【New Delhi】Many parties were engaged in discussions on alliances a day before the Election Commission was tipped to announce a schedule for the Lok Sabha elections.
Sources said in Andhra Pradesh, the Congress was hoping to at least net 17 seats in Telangana, with an electoral understanding with the Telangana Rashtriya Samiti (TRS). A day after the TRS refused to merge with the Congress, efforts are on to cajole them into a seat-adjustment arrangement.
The induction of former Uttar Pradesh (UP) Chief Minister Kalyan Singh into the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has created an additional power centre there. Singh dissolved his Jan Kranti party and has become a vice-president in the BJP. The BJP is also trying to unite the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) and Shiv Sena.
○Congress should support our alternative, says Akhilesh
【LUCKNOW】In the clearest indication yet of the Samajwadi Party's calculations regarding the post-election scenario, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav has said "the Congress should support a secular government from the outside."
"When the comparison is between the BJP and the Congress, the latter appears closer to us. The Congress also moves closer to us when they are weak. This time they are going to be weak and I feel, they will come around to supporting a secular government," Mr. Yadav told The Hindu.
He strongly pitched for a repeat of the 1996-98 experiment of a front of regional parties and sections of the Left forming a government with the outside support of the Congress. "The Congress had done that in 1996. They should do it again this time."
Mr. Yadav said the recent meeting of regional leaders and the Left in Delhi did not amount to formation of an electoral pact or a front. "The front or pact will come after the elections. Right now the priority for each of these parties is to get the maximum number of seats."
○RSS steps in to work for Modi's victory and its own survival
【New Delhi】The prospect of India getting a pracharak prime minister and anxiety that another decade of an unfavourable government at the Centre could further weaken its organisation have galvanised Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) cadres across India to work towards ensuring a Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) victory in the Lok Sabha elections.
An RSS pracharak in Haryana told Business Standard the Sangh had taken the lead in tuning the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP's) election management. "This time, we will manage the elections to the booth level. What you will see is an election RSS will micromanage for BJP," he said, requesting not to be named.
Last month, RSS sent a patrak, or a circular, to all its sympathisers. The circular described how the country was passing through difficult times, both internally with rampant corruption and the growing influence of Naxals, as also externally in its relations with China and Pakistan.
【News source】
Cong, BJP start stitching Lok Sabha poll alliances
Congress should support our alternative, says Akhilesh
RSS steps in to work for Modi's victory and its own survival
Sena miffed over Gadkari-Raj Thackeray meet
Free download of "The Origin of Christianity"
Special sale for Ad Space
Readers' Voice
Your Comments