Modi to Lead BJP 2014 Poll Campaign: ZeeNews Bureau Report

New Delhi: In what may an indication of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi inching closer to realising his Delhi dreams, the sources on Friday claimed that the hardline BJP leader is likely to lead his party’s campaign for 2014 polls.

According to reports, the hardline saffron party leader will most likely be the in-charge of BJP’s campaign committee for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

Modi leading the BJP’s Lok Sabha election campaign will also make him the party’s main face, further boosting his Prime Ministerial ambitions.

Modi, if give the charge to head to his party’s polls campaign, will be BJP’s answer to ruling Congress, which has already given the responsibiklity to its young general secretary Rahul Gandhi.

Rahul Gandhi will be the in-charge of Congress’ 2014 election coordination committee.

BJP sources claim that the decision to make Modi the in-charge of 2014 Lok Sabha polls has the backing of the party’s parent organization-the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

As per sources, an announcement in this regard could be in February, coinciding with Nitin Gadkari’s appointment as the BJP chief for a second term despite all controversies surrounding his dubious business venture.

The sources also claim that the hardline BJP leader may also continue as the Gujarat Chief Minister while accepting the key responsibilities in his party.

The RSS is also believed to be assessing the situation, preparing grounds and gearing up for a balancing act if its political wing fails to get a clear majority or the required numbers to form government in 2014.

After delivering Gujarat to BJP for third time in a row, there has been a clamour within the BJP that the leadership issue be sorted soon as General Elections are due next year. In light of such demands, Modi is seen as the best bet for the BJP.
Source:ZeeNews.India.com (Zeenews Bureau)

Congress Wooing Muslim Voters Ahead of 2014 General Elections

Lucknow: Ahead of 2014 general elections, the Congress party is trying hard to woo Muslim voters in Uttar Pradesh. The party is targeting Muslim vote bank by first allocating more funds for minorities in its 12th Five Year Plan and now by holding a series of seminars in the states.

The Congress has given the responsibility of organizing the seminars to Maulana Mohammad Fazlur Rahim Mujaddidi, chairman of SEE, (Strive for Eminence and Empowerment).

Congress’ effort to woo the minorities was clearly visible on Sunday when Maulana while addressing a huge gathering of representatives of different institutions, compared the amount of money allocated to minorities during the 11th and 12th Five Year Plans. Maulana said that the people were alleging him to be a Congress worker but he was ready to accept such allegations for the sake of development of minorities.

He also congratulated Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi for launching schemes related to Minorities.

Union Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal, Congress state president Nirmal Khatri, former Congress state president Rita Bahuguna Joshi, MP Zafar Ali Naqvi along with other prominent speakers praised Maulana for his efforts for the betterment of the minorities. They all pointed out the way Maulana, a cleric from Madrassa, forced the Central government to formulate schemes based on recommendations of Sachar committee.

Rita Bahuguna, speaking on the occasion said that Madrassas had contributed immensely to India’s freedom struggle. She also praised the feelings of Rahul and Sonia Gandhi towards the sacrifice done by Muslim community.

Union Coal minister Sriprakash Jaiswal went on to say that, if we have leaders like Fazlur Rahim in every state then Muslims will grow and prosper.
Source: Post.Jagran.com

Modi-for-PM Chorus to Get louder at Vibrant Gujarat Summit 2013

AHMEDABAD: Vibrant Gujarat summits usually revolve around tangibles - investment figures , numbers of MoUs signed and employment generated. Expect the intangibles to overshadow this summit - the last before parliamentary polls scheduled in 2014.

Apart from a lower-than-usual weightage on investments, the sixth edition of the biennial business summit has an equal degree of political significance. With the Gujarat CM, who recently scored his hat-trick win in assembly polls, poised for a bigger national role, the Modi-for-PM chorus may get louder within India Inc, which considers this former RSS pracharak a darling of development.

The chorus was at its loudest in Vibrant Gujarat-2009 which was held ahead of the last Lok Sabha elections when Anil Ambani and Sunil Bharati Mittal became his main cheer-leaders.

When Modi's office was preparing a list of invitees, a leading industrialist expressed regret for his inability to attend the inaugural event. The CM personally stepped in to ensure the tycoon rescheduled an important meeting abroad. In the previous two summits, Modi orchestrated industrialists to sing paeans in his praise - some did it openly, others subtly.

Besides industrialists, the UK ambassador and US consul general will be a part of the battery of foreign diplomats who will attend the summit - a clear sign that nobody wants to upset a man who has chances of making it to India's top office.

High security for Pakistani Team

Even as BJP criticises Pakistan for crossborder firing, the Gujarat government is working overtime to provide security to a delegation from Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The Gujarat police has been asked to provide four bullet proof vehicles for the Pakistani members.

Ambassadors/Ministers::

Stewart Beck, Canada	Takeshi Yagi, Japan
Alon Ushpiz, Israel	Janusz Piechocinski, Poland
Patrick Brown, Canada	S. Bappoo, Mauritius
Gustavo de Aristegui, Spain	Karen Tan, Singapore
Gao Shuxun, Yunnan, China	Freddy Svane, Denmark
Pierre Vaesen, Belgium

Source: TOI

Is Owaisi Targeting 2014 Elections with his "Hate-Speech"?

While the poll watchers are predicting a close contest in the Telangana region in the upcoming Assembly polls, dismissing Akabaruddin Owaisi's merely as a "hate speech" would be to miss the point completely.

There was nothing in Akbaruddin Owaisi’s demeanour to suggest that he was suffering from ill-health when he landed at Hyderabad airport from London, to a rapturous welcome early on Monday 7 January morning. On the contrary, his trademark swagger firmly in place, greeting supporters and well-wishers with a salaam, Owaisi was wearing a T-shirt with '4' embossed on it.

But Owaisi has not managed to get past the fielder to reach the boundary in his latest political innings yet. His "hate speech" in Nirmal in Adilabad district of Andhra Pradesh last month went viral on the net, raising temperatures in the state. The BJP went for Owaisi’s jugular, demanding that he be arrested as soon he landed at the airport. The Congress that lost Owaisi’s party, the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) as an ally only two months back, is seen as soft-pedalling the issue. First its police did not know Owaisi had given such an inflammatory speech, then it could not get Urdu translators in a hurry and finally, when it took suo moto notice, Owaisi ignored it saying he is unwell.

But there could be trouble for Owaisi. The Ethics committee of the Andhra Pradesh Assembly is likely to recommend action against him to the Speaker, the worst-case scenario being disqualification from the House. On Tuesday 8 January, he will be taken to a government hospital for a medical check-up to verify if the internal pain that he is talking about is true or not. In 2011, he was fired at by assailants and a bullet is still lodged in his body.

Those who know Owaisi and have followed his brand of politics, say he is notorious for making such speeches. In 2007, he got away with threatening to behead writer Taslima Nasreen if she set foot in Hyderabad. His choice of words for the late prime minister PV Narasimha Rao at a public meeting in 2011 was in extremely bad taste. And in his speech last month, Owaisi remarked that “the 25 crore Muslims will take care of the 100 crore Hindus if only the police was removed for 15 minutes” and used offensive language against Hindu gods and goddesses.

Pushed to a corner, the MIM has been trying to gain political currency from the mess. Its president, Asaduddin Owaisi, who is Akbaruddin Owaisi’s elder brother, has attacked the BJP accusing it of trying to get MIM disqualified. At a public meeting in Tandur on Saturday 6 January, Asaduddin Owaisi said, "We are not against Hindus. Our fight is against the BJP and Kiran Kumar Reddy."

But that is unlikely to help his cause now. In the past, Akbaruddin Owaisi got away because the Congress government looked the other way. A fact Asaduddin said in so many words, saying that the cases have been filed because the MIM is no longer a friendly party. Chief minister Kiran Kumar Reddy has no love lost for the Owaisi brothers. But even he may be unable to do much given Asaduddin’s connections with the movers and shakers in the Delhi leadership. The Congress knows that the divorce with the MIM is at best temporary and the partners would reunite sooner than later. So will the Congress play into the BJP’s hands by agreeing to its demands?

To dismiss this episode merely as angst over a "hate speech" would be to miss the point completely. It is a vicious game of political consolidation taking place, played by both the MIM and the BJP. Both parties are looking to consolidate their respective communities behind them. Already leaders are predicting very close contests in 70 out of the 119 Assembly seats in Telangana region, given the fact that the vote will be split between the Congress, TRS, TDP, YSR Congress and BJP and this may just be the first attempt at polarising voters on communal lines ahead of elections in 2014.
Source: Tehelka.com

COMET SMS System to Help Poll Monitor 2014 Lok Sabha Polls

New Delhi: In another technological leap forward from the 2009 general elections when it had launched the COMET online monitoring system, the Election Commission of India now hopes to supervise the 2014 national elections - the largest democratic exercise in the world - with a coded SMS-based alert system.

"We hope to use it in the next general elections," Deputy Election Commissioner Alok Shukla said.

According to Shukla, the Communication Plan for Election (COMET), which aimed at creating a database of mobile phone numbers of around 1.1 million government officials deployed for the 2009 general elections so that the poll panel could reach them quickly, has transformed into a high-tech SMS-based alert system.

The system uses coded messages to collect data about officials on duty. It also helps in monitoring events down to a particular polling booth at the click of a mouse.

The new system was first used in the assembly polls in Goa, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Manipur in early 2012 and in Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat towards the year-end.

Shukla said the new system works by and large successfully and the officials concerned had to be called only in 10 percent of the cases for resolving the complaints reported.

"COMET consisted of a control room used to collect mobile phone numbers of around 1.1 million government officials on poll duty and helped us coordinate with them. The sms-based monitoring system has reduced the workload tremendously," Shukla said.

According to the official, the new system uses coded text messages through mobile phones to collect data about officials, information about scheduled events like staff reaching the polling station, mock poll conducted, start of polling, voting percentages every two hours, number of voters in queue after voting time was over, and whether the poll party reached safely at the high security Electronic Voting Machine (EVMs) deposit centre.

"Officials on the ground just need to punch in a few letters to send various coded SMSes. The information is instantly available online and can be used by the commission and poll officials in the state capital and districts," Shukla told IANS.

In case of an unforeseen event such as malfunctioning of EVMs, problems in the voter list or a law and order problem, the system alerts the superintendent of police and the police inspector of the area concerned through an sms.

"When a law and order problem is reported, quick response of the police and the commission matters a lot," said Shukla.

Information related to the scheduled and unforeseen events is relayed to all the poll officials deployed in a particular area, he said.

However, in remote areas, where the mobile phones don't work, all officials have to reach the nearest telephone to inform the call centre located in the state capital.
Source: IBNLive.in

Manmohan may Fill in for Rahul in 2014 Elections too!

With the Congress party still undecidedto project Rahul Gandhi as prime ministerial candidate ahead of 2014 general elections, party sources say, the mantle may again fall on 80-year old Manmohan Singh to head another government. But, they agree elections in eight states this year touted as mini general elections ahead of Lok Sabha polls shall decide the future of Gandhi as well as his prime ministerial ambitions.

The leaders believe the Congress president Sonia Gandhi was still appearing protective in letting her 42-year old son to be declared as the prime ministerial candidate. "She cuts short any debate, whenever, the issue of letting Rahul to be declared for top post is initiated," said an insider.

At the party briefing on Wednesday, party spokesperson Rashid Alvi said the Congress had several leaders capable to become prime minister. He said the decision will be taken by the newly elected MPs after the elections and the Congress high command. He almost ruled out projection of anyone as the prime minister ahead of polls.

Asked whether Rahul Gandhi could be the PM candidate in 2014 elections, he said, "Rahul Gandhi is leader of Congress party, all of us and the nation. He is high command and we will contest the 2014 elections under Sonia Gandhi and Rahul’s leadership."

The party has been parrying questions if it could project 67-year old finance minister Palaniappan Chidambaram as next prime minister. The DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi describedhim as a potential prime ministerial candidate at a function in Chennai on Saturday in which he was also present. Amid loud applauses and cheers, Karunanidhi had said many want a "dhoti-clad" Tamilian to be the prime minister, endorsing actor Kamal Hassan’s view that Chidambaram would become the prime minister.

But Chidambaram on Monday rubbished his projection, saying he knows his "limitations" and “not so foolish" to go beyond them. "I know my limitations and I stay within my limitations, conduct myself according to my limitations. That’s my serious answer. And on a lighter note, I know some of you think I amfoolish but I am not so foolish as you think," he said. A foreign publication The Economist also had said that Chidambaram could be the PM candidate, especially if it comes to a face off wth Narendra Modi.

The party leaders say, they will remain focused on eight states which are going to polls in 2013.They are Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Rajasthan, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura. “We will join debate on prime ministerial candidate etc. These are just distractions engineered by our opponents," they say. They, however, agree these elections will decide fortunes of Rahul Gandhi and whether he will be the prime ministerial candidate.
Source: DNAIndia.com

Foreign Retailers may Wait till 2014 India General Elections

If the retail sector rulebook was changed in 2012, it's only in 2013 that international chains and other foreign investors will get down to action. Apart from the slowdown in international economies, another reason that could keep retail groups cautious is the general election scheduled for 2014.

Although foreign direct investment (FDI) in multi-brand retailing has been permitted - subject to final approval by state governments - many companies may want to wait and watch till the 2014 poll results are announced.

The world's largest retailer, Walmart, in a 50-50 joint venture (JV) with Bharti Enterprises for cash-and-carry business in the country, is going slow on its India plan due to an ongoing investigation by the Enforcement Directorate. It recently launched a probe into possible corruption in the India operation.

In an interview in September, Raj Jain, Walmart India president, had said, "Walmart is able and willing to invest in India, whatever it takes to grow a business. We know it's not a short-term investment - it's a marathon and will take time for these investments to monetise."

The next 12 months may usher in a large number of shopping centres, malls and entertainment space. While new retail brands would like to begin with the top eight cities of the country, those who are already present may expand across 10-15 cities, including tier 2 cities, said Wahi of Cushman and Wakefield.

Also, the preference may be for the franchisee and JV route, even if 100 per cent FDI is permitted in formats like single brand retail, Wahi added. IKEA is an exception.

On the whole, 2012 was about getting the retail business right in India, rather than growth, according to Technopak Advisors' Singhal, who cited examples such as the Future group and the Aditya Birla group. In 2013, retail chains are expected to focus on growth with caution.
Sourse: Rediff.com