the source confided.

Source: Zeenews.india.com

2014 Lok Sabha Polls:Big Losses to UPA, No Gain for NDA:Survey

Source: TOI

Uma Bharti may Contest Lok Sabha Poll from Amroha in UP

Bhopal, April 19 (PTI): Bharatiya Janata Party Vice-President Uma Bharti, a member of the Uttar Pradesh legislative assembly, is likely to contest the next Lok Sabha election from Amroha in the same state.

”The BJP is seriously considering fielding Bharti, a prominent face of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement, from Amroha seat in Uttar Pradesh,” sources close to her told PTI on Friday.

The former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister shifted into Uttar Pradesh poll politics last year and was elected from Charkhari Assembly constituency. Charkhari is a part of Bundelkhand, a backward region spread over both the states.

Party President Rajnath Singh, who inducted Bharti in his new team announced last month, has already taken her consent for Amroha in north-west Uttar Pradesh. Aligarh, too, is on the radar of the BJP leadership for her, they said.

The sources denied reports that Bharti, 53, may contest the Lok Sabha polls from Bhopal, a seat that she won in 1999.

The party wants to use her services in Uttar Pradesh, a state having the most (80) Lok Sabha seats and which also gave birth to the Ram temple movement, to cash in on her image as a top Hindutva leader, they said.

The BJP had deputed her in Uttar Pradesh as star campaigner for the 2012 Assembly polls after her return to the party in 2011 and she was tasked with reviving the saffron outfit in the crucial northern state.

However, there was no significant turnround in BJP's fortunes in UP and the party came a distant third after Samajwadi Party and Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party.

Bharti, who was a minister in the Vajpayee Government, left BJP in 2005 and floated her own outfit, Bhartiya Janshakti Party.

She returned to the BJP two years ago.

Though she lost her first Parliamentary election in 1984, Bharti never looked back and won the Lok Sabha polls from Khajuraho in 1989, 1991, 1996 and 1998.

Source: The Telegraph

Mayawati Woos Upper Castes ahead of 2014 Polls

Lucknow: Making fresh efforts to woo upper castes ahead of the forthcoming general elections, BSP chief Mayawati today announced names of 36 candidates for Lok Sabha polls, 18 out of whom belong to upper caste.

She alleged that atrocities were being committed on upper castes in the Samajwadi Party government's regime.

"Just like Dalits, atrocities are being committed on Brahmins under the Samajwadi Party government," Mayawati told reporters on the sidelines of Brahmin Bhaichara Samiti office bearers' meeting here.

Citing the example of Etawah where a Brahmin family was recently humiliated and defaced, Mayawati said most of those in the echelons of power in the SP government come from that district and it is a well-known fact that people belonging to 'sarv samaj' (all castes) are harassed there.

"But atrocities on Brahmins is much more in Etawah. When the incident took place, BSP raised it in the Assembly. Besides, its local unit tried to take up the issue and help them get justice," Mayawati said. She said her party had prepared a campaign to ensure that upper castes do not get influenced by the "wrong propaganda" of the opposition parties.

"For ensuring that they (upper castes) do not get influenced by the wrong propaganda of opposition parties and apprising them of the various works done by the BSP government a detailed programme has been worked out," she said.

She emphasised that her party was not for any particular caste or religion and had worked for all when in power and given them equal representation.

She said when her party raised the issue of promotion in reservation, it was projected as if it was something new when it was already being implemented since 1955 with some gaps in between.

Mayawati said reservation in promotion was pending in the Lok Sabha because of opposition from the Congress and BJP and her party would put forth its views again in the next session of Parliament.

"BSP also did not oppose inclusion of some OBC castes in the SC\ST list with the condition that the quota be also increased," she said, adding, when in power she had taken up the cause of reservation for religious minorities as well as economically backward upper castes.

On why upper castes had become disenchanted with the BSP in the last Assembly polls, she said, "Though our vote percentage rose, we lost seats due to internal understanding of our opponents' (Congress and BJP) conspiracy and planning but we have learnt a lesson and would not allow them to succeed this time," she said.

To a question, she reiterated her demand for imposition of President's Rule in Uttar Pradesh alleging dismal law and order situation in the state.

Source:ZeeNews.India.Com

Sharad Yadav Rules Out Alliance with Congress in 2014 Polls

SAHARSA: JD-U president Sharad Yadav on Wednesday dismissed speculation about his party firming up alliance with the Congress, saying there was no such prospect both pre and post 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

"There is no chance of an alliance between the JD-U and the Congress before the 2014 general elections or even after that," he said. "I cannot visualize such a possibility now or after next general elections," Yadav, who arrived here on a two-day visit to his parliamentary constituency Madhepura, said.

The remark assumes significance as the Congress has been wooing chief minister Nitish Kumar by promising to revisit the criteria for granting special status to states to accommodate the aspirations of Bihar.

On his party's view on Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi emerging as a front runner for the BJP's prime ministerial candidate, Yadav said, "The NDA will decide its prime ministerial candidate following a discussion and consultation among the allies in due course of time ahead of the next general elections."

When prodded further on Modi's elevation in the BJP parliamentary board, the JD-U president said it was an internal affair of the senior NDA constituent.

Yadav hit out out at the Congress-led UPA government for the country's current economic state.

"It is due to the UPA-II's mismanagement that no big investment had come to India in industrial sector or even in the multi-brand retail which the ruling coalition sought to harp on as a booster to economic growth," he said.

Source: TOI

BJP 2014 Team for Lok Sabha Polls in India

The Bharatiya Janta Party ( BJP) inducted Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi into its parliamentary board on Sunday, a move which signals that the main opposition party has started preparing ground for the 2014 general elections.

Here is the list of leaders who have been given new responsibilities in the party:

Parliamentary board:	General Secretaries	Vinod Pandey
Narendra Modi	Amit Shah	Trivendra Rawat
Vice-presidents	Varun Gandhi	Rameshwar Chaurasiya
Smriti Irani	Rajeev Pratap Rudy	Aarti Mehra
Uma Bharti	Ananth Kumar	Renu Kushwaha
Sadananda Gowda	Thawarchand Gehlot	Sudha Yadav
Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi	JP Naddha	Sudha Malaiya
Dr CP Thakur	Dharmendra Pradhan	Poonam Mahajan
Jual Urao	Tapir Gaon	Luies Marandi
SS Ahluwalia	Murlidhar Rao	Dr. Tamil Isai
Balbir Punj	Ramlal	Vani Tripathi
Satpal Malik	Secretaries	Spokespersons
Prabhat Jha	Shyam Jaju	Shahnawaz Hussain, Prakash Jawdekar
Bijyo Chakravarti	Bhupendra Yadav	Nirmla Sitaraman, Vijay Sonkar Shashtri
Lakxmikanta Chawla	Krishna Das	Dr. Sudhanshu Trivedi, Meenakshi Lekhi, Capt. Abhimanyu
Kiran Maheshwari	Dr. Anil Jain	Mahila Morcha Chief: Saroj Pandey (replaces Smriti Irani)

Source: TOI