BackAAP’s bitter gourd and Mamata’s tough love
Election Round-up brings to you daily commentary on what the world is saying about the Lok Sabha polls
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This morning we woke up to see that Narendra Modi is dominating the headlines.
First there is the good news. The Sunday Guardian reports that “US President Barack Obama has quietly reversed a policy initiated by former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, to “get Narendra Modi"—ostensibly for the 2002 Gujarat riots, but in actuality “for taking stands that may be different from that favoured by the US administration"—in the words of a senior analyst in New York." This might see a thawing in relationship between the prime ministerial candidate and the US regime.
And as we get closer to the magical month of May when old governments will fall and new ones will rise, relations between alliance partners are getting…shall we say, complicated. Mamata Banerjee feels that the BJP has softened its stance towards the Trinamool Congress. And she is not amused, reports The Hindustan Times. “She believes it to be a Modi ploy for sending a false message to the electorate that there is a tacit understanding between the parties. Banerjee enjoys the support of a vast section of Muslims, who constitute more than 25% of the state’s population, and is desperately trying to keep the BJP at bay."
Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu chief minister J. Jayalalithaa has heightened her rhetoric against Modi and BJP, reports NDTV.com. “Tamil Nadu will not benefit from BJP on Cauvery issue and you should cast your votes to AIADMK, which is the only one committed in this matter," the report cites her as saying at a rally. Jayalalithaa seems to have taken affront at Modi’s earlier statements at Kanyakumari, where he said: “"Madam blames Amma, Amma blames Madam. But fishermen are getting killed. Nobody is taking any interest about their plight."
Modi has also accused JD(U) supremo Nitish Kumar of secret liaisons with the Congress, according to DNA. “The person in power is playing politics of withdrawing his candidate from the contest to help Congress," the report cites Modi as saying. He was speaking about the JD(U)’s decision to withdraw a candidate from Kisanganj in favour of the Congress’s Maulana Asrarul Haque.
With so much on his plate, no wonder that Modi has rolled back the initial alacrity for this Chai pe Charcha campaign. “If sources are to be believed, the charchas held so far had not evoked the expected response. As a result, Modi has returned to the tried and tested campaign tools of public rallies and 3D public appearances", reports The Economic Times.
All that is fine, you might say, but what about the Prime Minister’s constitutency? How does having a high profile member of Parliament help her or his vote base? “A Mintanalysis of 12 such constituencies using Census and Election Commission (EC) data shows that most of these constituencies perform poorly on a wide range of socioeconomic indicators. In most of the 15 socio-indicators examined, these constituencies performed worse than the state they are located in, and worse than the national average."
Still there are some benefits. For instance just being from Raebareli, The Times of India found out, helps to rub off some of Sonia Gandhi’s charisma on local residents. “To Raebareli voters, being represented by the Gandhi ‘bahu’ is a matter of identity. “When you travel outside the country, and tell people you are from Raebareli, the connect is instant. They all seem to know Sonia Gandhi. And it’s a proud moment for us," says Mohd Akram of Maharajganj town." Still all is not hunky dory. “However, while unrelenting in their support for Sonia, they are unhappy that the “VVIP constituency" has not seen any development during her tenure as MP."
Website IndiaSpend.com has a national map of transgender voters. Karnataka has the maximum, with 8,453. And over at The 545, Nitya Rao spends a day with Bharati Kannamma, Madurai’s transgender Lok Sabha candidate. The photos are superb.
And finally, this is the season of ‘aam aadmi’, The Times of India says. “But before politicians started romancing the ‘aam aadmi’, some of the country’s celebrated chefs fell in love with ‘aam aadmi’ vegetables. From arbi (colocasia) to kachalu (taro) and karela (bitter gourd) to tendli (ivy gourd), humble veggies previously banished from fashionable kitchens are in vogue, and how!"
Talk about low-hanging political vegetables.
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