Posts tagged ‘congress party’

  |   Newer Entries »
04/01/2014

Gandhi Rises in India Ruling Party as Singh Says He’ll Step Down – Businessweek

Rahul Gandhi is poised to lead India if the ruling Congress party wins the next election after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh signaled his support for the next member of the country’s famed political dynasty.

India's Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi

Singh, who yesterday announced he would step down after a general election that must be held before May, said Gandhi has “outstanding credentials” to run the world’s largest democracy. His immediate task is reviving a party that has seen its popularity fall under Singh on corruption scandals, Asia’s fastest inflation and an economy struggling to expand.

“If they had gone into the election with Singh as the prime minister, the party would have been dead on arrival,” said Brahma Chellaney, a professor at the Centre for Policy Research in New Delhi who worked on an economic task force led by Singh. “Removing the dead wood was essential if there’s any hope of winning some degree of credibility with the voters.”

via Gandhi Rises in India Ruling Party as Singh Says He’ll Step Down – Businessweek.

Posted in India alert, Internal politics, Politics | Leave a Comment »

Tags: , , , , , ,
11/12/2013

India and China Move Ahead in the Asian Space Race – Businessweek

It’s been a rough year for the government of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Economic growth has cratered and the currency has wobbled. The Hindu nationalist party just clobbered Singh’s Congress Party in state-level elections and opposition leader Narendra Modi is the favorite to replace Singh in nationwide elections in the first half of 2014.

Engineers working on the Mars orbiter at the Indian Space Research Organization in Bangalore

Amid all the gloom, Singh and the rest of India just received some much-needed good news. The country has an ambitious program to explore space, and today the government-run mission control announced that India’s first mission to Mars had cleared a major obstacle on its way to the Red Planet. The Mars Orbiter, informally dubbed the Mangalyaan, successfully carried out its first Trajectory Correction Manoeuvre (TCM), the Indian Space Research Organization said on its official website. That keeps the Mangalyaan on track to reach Mars by September next year.

India’s Mars probe (PDF) is the country’s entry in an Asian space race; for those of you keeping score, the Indians win points for aiming farthest. Japan in September launched the Epsilon rocket, designed to be an inexpensive way to put satellites into earth orbit. China is shooting for the moon, having launched its first lunar rover mission on Dec. 2. South Korea in January launched its first space rocket and last month unveiled plans for a lunar mission (albeit one that won’t launch until 2020).

via India and China Move Ahead in the Asian Space Race – Businessweek.

Posted in Aerospace, China alert, Chindia Alert, Economics, GeoPolitics, India alert, Politics, Technology | 1 Comment »

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
06/12/2013

Narendra Modi, a challenge to Cong: Manmohan – The Hindu

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday acknowledged that BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi did pose a challenge to the Congress and declared that “there is no room for complacency”.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh addresses the media persons at the Parliament, in New Delhi. File photo

Taking questions from the audience during the Hindustan Time Leadership Summit here, Dr. Singh while responding to a query on which Mr. Modi was indeed a challenge that Congress party should take very seriously said: “As an organised political party we can not underestimate the power of opposition to unsettle the ship of the State. Therefore I am one of those who take very seriously our opposition, there is no room for complacency.”

The Congress, he said, “is going into the elections with a spirit of self confidence and that should not be mistaken whatever the may be the outcome of the Assembly elections.”

via Narendra Modi, a challenge to Cong: Manmohan – The Hindu.

Posted in India alert, Internal politics, Politics | Leave a Comment »

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
03/12/2013

Confusion over Indian election symbols used for millions of illiterate voters | The Times

A curious contest is heating up among India’s political parties as the country prepares for the biggest democratic exercise in history when 714 million voters go to the polls in the spring.

Parties are fighting to secure the right to symbols they hope will appeal to hundreds of millions of India’s illiterate voters.

For decades, when Indians have entered the polling booth they have been presented not just with a list of parties and candidates, but also a variety of household items sketched on the ballot paper to help the 1 in 4 voters who cannot read.

For the ruling Congress Party it is an open palm. For India’s main opposition party, the BJP, it is a blossoming lotus flower.

Whistles, coconuts, walking sticks, nail clippers, cauliflowers and toothbrushes have all been used as political symbols upon which illiterate voters can press a thumb print to mark their choice of party.

The Rashtriya Ulama Council uses a kettle, while the Republican Party of India uses a refrigerator. The Aadarshwadi Congress Party uses a batsman at the crease.

However, in India’s vibrant and chaotic democracy, some popular symbols such as the elephant or clock are often claimed by several parties, leading to squabbles over which one has the right to use them.

A foretaste of the turmoil ahead was offered this week, when two parties in the Delhi assembly elections, due to be held tomorrow, clashed over the right to use the bicycle, a perennial favourite.

Only after intervention by election officials did the parties grudgingly agree to a compromise deal under which the Samajwadi Party (SP) will fight under the banner of the glass tumbler, while the Jammu and Kashmir Panthers Party (JKPP) will plump for the instant camera.

Adding to potential confusion among voters, in another nearby constituency, Ballimaran, the SP is fighting under the symbol of the cup-and-saucer while the JKPP is running under the ceiling fan.

via Confusion over Indian election symbols used for millions of illiterate voters | The Times.

Posted in India alert, Internal politics, Politics | Leave a Comment »

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
24/11/2013

Indian Congress did nothing for tribals: Modi – The Hindu

The BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi on Sunday accused the Congress of not even acknowledging the existence of the tribal population in the country in the past 60 years.

BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi during an election rally. File photo: Shanker Chakravarty

The Gujarat Chief Minister was addressing a gathering of people from a tribal belt in Rajasthan’s Banswara district, some 500 km from state capital Jaipur.

Rajasthan will go to the polls December 1 to elect new members to with its 200-seat assembly.

“The tribal population exists in this country since the time of Ramchandraji. It existed during the Independence struggle. Everyone but the Congress is aware of the existence of the tribes for centuries,” Mr. Modi said.

Mr. Modi said that it was former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee who brought a tribal ministry into being, and also allocated a separate budget for tribals.

“Congress doesn’t consider tribal people as humans. For them, it is just a vote bank,” Mr. Modi said.

“They keep screaming about irrelevant things, but they don’t talk about inflation. Congress had promised to contain inflation in 100 days, but nothing happened,” he said.

“Did Sonia, Manmohan or Rahul speak or mention anything about rising prices in their speeches?” he asked.

Mr. Modi also referred to union Law Minister Kapil Sibal’s statement, claiming that the prices of vegetables have risen because the poor are able to purchase them, and demand for these has gone up.

“A senior minister of the Congress party said a couple of days ago that the poor used to eat chapatis without vegetables but they are now affording to eat two dishes of vegetables. He termed it the reason for rising inflation,” said Mr. Modi.

Mr. Modi referred again to Mr. Rahul Gandhi as Shahzada, and said that the All India Congress Committee vice president usually spoke of the poor, but there are slum areas near his own house in Delhi.

“These slum areas fall in the constituency of Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dixit. The conditions are so pathetic at these places that there are only two toilets for 200 people,” Mr. Modi said.

Mr. Modi will address three more election rallies in Rajasthan on Sunday.

via Congress did nothing for tribals: Modi – The Hindu.

Posted in Economics, India alert | Leave a Comment »

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
27/09/2013

Post Rahul wrap, Congress takes a U-turn

The Hindu: “Party hints at withdrawal of the controversial measure.

With Rahul Gandhi slamming the ordinance against disqualification of convicted lawmakers, the government is expected to take back the controversial measure, the Congress indicated on Friday.

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi addresses a press conference as party general secretary Ajay Maken looks on, in New Delhi on Friday. Photo: Shanker Chakravarty

“Rahulji’s opinion is the opinion and the line of Congress… Now Congress party is opposed to this ordinance. The views of the Congress party should always be supreme,” party general secretary and communication department in-charge Ajay Maken said when asked about the fate of the ordinance in the wake of Mr. Gandhi’s views and whether it is likely to be withdrawn.

The Congress clearly appeared flummoxed by Mr. Gandhi’s stand as Mr. Maken, at a meet-the-press programme at the Delhi Press Club, completely backtracked from his statement praising the ordinance as “perfect”, made minutes before the party vice-president took the stage and denounced the measure calling it “complete nonsense” and “wrong” on the part of the government.

Mr. Maken sidestepped questions on whether Mr. Gandhi’s remarks meant a “rebellion” against the government or a public snub to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his government.

“Rahul Gandhi is our leader. His views are views of the Congress party. The situation with any issue evolves with time and it has evolved and no one should have any objection to it,” he merely said in reply to such questions.

“What Rahul Gandhi said is the most important thing… that this ordinance will not help us fight corruption. He is our leader and I think this is our official political stand. Rahulji’s opinion is the opinion and the line of Congress… Now Congress party is opposed to this ordinance,” he said.”

via Post Rahul wrap, Congress takes a U-turn – The Hindu.

Posted in India alert, Politics | 1 Comment »

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
28/10/2012

* Rahul Gandhi MIA

It is becoming clear to any innocent bystander that Rahul Gandhi is not interested in taking a leading role in Indian national politics. But will he be able to resist the urging from his Grandmother and the Congress |Party?  Only time will  tell.

WSJ: “The question has swirled around New Delhi for months: Is Rahul Gandhi, scion of India’s most powerful political family, finally poised to take on a major role in running the country’s government?

The answer, apparently, is no. India announced a leadership reshuffle on Sunday that brought several new faces into ministerial positions, but Mr. Gandhi wasn’t among them.

The 42-year-old, a descendant of three past prime ministers, is a general secretary in the ruling Congress party. He has long been viewed as a prime-minister-in-waiting and is widely seen as the face of the Congress party as national elections approach in 2014.

But political analysts say Mr. Gandhi may be running out of time to make himself a credible candidate by showing voters he’s willing to take on real governing duties. “If you’re projected as a prime minister candidate and you don’t take responsibility, that doesn’t say a lot about you,” said Pradip Datta, a political science professor at Delhi University. “It can be interpreted that you don’t want responsibility.””

via Rahul Gandhi MIA – India Real Time – WSJ.

See also:

Related articles

Posted in India alert, Politics | Leave a Comment »

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
04/08/2012

* Corruption’s Reach in India Spawns New Political Party

NY Times: “The anti-corruption activist Anna Hazare and his team said Friday that they plan to create a “political alternative” for India in the form of a new political party. While Mr. Hazare said he would not himself enter the general elections in 2014, he pledged to spend the next year and a half campaigning across the country.

Arvind Kejriwal, an activist widely believed to be the main strategist behind Mr. Hazare’s movement, said the party’s name and agenda are open to suggestions from the people.

“The movement against corruption will now take place both outside and inside Parliament,” he said in front of a crowd of thousands in New Delhi. He denounced India’s large parties, including the ruling Congress Party and the opposition Bhartiya Janata Party, calling them “corrupt.”

“It is a daring, adventurous move,” said Yogendra Yadav, a political analyst and one of the signatories of a letter encouraging Team Anna to take on the existing political establishment. But it’s not going to be easy, he said, given the scale and complexity of India’s parliamentary elections and the diversity of its electorate.

Transitioning from a single-issue movement to a political party, with positions on a broad spectrum of topics, from national security and terrorism to the economy, is likely to be a complicated process that may test the unity of the group, analysts said.

And there are few such precedents in independent India’s history. Movements in the past have successfully transformed themselves to enter the political mainstream, but they have been based on religion or ethnicity. Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party, for instance, which governed India’s largest state of Uttar Pradesh for a full term of five years, started as a movement for the rights of India’s so-called “backward” classes.

It will be very tough for a non-regional, non-ethnic, non-caste group to replicate the success of Mayawati’s party with a policy issue like corruption, said E. Sridharan, a political analyst in Delhi. “Team Anna has a diffused constituency. They don’t have a ready-made, mobilizable base,” he said, attributing the movement’s rise to prominence to an urban population and a sympathetic media.”

via Corruption’s Reach in India Spawns New Political Party – NYTimes.com.

Related articles

Posted in corruption, India alert, Politics | 5 Comments »

Tags: , , , , , , , ,
  |   Newer Entries »
CCChang

Law of Unintended Consequences

continuously updated blog about China & India

ChiaHou's Book Reviews

continuously updated blog about China & India

What's wrong with the world; and its economy

continuously updated blog about China & India