Business Line features

It is no longer just BSP vs SP in Uttar Pradesh

May 10th, 2009 | By Elections2009 | Category: Business Line features

BSP supremo Mayawati Venkitesh Ramakrishnan
Lucknow: The electoral battle in Uttar Pradesh is steadily acquiring the dimensions of a quadrangular contest. This is the impression as the campaigning for the 18 seats in penultimate phase of polling in Uttar Pradesh came to a close on Tuesday and the electioneering for the fifth and final phase — […]



‘It is policy failure on skill development initiatives’

May 10th, 2009 | By Elections2009 | Category: Business Line features

The scandal of this country is skill development initiative…With proper skill development programmes I’m confident we can find jobs for all these people. So much so that I have made it into a slogan for my campaign — ‘one family, one job’. — Mr K. Pandia Rajan,

 

Ma Foi MD, contesting from Virudhunagar. Rasheeda Bhagat […]



School fee hike turns key issue in Delhi

May 10th, 2009 | By Elections2009 | Category: Business Line features

The BJP’s school fee hike focussed campaign is to tilt the political pendulum against a well-placed Congress in Delhi. The saffron party hopes the issue will weigh with the people when they vote.

Ajoy Ashirwad Mahaprashasta
New Delhi: If anyone had thought that fee hike by private schools in Delhi could become a major electoral issue, one […]



Haryana set for four-way kurukshetra

May 7th, 2009 | By Elections2009 | Category: Business Line features

Key contenders: (From left) The ruling Congress, led by Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, and the other key party, the Indian National Lok Dal, under Mr Om Prakash Chauthala, face challenge from Mr Bhajan Lal’s Haryana Janhit Congress, and the Bahujan Samaj Party for which cricketer Chetan Sharma is batting. T. K. Rajalakshmi
New Delhi: In […]



Desperately seeking alternatives

May 7th, 2009 | By Elections2009 | Category: Business Line features

New Delhi: “The outcome in Dausa was a trailer. The real thing will unfold in the years to come,” says Giriraj Sharma, a tea-shop owner referring to the November 2007 elections in Rajasthan. A “Haryana Brahmin,” Sharma’s obtuse reference is to the performance of some Independents in Dausa, who were from a relatively unknown Scheduled […]



All eyes on Nandigram, Singur in Bengal Phase II

May 7th, 2009 | By Elections2009 | Category: Business Line features

— A. Roy Chowdhury

Getting ready: In Howrah, polling officers check the electronic voting machines at a distribution centre. Suhrid Sankar Chattopadhyay
Kolkata: As 17 of West Bengal’s constituencies go to polls on Thursday — in the second phase of the Lok Sabha elections — all eyes will be on Nandigram and Singur, the two […]



Sri Lanka issue sets off political one-upmanship in Tamil Nadu

May 5th, 2009 | By Elections2009 | Category: Business Line features

— K. Pichumani

In Chennai, a peace walk seeks support and succour for beleaguered Sri Lankan Tamils. S. Dorairaj
Chennai: In the absence of any clear wave in the Lok Sabha poll slated for May 13 in Tamil Nadu, it has become a no-holds-barred battle for the two major rival camps. As a corollary to this […]



Development, an after-thought in Gujarat campaign

May 5th, 2009 | By Elections2009 | Category: Business Line features

Economics became the issue of politics as the Congress tried to convey to Gujarat’s people what the UPA has done for the BJP-ruled State since 2004, and the BJP raked up the issue of the black money stashed abroad.

Virendra Pandit
Ahmedabad: The one silver-lining in an otherwise clouded political atmosphere during the just-concluded Lok Sabha election […]



Touch and go… either way

May 5th, 2009 | By Elections2009 | Category: Business Line features

While the BJP, which began slightly on the back foot, is now appearing increasingly confident that it will be able to form a coalition government, the Congress appears more circumspect. The common refrain is that come May 16, there will be a fractured verdict and realignment of political parties, says RASHEEDA BHAGAT.

Just when everybody was […]



The waning stars of Punjab

May 3rd, 2009 | By Elections2009 | Category: Business Line features

 
NAVJOT SINGH SIDHUBy Ajoy Ashirwad Mahaprashasta in Amritsar
Navigating through the crowds of people on the Grand Trunk Road around Amritsar has become cumbersome these days. Almost everyday, the BJP candidate for Amritsar, former cricketer Navjot Singh Sidhu, and his counterpart for Gurdaspur, filmstar Vinod Khanna hold rallies. Though they draw big crowds, these stars are […]