Bangalore:

Congress in Karnataka has initiated a process to identify party candidates in all the Lok Sabha segments in the state, where it is targeting to win 20-25 seats.

At a general body meeting of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee, KPCC President G Parameshwara said observers have also been appointed in each of the 28 constituencies.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, said while the party would strive to win all the 28 seats, it must win 20-25 (compared to a mere six in the previous polls in 2009).

AICC General Secretary Digvijay Singh, in charge of party affairs in the state said coordination committee would be constituted soon with the mandate to resolve contentious issues between the party and the Government in Karntaka.

He said he would like such committees to be formed at district levels as well.

Singh, a former Madhya Pradesh Chief Ministers, advised the Chief Minister to create a cell to look into the election promises, setting a road-map with deadlines to implement all those assurances.

He noted that the party's vote-share had gone up by a mere 1.5 per cent in the Assembly elections, adding, "we must go up to 40 per cent (in the Lok Sabha elections)".

source:http://zeenews.india.com

Bangalore:

Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Tuesday claimed that the BJP might organise communal riots in Congress-ruled states in the hope of winning Lok Sabha elections due in 2014. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) feels it cannot win the election without "communalising" the situation, he said addressing the general body meeting of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee in Bangalore.

Singh, recently appointed in-charge of Congress affairs in Karnataka, urged the party government in the state to be on vigil to put down attempts to create communal disturbance. In his address to the meeting, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah assured that his government would put down any attempts at creating communal disturbance in the state.

The Congress returned to power in Karnataka on its own after nine years defeating the BJP in the May 5 assembly poll. This was Singh's first visit to the state after his appointment as party unit's in-charge. Singh, who is also Congress general secretary, said a panel would be set up to ensure coordination between the government and the party in the state.

Setting up of such a panel has been sought by a section in Karnataka Congress which feels that Siddaramaiah was taking unilateral decisions to corner glory for himself at the cost of the party. Singh urged Siddaramaiah and the party to provide corruption-free administration and fulfil the promises made in the manifesto for the assembly election.

This was essential if the Congress had to perform well in the Lok Sabha election, he said. Karnataka sends 28 members to the Lok Sabha and in the 2009 election the Congress had won just six with the BJP bagging 19 and Janata Dal-Secular three.

source:http://ibnlive.in.com

BJP Will fight 2014 Lok Sabha poll on the issue of development :M Venkaiah Naidu.

New Delhi:

The BJP would contest the 2014 Lok Sabha polls on the issue of development, said party leader M Venkaiah Naidu on Thursday, while accusing the Congress of raking up the bogey of secularism to hide its failures of governance.

Talking to media persons in New Delhi, Naidu rejected Prime Minister Manmohan's criticism of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, saying he was a "very popular leader who stands for 3Ds - Decisive, Dynamic and Development oriented".

"These 3Ds are making him the most popular among the people in the country. These 3Ds are missing in the prime minister and his government. People want a decisive, dynamic and development oriented leader and party. That is why they are looking towards the BJP and talking about Narendra Modi," he claimed.

Attacking the government, Naidu said economic growth had slowed down and "there was fiscal deficit, revenue deficit, trade deficit, current account deficit, governance deficit and trust deficit".

He said that for the first time, the external debt has surpassed foreign exchange reserves.

"Per capita debt is more than the per capita income," he said and added that rupee had depreciated to Rs.58-59 against the dollar, while it stood at Rs 40-42 during the rule of the National Democratic Alliance.

Dismissing possibility of a third front government, he said many of its prospective constituents were bitterly opposed to each other in states.

"People want liberation from Congress' misrule and there will be realignment of political forces before and after elections," he said.

Referring to Congress supporting Nitish Kumar government during the trust vote in the Bihar assembly, Naidu said he was unable to understand how Janata Dal-United will be comfortable with the party it has criticised for long.

"The public opinion is going against the JD-U and it is evident from a voter survey," he said.

Accusing Congress of using a "communal approach" and "divisive politics", he said: "Whenever Congress is faced with trouble, imminent defeat, governance failures and corruption issues, they always try to divert attention of the people from the real issues and bring their old raga of secularism versus communalism."

"People are not innocent and are intelligent enough to understand the game plan of the Congress party," he said.

He said BJP governments were doing well in all states and the party will fight the 2014 elections on the issue of development.

"The BJP would like to go to the people on the agenda of development. We will showcase the NDA government's achievements and also the good work done by our governments," he said.

source:http://ibnlive.in.com

Lok Sabha Poll 2014 Updates:Back to basics for Congress and BJP, Lok sabha Poll news, Lok sabha Poll 2013, Lok sabha News, Latest Political news, political news.

Election 2014 was supposed to be an unequal battle. Political observers had written off the possibility of a UPA comeback and the dice looked loaded in favour of the BJP-led NDA. The game has got even now.

Of course, back then nobody foresaw the implosion in the BJP and the NDA over the former’s decision to elevate Narendra Modi as the face of its election campaign. Everyone underestimated the power of the Congress’s survival instincts; some even predicted its death.

Not many were willing to buy that Indian polity is no more about the Congress-BJP duality, but an arrangement of centrifugal forces whose support to national parties is more a matter of convenience than of compulsion.

With the playing field level, from now on it has to be a battle of strategies for the Congress and the BJP. Their task is cut out. They not only have to win a good number of seats but also attract allies to add to the numbers to go beyond the 272 mark. Touching 150 appears difficult for both at the moment.

Also Read....Three Opinion polls,Predict one message: No alternative to Modi for BJP, Political news today, National  news 2013.

Also Read...Cong lose 88 Lok Sabha seats from 8 states, Lok Sabha election opinion exit poll, Lok Sabha ELECTION SURVEY RESULT ,  who will win in Lok Sabha polls 2014, Lok Sabha Opinion Poll 2014, Lok Sabha Opinion poll result 2014, Lok Sabha assembly election expected win.

With Rahul Gandhi at the helm, the Congress has started strategising much earlier. While the media and the opposition have been obsessing endlessly over whether he would be prime minister or not, or whether he has a view on issues of national import, he has been silently active reviving the moribund Congress organisation across states.

Away from the media glare, he has been repairing the disconnect between the party’s leadership and the workers, tackling the problem of factionalism in state units and replacing deadwood with fresh blood. He is revamping local level organisations and declogging channels of communication between the top rungs of the party and the lowest.

It’s an arduous, long-term process. But Rahul has shown no fatigue so far. Many might find it a pointless, even an escapist, exercise but anybody with even pedestrian understanding of politics would acknowledge that leaders amount to nothing without a strong organisational network to fall back upon. He is busy with the basics; the media critics can keep debating whether he is prime minister material or not.

And yes, while Rahul is at it, the party is making its caste maths right.It was evident in yesterday’s Union cabinet reshuffle. The Congress is shifting whom it perceives to be efficient back to the organisation. It does not expect the reputation of the government to give it a victory and it does not expect the urban middle class’s perception of the government or the party to change dramatically no matter what it delivers now.

So, the safe bet is to go back to the rural voter, which has so far shown no great resentment towards it. If it’s armed with something like the Food Security Act, it would provide the grassroots workers an effective talking point.

The BJP and the Sangh Parivar have decided to begin all over with a new leader at the helm. Of course, the decision to elevate Narendra Modi as the face of the campaign could not have happened without detailed analysis of the pros and cons.

Their insistence to stick to him despite resistance from the marginalised old guard in the BJP and allies in the NDA, would come at a price but there is no reason to believe that they have not made a cost-benefit analysis of the move.

Modi is a polarising leader. It’s this specific asset that the wider Sangh Parivar is going to utilise to the hilt. The simple logic is, what’s the point having Modi at the top if there’s no polarisation? That’s his strength. All that talk of development and growth is for the consumption of the middle class and it could be countered easily with statistics.

But to get votes eleswhere, polarisation is necessary. Don’t be surprised if you hear of the revival of the Ram temple movement soon from the fringe elements of the Sangh Parivar and the beginning of a mobilisation on a specific religious issue. The Congress is waiting for an electoral windfall by way of counter polarisation.

Both parties have discreetly redirected focus to the non-urban India as part of their strategy. Of course, Uttar Pradesh would be the major battle ground given the number of MPs it sends. Keep your finger crossed.sics for Congress and BJP.

source:http://www.firstpost.com

LUCKNOW:

Samajwadi Party on Friday announced its candidate for the Saharanpur Lok Sabha seat and changed its nominees at four places.

"SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav has announced Firoz Aftab as the party candidate for Saharanpur Lok Sabha constituency,"

SP national general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav said in a statement issued.

He said the party has replaced "Anuradha Chaudhary with Amir Alam in Bijnor".

Once considered a close confidant of the RLD chief, Chaudhary had joined the SP last year.

Panchayati raj "minister Balram Yadav", who was given a ticket from Azamgarh, has been replaced by Hawaldar Singh.

Yadav had expressed his inability to contest the polls. Moreover, there was a demand from local workers that "Mulayam's younger son Prateek Yadav should contest from Azamgarh".

From Gonda constituency, Rahul Shukla would be the SP nominee in place of Kirti Vardhan Singh, son of Agriculture Minister Anand Singh.

In Aligarh, Zafar Alam has been named in place of Kajal Sharma.

source:http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com