Wednesday 28 May 2014

Narendra Modi to ministers: No favours to relatives

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a bid to stem any accusations of favouritism or corruption against his government, on Wednesday issued four directives to his ministers.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi
Prime Minister Narendra Modi during meeting with SAARC leaders at Hyderabad House in New Delhi on Tuesday. PTI Photo
These are:  
1. No kin as personal staff.
2. Discourage nepotism.
3. No contract to k?in/relatives.
4. Ensure probity in public dealing.
Modi, at his swearing-in ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan on May 26, did not invite any family member.
The directives come after the previous Manmohan Singh government was rocked by a series of corruption scandals.All the PM's men, and women
In the 2G scam, A. Raja, former telecom minister, and Kanimozhi, a former DMK MP, have been accused of corruption. In the coal scam too, questions have been raised over the role of the previous government. In the railway bribery scandal, Pawan Kumar Bansal had to resign as railway minister after his nephew was arrested for allegedly seeking a bribe to secure a railway official a plum post.

Saturday 24 May 2014

Amitabh Bachchan, Rajinikanth may attend Modi's swearing-in ceremony

Modi, Amitabh, Rajinikanth
Modi, Amitabh, Rajinikanth
Film industry stalwarts Amitabh Bachchan, Rajinikanth and Salman Khan and veteran singer Lata Mangeshkar are in the list of those invited for the swearing-in ceremony of Prime Minister-designate Narendra Modi, BJP sources said.
Lata Mangeshkar had in January this year blessed Modi in Mumbai and wished him all success in his endeavours while Salman met Modi in Ahmedabad during the kite flying festival for a film promotion a few months ago.
Salman's father, veteran Bollywood story-writer Salim Khan has been a strong fan and follower of Modi and even asked minorities to forgive and forget the past and look to the future.
The evergreen actress Rekha is also likely to travel to the national capital as also some prominent sports-persons from different disciplines.
The celebrities are part of a long list of 2,500 guests for the oath-taking ceremony, which will be held in the gravelled forecourt of Rashtrapati Bhavan on May 26 evening.
All Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha members will be invited, which alone add up to 777. These MPs have been invited by Rashtrapati Bhavan. However, they cannot bring their spouses, according to the sources.
Former presidents Pratibha Patil and A.P.J. Abdul Kalam are also invited. Outgoing Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will be there along with some members of his cabinet.
Modi's mother Hiraben and his three brothers are also expected to attend the event, though this has not yet been confirmed.
The incoming prime minister can invite up to 20 guests, while ministers who will be taking oath can bring up to four guests each.
A number of BJP leaders from Gujarat are also expected to arrive in Delhi for the function, scheduled to be held at 6 p.m. Monday.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been limited to 1,250 guests, while another 1,250 guests will be invited by the president. The party will also invite the chief ministers of all National Democratic Alliance (NDA) ruled states.
This is the first time leaders from SAARC nations have been invited for the oath-taking ceremony of an Indian prime minister. The external affairs ministry Friday said eight heads of state and government were invited and seven have confirmed, while a response from Pakistan is awaited.
Modi will be the third Indian prime minister to take oath in the open forecourt of Rashtrapati Bhavan instead of the ceremonial Ashoka Hall after Chandra Shekhar (1990) and Atal Bihari Vajpayee (1998

Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif to attend Modi's swearing-in

Nawaz Sharif will attend Modi's swearing-in ceremony
Nawaz Sharif will attend Modi's swearing-in ceremony
Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will attend the swearing-in ceremony of Prime Minister- designate Narendra Modi in Delhi on May 26, ending two-day suspense over his decision amid reports that there was stiff opposition from hardliners in the establishment.
He will join other SAARC country leaders in the ceremony.
Pak government sources confirmed that the bilateral meet between Nawaz Sharif & Narendra Modi will take place on the sidelines of oath ceremony.
The delay in Sharif confirming his attendance in the oath ceremony is being attributed to opposition from hardliners in the army establishment.
Prime Minister Sharif had telephoned Modi to congratulate him on his party's election victory and invited him to visit Pakistan after assuming office.
Earlier, Sharif's daughter Maryam tweeted that cordial relations with the new Indian government should be cultivated.
"I personally think cordial relations with new Indian govt should be cultivated. Will help remove psychological barriers, fear & misgivings," she tweeted.
She followed it up with another tweet, "It's upon the leaders to lead their countries & ppl to peace & conciliation."
Other key SAARC leaders who have confirmed that they will attend the ceremony at the forecourt of the historic Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi include Sri Lankan President President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai, Bhutan Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay, Nepal Prime Minister Sushil Koirala and Maldivian President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom. Bangladesh will be represented by Speaker Shirin Chaudhury as Premier Sheikh Hasina is travelling to Japan.
The acceptance of invitation came after Pakistan's Foreign Office recommended the PMO to accept the invitation on Thursday.
"The Foreign Office has made the recommendation and the decision will most likely be in favour," a senior diplomat at the FO told Pakistan daily Dawn on Thursday.
Modi had been tough on Pak sponsored cross-border terrorism during his election campaign, invoking the case of beheading of Indian soldier in Kashmir, to attack the Congress party. He had alleged that the Congress-led government was soft on terrorists. However, Modi became soft on Pakistan when it started becoming clear that he will become the prime minister. In various television interviews he said he will like to have friendly relations with India's neighbours.
Nawaz Sharif was the first state head to congratulate Modi soon after the results were declared in Modi's favour. During his conversation, Sharif invited Modi to visit Pakistan.
Modi will be administered the oath as 15th Prime Minister of the country by President Pranab Mukherjee at a ceremony to be attended by over 3,000 guests. BJP had a landslide victory in the just-concluded polls in India to elect members of the 16th Lok Sabha and crossed the majority mark of 272 in the 543-member House on its own for the first time in its history.
In New Delhi, the Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson said protocol arrangements for foreign dignitaries at the swearing-in ceremony of Modi will be overseen by a senior and seasoned diplomat

Friday 23 May 2014

Saved by sycophants Mr Liability: Can Congress recover with Rahul Gandhi at the helm? KIA HOGA CONGREE KA

<a href="http://indiatoday.intoday.in/people/rahul-gandhi-profile-autobiography/17735.html">Rahul Gandhi</a>
Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi
On May 19, there was a procession outside the Congress office at 24, Akbar Road, New Delhi. A group of Youth Congress leaders was shouting slogans: 'Rahul tum sangharsh karo, hum tumhare saath hain (Rahul you struggle, we're with you)'. Inside the office, there was another group of 38 putting their heads together to find out what was behind their worst-ever showing in the General Elections, which reduced the Grand Old Party to a mere 44 seats in the 16th Lok Sabha. 
Sonia Gandhi with Rahul in New Delhi.
The Congress Working Committee, the most powerful group of party leaders, was meeting in the presence of party President Sonia Gandhi and Vice-President Rahul Gandhi. The drama outside the office was not dissimilar to the melodrama inside-the objective of both the groups was to save Rahul.
The well-scripted theatrics started with Sonia offering to step down, only to be interrupted by outgoing prime minister Manmohan Singh. "Offering a resignation is not the solution. The party needs you much more than ever before," he said. Rahul, meanwhile, was peeping into his cell phone and taking notes on a piece of paper. He was the third to speak. "I feel that there is no accountability in the party and perhaps I couldn't do what was expected. I start with holding myself responsible for the poor performance," he said, offering to quit. Senior Congress leader Ajit Jogi, defeated in the recent polls in Mahasamund, Chhattisgarh, immediately rejected the idea, followed by other members who refused to even discuss the matter. The outcome of the twohour discussion was that Sonia was authorised to make structural changes in the party. The failure of Rahul was once again lost in the din raised by leaders who chose to stick with the sinking dynasty. "Sonia and Rahul should remain at the helm as they are the only unifying force in this organisation," says Rajya Sabha MP Vayalar Ravi. But if a party needs a leader only to remain a cohesive unit, the chances of it regaining lost ground look rather bleak.
Though Congress continues to bet on Rahul as its future, the big question is: With him in charge, will the party remain relevant? "If he can't step ahead, he should step aside at least for some time," says a senior Congress leader, speaking strictly off the record.
THE FAILED LEADER
Several Congress leaders feel the time has come for the party to stop rewarding Rahul for every failure, and even look at life without him. But who will bell the cat? And, as former Punjab CM Amarinder Singh asks, what options do they have? "Mrs Gandhi is number one.
After that, there is Rahul. Who can be number three?" says the leader who defeated BJP's Arun Jaitley in Amritsar to give the party one of its few moments of joy. "I believe it's in Congress's interests to keep them there."
When Rahul entered politics in 2004, he was seen as the heir apparent, the knight in shining armour who would introduce structural reforms and modernise the party. But over the years, he has surrounded himself with a group of advisers who are far removed from ground realities. People such as policy strategist Mohan Gopal, former environment minister Jairam Ramesh and party General Secretary Madhusudan Mistry created a utopia for Rahul, where everything worked the way he wanted. The moment when everything could have changed for Rahul was when Congress came back to power in 2009 and Manmohan asked him to join the Cabinet. Rahul could have stepped forward and gained administrative experience but he was interested only in power without responsibility. He excused himself to work for the party.
In between, he registered his presence occasionally, through his support for the farmers' agitation in Bhatta-Parsaul village of Uttar Pradesh in May 2011 and a speech in favour of the Lokpal Bill in Parliament in August that year. His only big push was during the 2012 Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh, where he campaigned extensively and aggressively. But the party's tally rose by a meagre six seats from 22 to 28 in the 403-member House. He accepted the blame but the Congress would hear none of it.
In December 2012, when Delhi was up in arms after the December 16 gang rape, such was Rahul's disconnect with India that he refused to meet the crowds. It led to the popular slogan: 'Saare yuva yahan hain, Rahul Gandhi kahan hai? (All the youngsters are here, where is Rahul Gandhi?)'. His projected image of a youth icon got a severe beating due to his inability to fight on the street.
Even then party leaders made him Congress vice-president in January, 2013. Rahul accepted this new role with much fanfare and Congressmen believed everything would change now. With 15 months left for the 2014 General Elections, his role was to rejuvenate the party cadres and make them battleready.
But he started an era of experiments with no bearing on the forthcoming polls. He held several meetings with the state Congress units, and reshuffled the organisational structure on his whims and fancies. His vice-presidentship became a pilot project that dabbled in the Youth Congress, and in the media and social media committees.
The entire process left senior leaders cut off from the changing party structure, while his new team of suave Oxford-educated data analysts took over. "It's good to have people who are good at statistics and analysis, but they should not be allowed to take strategic decisions," says former Congress MP Milind Deora, who lost from South Mumbai. "A political party cannot be an NGO. It's fine to have people with degrees from the best colleges, but if they don't have a grassroots connect, they cannot be decision-makers. We must get rid of them," adds RPN Singh, former Union minister and Congress leader, who lost from Kushinagar. Rahul's advisers built him up as a warrior prince who had vowed to fight injustice and was different from the rest of the party. He took their advice to discredit his own government in September 2013, when he rubbished the ordinance to protect convicted lawmakers after it had been cleared by the Cabinet.
What further complicated matters was Rahul's blurred vision for new India. Was India a beehive or an elephant, as he said in his CII speech in April 2013? Was it necessary to understand Jupiter's escape velocity to analyse Dalit uplift, as he theorised at Vigyan Bhavan, Delhi, last October? Was poverty a burden, a menace, or just a "state of mind", as he pointed out in Allahabad in August 2013? All of Rahul's frequent verbal blunders are blamed on his team of ideologues.
On May 12, in a meeting of senior Congress leaders at 10, Janpath, just after the last phase of polls was over, senior leaders P. Chidambaram and Kapil Sibal singled out the communication department led by Ajay Maken for the bad press the party had received. The next day, party spokesperson Sandeep Dikshit sent a written complaint to Sonia against Maken, saying he was rarely called to brief the media on behalf of the party.
There is widespread anger among the leaders against Team Rahul, which worked on everything from policy initiatives to campaign planning to ticket distribution. Family loyalists such as Kamal Nath, Janardan Dwivedi and Digvijaya Singh found no favour with the new team. Some, like former Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Jagdambika Pal, got frustrated and joined BJP. "Congress has become the training ground for Rahul Gandhi and his team. The country cannot wait for someone to complete his training and then lead," Pal said in Faizabad in March.
THE MODI CONTRAST
Standing opposite Rahul was a BJP leader who never shunned responsibility. In comparison with Narendra Modi, Rahul was a novice with no promise and work experience. Modi had a clear message of growth and fulfilling aspirations, while Rahul kept speaking about welfare freebies and a hunger-free India.
"Congress represented continuity of the obvious while Modi represented hope," says sociologist Dipankar Gupta of Shiv Nadar University in UP. "Rahul considers today's India to be the India of the 1970s when Indira Gandhi gave the slogan 'Garibi Hatao (Remove Poverty)'.
He hasn't recognised the changes in society. He set lower social markers than Modi, who talked about a respectable life for all," adds Dalit ideologue Chandrabhan Prasad. Modi, 63, had far greater appeal with the youth than Rahul, 43. Even Congress leaders admit the success of Modi as a campaigner.
"From 3D to internet to LED screens, Modi used technology in the best possible way to reach out to people directly," says RPN Singh. Several other leaders are left wondering what might have been had they campaigned with the same fervour as Modi and offered a newer, more updated message.
Historically, several leaders have parted ways whenever the Congress has weakened. In 1988, just before the Lok Sabha elections, V.P. Singh, a minister in Rajiv Gandhi's Cabinet, walked out to form the Janata Dal and fight the Congress. He went on to become the prime minister after the 1989 elections.
Between 1991 and 1996, when P.V. Narasimha Rao was heading the Congress government at the Centre, leaders such as Arjun Singh, N.D. Tiwari, Madhavrao Scindia, Chidambaram and Mamata Banerjee left the party to form their own units. Most of them came back when Sonia took over as party chief in 1998. In 1999, Sharad Pawar, P.A. Sangma and Tariq Anwar revolted against Sonia over her foreign origin to form the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). The issue later became irrelevant with NCP becoming a Congress ally.
The current group of leaders does not have enough grassroots backing to desert the party and launch separate units. But if they don't see things improving, some would also be forced to move to greener pastures. What worries them most is that the Gandhi family adhesive has lost its vote-catching power, something which had worked in its favour in the past.
THE DISUNITED STATES
Any recovery in Indian politics usually stems from gaining power in the states but Congress units across the country are in complete disarray. The major reason behind this is the systematic emasculation of state leaders through control by the Delhi high command. A move by several Congress leaders to strengthen state leaders and give them more autonomy was openly opposed by R.K. Dhawan in the May 19 CWC meeting, and it seemed apparent that Sonia agreed with him, suggesting that the status quo would remain.
The Congress has to face Assembly elections in Haryana and Maharashtra this October, but chances of it retaining power in either of the states are bleak. There are three factions of leaders in Haryana who are always working to outdo each other. After the December 2013 poll debacle in four states, Rahul sent Ashok Tanwar as state party president in the name of developing new leadership. The Lok Sabha results show a complete erosion of the vote bank in the state, with the vote share dropping drastically by 20 per cent (from 42 per cent to 22 per cent) since the 2009 elections and the number of seats reducing from nine to one. Tanwar himself lost from Sirsa by more than 100,000 votes. "The arithmetic in the Assembly polls will be different. The Lok Sabha polls were fought essentially in Modi's name," says Rohtak MP Deepender Singh Hooda, more with hope than conviction.
His father Bhupinder Singh Hooda is the state's chief minister. In Maharashtra, there hasn't been such a significant drop in the vote share (19.6 per cent to 18.1 per cent), but the party has lost 10 seats and is reduced to a paltry two. The high command had sent Prithviraj Chavan as the chief minister in November 2010 after then chief minister Ashok Chavan's name appeared in the Adarsh housing scam.
Prithviraj has no support base in the state, and a comeback under his leadership seems virtually impossible.
Although Ashok Chavan won the Lok Sabha poll from Nanded, his chances of a bigger role are slim considering the CBI inquiry into the scam is still on.
In Assam, the Congress has been reduced to three seats from seven in 2009, with a 5 per cent dip in the vote share. Even states such as Karnataka, where the party formed a government last year, couldn't add much to the tally despite a 3 per cent rise in vote share (from 37 per cent in 2009 to 40 per cent). Congress got nine out of 28 seats, only three more than 2009. There are states such as Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu where the party has not been in power for 25 years and is not likely to get revived.
These four states alone account for 201 seats in Lok Sabha, of which the party won just six this time.
And there are states such as Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, where the Congress won only three seats-Jyotiraditya Scindia (Guna), Kamal Nath (Chhindwara) and sitting MLA Tamradhwaj Sahu (Durg).
But the biggest setback came from Andhra Pradesh, which gave the party 33 MPs in 2009. The split caused by Y.S.
Jagan Mohan Reddy and the creation of Telangana backfired, pulling down Congress' vote share by a staggering 27 per cent and costing it 31 seats.
THE SHRINKING APPEAL
The biggest challenge for the Congress is to save itself from extinction. Despite repeated attempts by Rahul to reach out to its traditional voters, the party's support base is rapidly shrinking. Rahul held several town-hall meetings with different sections of society- porters, fishermen, minorities, women self-help groups, street vendors and many others. But the exercise fell flat. "Today even poorest of the poor feel offended if you call them poor. Rahul made this mistake. His intentions might be right but his words were not. The lower strata of society have shown their anger," says Chandrabhan Prasad. The Congress vote share in the Lower Income Group has gone down drastically from 43 per cent in 2009 to 19 per cent in 2014.
Such drastic falls are now forcing allies and potential allies to think about their long-term links with the Congress. On March 14 in Pune, in a closed-door meeting with Congress workers, Rahul urged his party to work for maximum numbers, reducing the need for an alliance with NCP.
He drew a lot of flak for this and NCP leader Sharad Pawar chose not to share the dais with him in Mumbai for an election rally on April 20. On May 17, a day after the Lok Sabha results, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leader Mayawati blamed the Congress for the poor performance of her party, saying that supporting the Congress-led UPA was suicidal and her party had paid the price for it. BSP has been reduced to zero seats despite a 4.2 per cent vote share across India.
National Conference (NC) leader and Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has raised the issue of his party's alliance with the Congress. "Many in Congress and NC want this alliance to end. I cannot say anything about the future of the alliance at the moment," he said in a TV interview.
Some Congress leaders also hold Rahul responsible for Lok Janshakti Party leader Ram Vilas Paswan going to NDA. Paswan had met both Sonia and Rahul twice in January this year to talk about an alliance. "Till the last moment, Rahul was not clear whether to forge an alliance with Lalu Yadav and Ram Vilas or with Nitish Kumar," says a senior party leader.
THE ROAD AHEAD
Several Congress leaders are now calling for a restructuring of the party.
"The dead wood must be thrown out immediately," says Rajasthan Congress chief Sachin Pilot. "People with grassroots support and mass contact must reach the top." But they are silent on what the party will do about Rahul, who has failed to be the leader India wanted him to be and Congress needed him to be. It begs the question why senior party leaders did not bring this to the family's notice before the elections, and if they did, was their advice ignored? The Gandhi clan is usually the party's saviour when all else fails. "The Congress is nursed and nurtured by the Nehru-Gandhi family.
Every time there was a split, it regrouped and emerged as the only liberal, democratic, left-of-centre party that represents the idea of India. We lost because our government forgot the art of statecraft," says party General Secretary Digvijaya Singh.
Historian of Jawaharlal Nehru University, Mridula Mukherjee, argues that the party should go back to democratisation, which was at the core of its existence till the 1970s. She points out that there used to be regular elections right from the village level to the president. There was also a shadow government inside the party.
The Grand Old Party needs new ideas, a new idiom, and a new icon with his or her feet firmly planted on the ground. Sloganeering on the streets and sycophancy in closed rooms will only get them so far. The Congress needs to be reinvented. The question:

Every Indian Wants This ! Madhur Bhandarkar planning a film on Narendra Modi?

              Madhur Bhandarkar planning a film on Narendra Modi?


Director Madhur Bhandarkar is reportedly planning to make a film on Prime Minister designate, Narendra Modi.
He has reportedly met the leader a few times too.
Madhur Bhandarkar with Narendra Modi
Madhur Bhandarkar has in past tweeted in support of PM designate Modi

A source close to Bhandarkar was heard saying, "Madhur has been studying Modi and researching on his life for a long time. He even has a team working on the subject."
When asked about his plans on Modi's biopic, Bhandarkar said, "It is the story of how a common man becomes the Prime Minister of the country."
The director who is a vocal supporter of the former Gujarat Chief Minister, believes he is a 'visionary leader'.
Chandni Bar director is likely to start working on the film after completing Calender Girls.


Thursday 22 May 2014

Saved by sycophants Mr Liability: Can Congress recover with Rahul Gandhi at the helm?

Saved by sycophants

Mr Liability: Can Congress recover with Rahul Gandhi at the helm?


On May 19, there was a procession outside the Congress office at 24, Akbar Road, New Delhi. A group of Youth Congress leaders was shouting slogans: 'Rahul tum sangharsh karo, hum tumhare saath hain (Rahul you struggle, we're with you)'. Inside the office, there was another group of 38 putting their heads together to find out what was behind their worst-ever showing in the General Elections, which reduced the Grand Old Party to a mere 44 seats in the 16th Lok Sabha. The Congress Working Committee, the most powerful group of party leaders, was meeting in the presence of party President Sonia Gandhi and Vice-President Rahul Gandhi. The drama outside the office was not dissimilar to the melodrama inside-the objective of both the groups was to save Rahul.
The well-scripted theatrics started with Sonia offering to step down, only to be interrupted by outgoing prime minister Manmohan Singh. "Offering a resignation is not the solution. The party needs you much more than ever before," he said. Rahul, meanwhile, was peeping into his cell phone and taking notes on a piece of paper. He was the third to speak. "I feel that there is no accountability in the party and perhaps I couldn't do what was expected. I start with holding myself responsible for the poor performance," he said, offering to quit. Senior Congress leader Ajit Jogi, defeated in the recent polls in Mahasamund, Chhattisgarh, immediately rejected the idea, followed by other members who refused to even discuss the matter. The outcome of the twohour discussion was that Sonia was authorised to make structural changes in the party. The failure of Rahul was once again lost in the din raised by leaders who chose to stick with the sinking dynasty. "Sonia and Rahul should remain at the helm as they are the only unifying force in this organisation," says Rajya Sabha MP Vayalar Ravi. But if a party needs a leader only to remain a cohesive unit, the chances of it regaining lost ground look rather bleak.
Though Congress continues to bet on Rahul as its future, the big question is: With him in charge, will the party remain relevant? "If he can't step ahead, he should step aside at least for some time," says a senior Congress leader, speaking strictly off the record.
THE FAILED LEADER
Several Congress leaders feel the time has come for the party to stop rewarding Rahul for every failure, and even look at life without him. But who will bell the cat? And, as former Punjab CM Amarinder Singh asks, what options do they have? "Mrs Gandhi is number one.
After that, there is Rahul. Who can be number three?" says the leader who defeated BJP's Arun Jaitley in Amritsar to give the party one of its few moments of joy. "I believe it's in Congress's interests to keep them there."
When Rahul entered politics in 2004, he was seen as the heir apparent, the knight in shining armour who would introduce structural reforms and modernise the party. But over the years, he has surrounded himself with a group of advisers who are far removed from ground realities. People such as policy strategist Mohan Gopal, former environment minister Jairam Ramesh and party General Secretary Madhusudan Mistry created a utopia for Rahul, where everything worked the way he wanted. The moment when everything could have changed for Rahul was when Congress came back to power in 2009 and Manmohan asked him to join the Cabinet. Rahul could have stepped forward and gained administrative experience but he was interested only in power without responsibility. He excused himself to work for the party.
In between, he registered his presence occasionally, through his support for the farmers' agitation in Bhatta-Parsaul village of Uttar Pradesh in May 2011 and a speech in favour of the Lokpal Bill in Parliament in August that year. His only big push was during the 2012 Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh, where he campaigned extensively and aggressively. But the party's tally rose by a meagre six seats from 22 to 28 in the 403-member House. He accepted the blame but the Congress would hear none of it.
In December 2012, when Delhi was up in arms after the December 16 gang rape, such was Rahul's disconnect with India that he refused to meet the crowds. It led to the popular slogan: 'Saare yuva yahan hain, Rahul Gandhi kahan hai? (All the youngsters are here, where is Rahul Gandhi?)'. His projected image of a youth icon got a severe beating due to his inability to fight on the street.
Even then party leaders made him Congress vice-president in January, 2013. Rahul accepted this new role with much fanfare and Congressmen believed everything would change now. With 15 months left for the 2014 General Elections, his role was to rejuvenate the party cadres and make them battleready.
But he started an era of experiments with no bearing on the forthcoming polls. He held several meetings with the state Congress units, and reshuffled the organisational structure on his whims and fancies. His vice-presidentship became a pilot project that dabbled in the Youth Congress, and in the media and social media committees.
The entire process left senior leaders cut off from the changing party structure, while his new team of suave Oxford-educated data analysts took over. "It's good to have people who are good at statistics and analysis, but they should not be allowed to take strategic decisions," says former Congress MP Milind Deora, who lost from South Mumbai. "A political party cannot be an NGO. It's fine to have people with degrees from the best colleges, but if they don't have a grassroots connect, they cannot be decision-makers. We must get rid of them," adds RPN Singh, former Union minister and Congress leader, who lost from Kushinagar. Rahul's advisers built him up as a warrior prince who had vowed to fight injustice and was different from the rest of the party. He took their advice to discredit his own government in September 2013, when he rubbished the ordinance to protect convicted lawmakers after it had been cleared by the Cabinet.

What further complicated matters was Rahul's blurred vision for new India. Was India a beehive or an elephant, as he said in his CII speech in April 2013? Was it necessary to understand Jupiter's escape velocity to analyse Dalit uplift, as he theorised at Vigyan Bhavan, Delhi, last October? Was poverty a burden, a menace, or just a "state of mind", as he pointed out in Allahabad in August 2013? All of Rahul's frequent verbal blunders are blamed on his team of ideologues.
On May 12, in a meeting of senior Congress leaders at 10, Janpath, just after the last phase of polls was over, senior leaders P. Chidambaram and Kapil Sibal singled out the communication department led by Ajay Maken for the bad press the party had received. The next day, party spokesperson Sandeep Dikshit sent a written complaint to Sonia against Maken, saying he was rarely called to brief the media on behalf of the party.
There is widespread anger among the leaders against Team Rahul, which worked on everything from policy initiatives to campaign planning to ticket distribution. Family loyalists such as Kamal Nath, Janardan Dwivedi and Digvijaya Singh found no favour with the new team. Some, like former Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Jagdambika Pal, got frustrated and joined BJP. "Congress has become the training ground for Rahul Gandhi and his team. The country cannot wait for someone to complete his training and then lead," Pal said in Faizabad in March.
THE MODI CONTRAST
Standing opposite Rahul was a BJP leader who never shunned responsibility. In comparison with Narendra Modi, Rahul was a novice with no promise and work experience. Modi had a clear message of growth and fulfilling aspirations, while Rahul kept speaking about welfare freebies and a hunger-free India.
"Congress represented continuity of the obvious while Modi represented hope," says sociologist Dipankar Gupta of Shiv Nadar University in UP. "Rahul considers today's India to be the India of the 1970s when Indira Gandhi gave the slogan 'Garibi Hatao (Remove Poverty)'.
He hasn't recognised the changes in society. He set lower social markers than Modi, who talked about a respectable life for all," adds Dalit ideologue Chandrabhan Prasad. Modi, 63, had far greater appeal with the youth than Rahul, 43. Even Congress leaders admit the success of Modi as a campaigner.
"From 3D to internet to LED screens, Modi used technology in the best possible way to reach out to people directly," says RPN Singh. Several other leaders are left wondering what might have been had they campaigned with the same fervour as Modi and offered a newer, more updated message.
Historically, several leaders have parted ways whenever the Congress has weakened. In 1988, just before the Lok Sabha elections, V.P. Singh, a minister in Rajiv Gandhi's Cabinet, walked out to form the Janata Dal and fight the Congress. He went on to become the prime minister after the 1989 elections.
Between 1991 and 1996, when P.V. Narasimha Rao was heading the Congress government at the Centre, leaders such as Arjun Singh, N.D. Tiwari, Madhavrao Scindia, Chidambaram and Mamata Banerjee left the party to form their own units. Most of them came back when Sonia took over as party chief in 1998. In 1999, Sharad Pawar, P.A. Sangma and Tariq Anwar revolted against Sonia over her foreign origin to form the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). The issue later became irrelevant with NCP becoming a Congress ally.
The current group of leaders does not have enough grassroots backing to desert the party and launch separate units. But if they don't see things improving, some would also be forced to move to greener pastures. What worries them most is that the Gandhi family adhesive has lost its vote-catching power, something which had worked in its favour in the past.
THE DISUNITED STATES
Any recovery in Indian politics usually stems from gaining power in the states but Congress units across the country are in complete disarray. The major reason behind this is the systematic emasculation of state leaders through control by the Delhi high command. A move by several Congress leaders to strengthen state leaders and give them more autonomy was openly opposed by R.K. Dhawan in the May 19 CWC meeting, and it seemed apparent that Sonia agreed with him, suggesting that the status quo would remain.
The Congress has to face Assembly elections in Haryana and Maharashtra this October, but chances of it retaining power in either of the states are bleak. There are three factions of leaders in Haryana who are always working to outdo each other. After the December 2013 poll debacle in four states, Rahul sent Ashok Tanwar as state party president in the name of developing new leadership. The Lok Sabha results show a complete erosion of the vote bank in the state, with the vote share dropping drastically by 20 per cent (from 42 per cent to 22 per cent) since the 2009 elections and the number of seats reducing from nine to one. Tanwar himself lost from Sirsa by more than 100,000 votes. "The arithmetic in the Assembly polls will be different. The Lok Sabha polls were fought essentially in Modi's name," says Rohtak MP Deepender Singh Hooda, more with hope than conviction.
His father Bhupinder Singh Hooda is the state's chief minister. In Maharashtra, there hasn't been such a significant drop in the vote share (19.6 per cent to 18.1 per cent), but the party has lost 10 seats and is reduced to a paltry two. The high command had sent Prithviraj Chavan as the chief minister in November 2010 after then chief minister Ashok Chavan's name appeared in the Adarsh housing scam.
Prithviraj has no support base in the state, and a comeback under his leadership seems virtually impossible.
Although Ashok Chavan won the Lok Sabha poll from Nanded, his chances of a bigger role are slim considering the CBI inquiry into the scam is still on.
In Assam, the Congress has been reduced to three seats from seven in 2009, with a 5 per cent dip in the vote share. Even states such as Karnataka, where the party formed a government last year, couldn't add much to the tally despite a 3 per cent rise in vote share (from 37 per cent in 2009 to 40 per cent). Congress got nine out of 28 seats, only three more than 2009. There are states such as Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu where the party has not been in power for 25 years and is not likely to get revived.

These four states alone account for 201 seats in Lok Sabha, of which the party won just six this time.
And there are states such as Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, where the Congress won only three seats-Jyotiraditya Scindia (Guna), Kamal Nath (Chhindwara) and sitting MLA Tamradhwaj Sahu (Durg).
But the biggest setback came from Andhra Pradesh, which gave the party 33 MPs in 2009. The split caused by Y.S.
Jagan Mohan Reddy and the creation of Telangana backfired, pulling down Congress' vote share by a staggering 27 per cent and costing it 31 seats.
THE SHRINKING APPEAL
The biggest challenge for the Congress is to save itself from extinction. Despite repeated attempts by Rahul to reach out to its traditional voters, the party's support base is rapidly shrinking. Rahul held several town-hall meetings with different sections of society- porters, fishermen, minorities, women self-help groups, street vendors and many others. But the exercise fell flat. "Today even poorest of the poor feel offended if you call them poor. Rahul made this mistake. His intentions might be right but his words were not. The lower strata of society have shown their anger," says Chandrabhan Prasad. The Congress vote share in the Lower Income Group has gone down drastically from 43 per cent in 2009 to 19 per cent in 2014.
Such drastic falls are now forcing allies and potential allies to think about their long-term links with the Congress. On March 14 in Pune, in a closed-door meeting with Congress workers, Rahul urged his party to work for maximum numbers, reducing the need for an alliance with NCP.
He drew a lot of flak for this and NCP leader Sharad Pawar chose not to share the dais with him in Mumbai for an election rally on April 20. On May 17, a day after the Lok Sabha results, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leader Mayawati blamed the Congress for the poor performance of her party, saying that supporting the Congress-led UPA was suicidal and her party had paid the price for it. BSP has been reduced to zero seats despite a 4.2 per cent vote share across India.
National Conference (NC) leader and Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has raised the issue of his party's alliance with the Congress. "Many in Congress and NC want this alliance to end. I cannot say anything about the future of the alliance at the moment," he said in a TV interview.
Some Congress leaders also hold Rahul responsible for Lok Janshakti Party leader Ram Vilas Paswan going to NDA. Paswan had met both Sonia and Rahul twice in January this year to talk about an alliance. "Till the last moment, Rahul was not clear whether to forge an alliance with Lalu Yadav and Ram Vilas or with Nitish Kumar," says a senior party leader.
THE ROAD AHEAD
Several Congress leaders are now calling for a restructuring of the party.
"The dead wood must be thrown out immediately," says Rajasthan Congress chief Sachin Pilot. "People with grassroots support and mass contact must reach the top." But they are silent on what the party will do about Rahul, who has failed to be the leader India wanted him to be and Congress needed him to be. It begs the question why senior party leaders did not bring this to the family's notice before the elections, and if they did, was their advice ignored? The Gandhi clan is usually the party's saviour when all else fails. "The Congress is nursed and nurtured by the Nehru-Gandhi family.
Every time there was a split, it regrouped and emerged as the only liberal, democratic, left-of-centre party that represents the idea of India. We lost because our government forgot the art of statecraft," says party General Secretary Digvijaya Singh.
Historian of Jawaharlal Nehru University, Mridula Mukherjee, argues that the party should go back to democratisation, which was at the core of its existence till the 1970s. She points out that there used to be regular elections right from the village level to the president. There was also a shadow government inside the party.
The Grand Old Party needs new ideas, a new idiom, and a new icon with his or her feet firmly planted on the ground. Sloganeering on the streets and sycophancy in closed rooms will only get them so far. The Congress needs to be reinvented. The question:
Is Rahul Gandhi the man to do it?

Sonia Gandhi congratulates Modi on his victory

Congress president Sonia Gandhi has written to Prime Minister-designate Narendra Modi, congratulating him on the BJP's victory in the Lok Sabha elections, party sources said Thursday.
They said Gandhi wrote to Modi Tuesday.
Sonia Gandhi and her son and party vice president Rahul Gandhi had not mentioned Modi by name when they addressed the media after the results came out May 16. Sonia Gandhi then congratulated "the new government" while taking responsibility for the party's poor performance.
BJP leaders had taken exception to Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi not congratulating Modi soon after the election results came out, saying that he had been felicitated by several world leaders.
Earlier in the day, PM-designate Narendra Modi left Gandhinagar for Delhi after an emotional farewell from his 90-year-old mother. She blessed her son and gifted him Rs.101. 

Heeraba offered her son sweets as he set off for Delhi to take oath as the country's new prime minister on May 26.
"Met my Mother before leaving for Delhi," tweeted Modi, who resigned as the Gujarat chief minister on Wednesday. In a series of tweets, he also expressed gratitude for his security staffers, who, he said, always prayed for his well-being.

"As I was leaving for Delhi I got to know something from my personal staff. It was a pleasant surprise that was extremely touching. Driver & security staff set up a small Temple of Ramcharitmanas in my Govt. car where for over 12 years they prayed for my security daily.
Several security personnel prayed in this Temple daily for years! I don't know how many such people's good wishes have come to me.
Security staff did a phenomenal job in their duty but the feeling with which they prayed for my well-being is something I wont ever forget.
I don't have any words to express my gratitude to them. I bow to them & salute them from the bottom of my heart," he said.
Modi takes over as the new PM on Monday.


Congress young guns revolt against Rahul Gandhi's think tank

It's 12 noon, on May 20. Former Union Minister Sachin Pilot's Safdarjung Road bungalow wears a deserted look. Lines of plastic chairs adorn the lawn, but there is no visitor waiting to meet him. 



Inside, dressed in a purple T-shirt and black track pants, the 36-year-old Congress leader, who lost from Ajmer by a margin of 1.7 lakh votes, is engrossed in an animated discussion with a close political aide. He is deeply hurt at the drubbing that he and his party received in the 2014 polls but puts up a brave face saying he respects the public mandate and is gearing up for the immediate task at hand-to prepare the party for municipal and panchayat polls in Rajasthan due later this year. "I'm the party chief in the state; I take full responsibility. But we must move on. I have to motivate my workers. This is not the end." Later in the day, he met Congress president Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi to chalk out a path to revival but refuses to divulge details.
But the former MP, who takes pride in his achievements, still can't explain his defeat. "In Ajmer, I got a new airport, 43 new trains, two new railway lines, one central university and a girls' college. It's the only district in India where every school has computer, printer, scanner and internet connection through satellite. It's also the first city to be declared slum-free," Pilot recounts what he has done for his constituency, rueing that all his achievements were swept away in the 'Modi wave'. He admits that it was tough for him to lead the party in the state after the disastrous Assembly election results in December 2013 when it got just 20 seats in the over 200-member Assembly. "I had very little time to manoeuvre anything," says Pilot, who was appointed Rajasthan Congress chief in February.
R P N SINGH
Singh admits that Rahul Gandhi should have communicated more with voters. He is in favour of a complete restructuring of the party and CWC wherein leaders like Ajay Maken and Shashi Tharoor, who communicate well, are given bigger roles. And, he adds, the Congress must rid itself of NGO-wallahs. "A political party cannot be an NGO. It's fine to have people with degrees from best colleges, but if they don't have grassroots connect, they cannot be decision-makers. We must get rid of them."
He gives full credit to the BJP Prime Minister for "sustaining a well-orchestrated, well-managed and well-funded" campaign for such a long duration. He has best wishes for Modi and BJP and hopes he would lead India to better days. "He is the elected prime minister of India. He must be given respect and treated the way a prime minister deserves."
Pilot, however, believes that the biggest catalyst in this election was the outreach programme and ground work of RSS workers. "After 1977, this is the first time RSS has thrown its full weight behind a political campaign." For the nationwide wipeout of Congress, he blames three factors - "our leadership was not seen as decisive enough, there was a fatigue among voters who wanted change and so much negativity was built up against our party that it buried all our good work".
But Pilot refuses to delve deep when asked what he meant by leadership-is it the collective leadership of Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Manmohan Singh or of just Prime Minister Manmohan Singh? "Let's not get into specifics. At the moment, all I can say is that our party needs a complete revamp of organisational structure. There should be election to all party positions. The dead wood in the party must be thrown out immediately. People with grassroots support and mass contact must reach the top."
He has not lost hope and takes it as a temporary setback. "Between 1996 and 1999 we lost three elections in a row, yet we came back. Sankhyabal mat dekho, manobal dekho (Don't count our numbers, see the spirit)."
The same day, a day before flying out to Delhi, his party colleague and former minister Milind Deora posted a photograph of his guitar on Twitter saying: "In Delhi, packing-up my favorite belongings and saying goodbye to the rest. The unpredictable lives of MPs." Thirty-seven year old Deora plans to take a brief sabbatical before getting back to the dust and grind of politics. "I may go abroad. But certainly I will spend more time with my band Tight Rope. I also want to get involved in the business of music," he says.
Perhaps that could help him get over the defeat in the polls. He has no qualms in admitting that his party was swept away by the 'Modi wave'. "It was a vote for Modi. He showed leadership which our party could not project. Our leadership was seen as indecisive." He doesn't directly blame Rahul Gandhi for the debacle saying that the performance of a leader depends on the team he gets. "It's good to have people who are good at statistics and analysis, but they should not be allowed to take strategic decisions."
He believes that the way forward is radical restructuring of the organisation-right from Congress Working Committee (CWC) to district level. "There are many people in the party who need to be heard but were not given attention." Another big step, he says, would be revamping the communication cell and creating one which can actually establish a connect with the people. "We did a lot of work. But we could not take it to our voters. Look at how Modi has used communication tools."
Deora is ready for a bigger role in the party. "If the top leadership offers, I'm okay about taking up a bigger role in the party."
SACHIN PILOT
It was a vote for Modi. He showed leadership which our party could not project. Our leadership was seen as indecisive.
For the nationwide wipeout of Congress, he blames three factors-"our leadership was not seen as decisive enough, there was a fatigue among voters who wanted change and so much negativity was built up against our party that it buried all our good work".
Dressed in politicians' white, RPN Singh, 50, relaxes in the lawn of his Lodhi Estate bungalow. He assures his friends over phone that he is doing fine and inquires about a flat he wants to take on rent. His number of votes increased by over 75,000 since 2009, yet he lost by 85,000 votes from Kushi Nagar constituency. He has no regrets though. "Politics is like that. You are not always in power."
He attributes his loss to two factors-the omnipresence of Narendra Modi and misrule of Samajwadi Party. "From 3D to internet to LED screens, Modi used technology in the best possible way to directly reach out to people. He was everywhere, even in remote villages, people were listening to Modi."
The royal scion believes that Samajwadi Party's constant pandering to Muslims without actually doing anything for them resulted in an unprecedented polarisation of Hindu votes in Uttar Pradesh. "BJP captured this resentment well and the united Hindu votes resulted in 71 seats for BJP."
He believes that the Congress leadership is in a state of transition whereas BJP has completed the transition from the Vajpayee-Advani era to Modi era. "The 2014 Lok Sabha elections caught the party in the middle of this transition. Once the transition is settled under Rahul Gandhi, Congress is set for an upward journey. During the transition, all his decisions were not implemented. Now is the time for the big push."
ASHOK TANWAR
"We badly handled 2G and CWG scams, Anna Hazare and Arvind Kejriwal's agitations and angry protests seeking justice for the December 16 Delhi gang-rape victim."
Singh admits that Rahul Gandhi should have communicated more with voters. He is in favour of a complete restructuring of the party and CWC wherein leaders like Ajay Maken and Shashi Tharoor, who communicate well, are given bigger roles. And, he adds, the Congress must rid itself of NGO-wallahs. "A political party cannot be an NGO. It's fine to have people with degrees from best colleges, but if they don't have grassroots connect, they cannot be decision-makers. We must get rid of them."
Singh admits that Modi has redefined the political discourse in the country, saying he was smart enough to understand the mind of the aspirational voters of new and young India and made noises that were relevant to them. "The Congress must learn quickly and adapt to the changed environment," he says. However, he refuses to put the blame on the Gandhis, saying they are indispensable. "They are the unifying factor for the party."
Agrees 38-year-old Haryana Congress chief Ashok Tanwar. "It's easy to find faults. But the fact remains that Rahul Gandhi has created opportunities for young leaders like us. He will lead us to another victory." Tanwar has little time to shed tears over his defeat. In his MP flat at North Avenue, people are still pouring in and Tanwar goes into a huddle with his aides in the drawing room. "The Assembly polls are just few months away. Where is the time to analyse what went wrong? We have a task at hand," he says.
Probe him a little further and he opens up. The former Youth Congress leader believes his party's communication department failed in taking the message to the voters. Though the Congress implemented several welfare schemes, these were not advertised well. "The benefits of several Central government schemes did not reach the target beneficiaries because adequate awareness was not created."
MILIND DEORA: "It's good to have people who are good at statistics and analysis, but they should not be allowed to take strategic decisions."
For his own defeat, Tanwar blames groupism within the party. "I did not get cooperation from all corners." But what did the party in, he says, was the poor handling of scams and social issues. " We badly handled 2G and CWG scams, Anna Hazare and Arvind Kejriwal's agitations and angry protests seeking justice for the December 16 Delhi gang-rape victim."

Modi starts Delhi journey, with sweet farewell from motheR.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi has written to Prime Minister-designate Narendra Modi, congratulating him on the BJP's victory in the Lok Sabha elections, party sources said Thursday.

They said Gandhi wrote to Modi Tuesday.



Sonia Gandhi and her son and party vice president Rahul Gandhi had not mentioned Modi by name when they addressed the media after the results came out May 16. Sonia Gandhi then congratulated "the new government" while taking responsibility for the party's poor performance.

BJP leaders had taken exception to Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi not congratulating Modi soon after the election results came out, saying that he had been felicitated by several world leaders.

Earlier in the day, PM-designate Narendra Modi left Gandhinagar for Delhi after an emotional farewell from his 90-year-old mother. She blessed her son and gifted him Rs.101. 


Heeraba offered her son sweets as he set off for Delhi to take oath as the country's new prime minister on May 26.

"Met my Mother before leaving for Delhi," tweeted Modi, who resigned as the Gujarat chief minister on Wednesday. In a series of tweets, he also expressed gratitude for his security staffers, who, he said, always prayed for his well-being.


"As I was leaving for Delhi I got to know something from my personal staff. It was a pleasant surprise that was extremely touching. Driver & security staff set up a small Temple of Ramcharitmanas in my Govt. car where for over 12 years they prayed for my security daily.

Several security personnel prayed in this Temple daily for years! I don't know how many such people's good wishes have come to me.
Security staff did a phenomenal job in their duty but the feeling with which they prayed for my well-being is something I wont ever forget.

I don't have any words to express my gratitude to them. I bow to them & salute them from the bottom of my heart," he said.

Modi takes over as the new PM on Monday.