MODI CLOSER TO CENTRESTAGE TO TAKE ON THE GANDHI SCION

It is official now, 2014 General Elections in India would be Rahul Vs Modi clash. Rahul Gandhi's elevation as the Congress' number 2 has heightened anticipation that the General Elections 2014 will be a personality clash between him and the BJP’s Narendra Modi. The Congress, always refuse to make comparisons between the two, dismisses it as a “media joke.”

Even as the clam-our in the Congress to declare Rahul Gandhi the candidate for Prime Minister for next year's elections reached a fevered pitch at the party's poll strategy meet in Jaipur over the weekend, senior Congress leaders quickly pointed out that the party traditionally does not name a leader. Though unoffically everybody in Congress believe that Rahul will lead party in the coming general elections.

Party general secretary Digvijaya Singh told , "The Congress party does not declare the PM candidate because we don't want to take away the right of newly-elected legislators to choose their leader. This is basic in parliamentary democracy. Therefore, we don't declare "That (Rahul Gandhi vs Narendra Modi in the 2014 elections) is a big joke made by the media," Mr Singh added.

In Jaipur, senior Congress leader and minister Jairam Ramesh said in India elections were not a contest people, but between parties. "2014 will not be a contest between Modi and Rahul. It's always party versus party," he said.

The BJP is reportedly set to appoint Mr Modi - who just registered a huge win in the Gujarat Assembly elections to get a fourth term as the state's chief minister - as the head of its election campaign committee. In that role he will be the face of the opposition party for next year's elections. Mr Gandhi has already been given similar charge of the Congress' committee for election strategy, making comparisons inevitable.

But Congress leaders cast Mr Modi as a regional satrap; Mr Gandhi, they say, is a leader with a pan-India appeal.

What Rahul Gandhi did admit in his mainden speech at Jaipur was that the Congress had failed to mentor leaders, which had cost the party dear in states which had strong individual leaders or regional parties. "The Congress party has not been able to build up reason-able leadership'...whether you see Bihar or UP or West Bengal or even Tamil Nadu we have this problem.'

Digvijay Singh added that "In Gujarat also Narendra Modi has created a cult for himself. Of course, the first casualty after Narendra Modi goes is the BJP itself, because there is no BJP there, only Narendra Modi."

Mr Singh was analysing Rahul Gandhi's much-watched first speech after he was appointed Vice-President of the Congress. Mr Gandhi asked his party men to help reverse a system in India where power was "grossly centralised" and said 40 to 50 leaders, all capable of running the country must be identified and mentored.

And an unimpressed Arun Jaitley, one of the BJP's senior most leaders, said of Mr Gandhi, "The world's largest democracy cannot be put to risk by risking ourselves in the hands of those whose actual potential we don't know, whose opinions on various subjects we do not know, whose policy regarding various issues we do not know."

For the BJP, said Mr Jaitley, "It will be tried, tested and proven ability. The best will become our leader." Mr Modi's supporters in the party say he is that man and that he should be named the BJP's candidate for PM. But the party has multiple claimants to top posts. It also has to contend with the fact that Mr Modi does not enjoy universal acceptability among partners like the Janata Dal United in the National Democratic Alliance it leads.

The Indian media is confused on Rahul Gandhi's core leadership traits. N Ram former Editor-In-Chief, The Hindu, said, "Rahul Gandhi's programme lacks essential details. We don't know what he stands for. Of course, he wants change, but change for what end? Rahul has supported welfare measures but on and off sporadically, looks instrumental. He's an obsessive organisational man, believes in grassroots organisation. That's good."

"Here is a person whose position cannot be challenged, above the fray, who'll allow the rest of the minions to create systems. The question of his position of how he got there is not going to be asked," said senior journalist and columnist Swapan Dasgupta.

During the debate, IBN18 Editor-in-Chief Rajdeep Sardesai also added that Rahul faced a tough task of rehabilitating the Congress. "The problem is that Rahul Gandhi faces a tough task of rehabilitating the Congress which is facing a crisis of organisation, of electability. So he gave a good critique and pulled them out of denial, but it is to be seen whether he can walk the talk."

AND THE CHALLENGES

Bumpy road ahead for Rahul Gandhi

10 things the Gandhi scion must focus on, to assert his role as a leader of his party... and of the masses

Has he given any fresh food for thought to the party leadership at Chintan Shivir in Jaipur? Or was it just old wine in a new (read emotive) bottle? Has Rahul Gandhi done anything tangible to alter the grand old party's style of functioning? Stupid, it was a speech!

The newly-elected vice president of the Congress delivered his speech against a backdrop of persistent complaints that few knew what he stood for. For years, he displayed an aloofness and disinterest that drove Congressmen to the edge of despair. Rahul concluded his speech by saying, "For me, the Congress party is now my life." It obliquely admits the worries expressed earlier about Rahul having made up his mind to be in public life.

The biggest problem of the Congress is: it is once reformist, but twice shy. A handful of senior leaders in the Congress is convinced that reforms can bring forth electoral gains. There is no effort made to persuade the people of India, especially those in rural areas, that economic reforms will also bring to them welfare, that wealth-making can be every Indian's dream. The cold rationality of economic reforms can be connected to the emotions of the people. This requires a change of mindset, not the system.

At present, India's oldest political party has nothing credible and convincing to offer the people of the country. It has no message to take to the people. The Congress is still directionless in policy matters. Here is a classic example: Congress boss Sonia Gandhi's call to end nepotism from the same stage on which her son was crowned a day earlier. With general elections about one year - or maybe a little more - away, will India take mother-son duo rhetoric seriously? His powerful surname and relative youth make him the Congress' main hope for elections in 2014.

Shantanu Bhattacharji takes off the blinkers and shows Rahul Gandhi the bumpy road ahead ...

• The 42-year-old leader has to establish a disconnect between the party's old-school outlook and the larger aspirations of today's assertive youth force. Congress workers want political heavyweights to lead the party in Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and many more other states.
• The corruption that has reached the highest levels in the Congress surely belongs to a bigger league.

The refusal of party and government to acknowledge this fact has been made worse by their arrogance towards the common citizenry.

Rahul must showcase some big-bang punitive actions against the corrupt.

• Rahul Gandhi also faces a potential adversary in Narendra Modi, should the saffron party project him as its prime ministerial candidate. He still seems somehow stuck in the image of a youth leader discovering India rather than one ready to lead it.

Modi has proved to be an able administrator. Rahul has a number of failures in his political career and has been at the receiving end not only from the opposition but even UPA allies.

He has failed as a strategist, which was visible during 2012 Uttar Pradesh assembly polls where he campaigned aggressively. In Bihar too Rahul proved to be a dampener. However, the Hindutva poster boy has superbly projected himself as the 'messiah' of 'development'.

• The party cannot regain its lost glory without winning back the backward classes, Dalits and tribals, especially in Hindi heartland. Any drastic policy change will further antagonise the party's traditional vote bank.
• Rahul needs an immediate image makeover. He must be seen as a no-nonsense politician. The days of identity politics were not over and he can even learn the art of social engineering from US President Barack Obama. Opportunities have presented themselves to Rahul in the past couple of years but he failed to grab them. When Sonia Gandhi went overseas for treatment of a serious ailment, he might have taken charge and confronted the anti-graft campaigners such as Anna Hazare and Arvind Kejriwal. It is high time to take the bull by the horns.
• The leader of the young brigade in the Congress needs a scalpel and not a cleaver, to cut the credibility crisis facing the party thanks to corruption scan-dals and perceptions of inefficient governance. A central theme as well as a slogan needed before the 2014 general election that would encapsulate the party's emphasis on welfare and employment generation, on the lines of Indira Gandhi's famed Garibi hatao. He has to explain to the aam aadmi the reasons for the ceaseless rise in the prices of essentials, unpopular decisions such as the LPG subsidy cap, and the eruption of so many corruption scandals.
• To galvanise the rank and file, the party must stop giving prominence to turncoats. Loyalists feel that leaders defecting from other parties are too readily given official posts or election tickets. Those who came from outside and occupied key positions in the Congress include P Chidambaram, Jaipal Reddy, Sanjay Nirupam, Mohan Prakash and Raj Babbar.
• Rahul reminded the party - and the country - of the personal losses suffered by the Nehru-Gandhi family. It may prove counterproductive as focusing too much on tragedies can invite charges of exploiting such issues. "… power is poison… " it will keep the urban voters wondering as at what length he will go to personally lead a government if and when the opportunity presents itself before the party again.
• Experts say he has an urge to improve the lives of poor Indians, but no real idea of how to do so. He must show some hardcore skills as a leader before campaigning starts in 2014. He must set short and long-terms goals for the party and for himself, as well. It should select 250-300 winnable constituencies and devote disproportionate resources for them.
• Rahul has many challenges and the clock is ticking fast towards the May, 2014 general polls. He has to act as an interface between party workers across the country, strike up a bond with present and future UPA allies and justify every action the Manmohan Singh government takes under a grim economic situation and coalition compulsions.

It's a cliché: nothing succeeds like success and Rahul's future depends on the party's success in winning the coming assembly polls in nine states, keeping workers' motivation high and bringing an element of moral value in every UPA-Congress action. To just think in Jaipur is not enough.

By Prakhar Mishra Political Editor / Inputs from Business standard & International press.

MODI CLOSER TO CENTRESTAGE TO TAKE ON THE GANDHI SCION

It is official now, 2014 General Elections in India would be Rahul Vs Modi clash. Rahul Gandhi's elevation as the Congress' number 2 has heightened anticipation that the General Elections 2014 will be a personality clash between him and the BJP’s Narendra Modi. The Congress, always refuse to make comparisons between the two, dismisses it as a “media joke.”

Even as the clam-our in the Congress to declare Rahul Gandhi the candidate for Prime Minister for next year's elections reached a fevered pitch at the party's poll strategy meet in Jaipur over the weekend, senior Congress leaders quickly pointed out that the party traditionally does not name a leader. Though unoffically everybody in Congress believe that Rahul will lead party in the coming general elections.

Party general secretary Digvijaya Singh told , "The Congress party does not declare the PM candidate because we don't want to take away the right of newly-elected legislators to choose their leader. This is basic in parliamentary democracy. Therefore, we don't declare "That (Rahul Gandhi vs Narendra Modi in the 2014 elections) is a big joke made by the media," Mr Singh added.

In Jaipur, senior Congress leader and minister Jairam Ramesh said in India elections were not a contest people, but between parties. "2014 will not be a contest between Modi and Rahul. It's always party versus party," he said.

The BJP is reportedly set to appoint Mr Modi - who just registered a huge win in the Gujarat Assembly elections to get a fourth term as the state's chief minister - as the head of its election campaign committee. In that role he will be the face of the opposition party for next year's elections. Mr Gandhi has already been given similar charge of the Congress' committee for election strategy, making comparisons inevitable.

But Congress leaders cast Mr Modi as a regional satrap; Mr Gandhi, they say, is a leader with a pan-India appeal.

What Rahul Gandhi did admit in his mainden speech at Jaipur was that the Congress had failed to mentor leaders, which had cost the party dear in states which had strong individual leaders or regional parties. "The Congress party has not been able to build up reason-able leadership'...whether you see Bihar or UP or West Bengal or even Tamil Nadu we have this problem.'

Digvijay Singh added that "In Gujarat also Narendra Modi has created a cult for himself. Of course, the first casualty after Narendra Modi goes is the BJP itself, because there is no BJP there, only Narendra Modi."

Mr Singh was analysing Rahul Gandhi's much-watched first speech after he was appointed Vice-President of the Congress. Mr Gandhi asked his party men to help reverse a system in India where power was "grossly centralised" and said 40 to 50 leaders, all capable of running the country must be identified and mentored.

And an unimpressed Arun Jaitley, one of the BJP's senior most leaders, said of Mr Gandhi, "The world's largest democracy cannot be put to risk by risking ourselves in the hands of those whose actual potential we don't know, whose opinions on various subjects we do not know, whose policy regarding various issues we do not know."

For the BJP, said Mr Jaitley, "It will be tried, tested and proven ability. The best will become our leader." Mr Modi's supporters in the party say he is that man and that he should be named the BJP's candidate for PM. But the party has multiple claimants to top posts. It also has to contend with the fact that Mr Modi does not enjoy universal acceptability among partners like the Janata Dal United in the National Democratic Alliance it leads.

The Indian media is confused on Rahul Gandhi's core leadership traits. N Ram former Editor-In-Chief, The Hindu, said, "Rahul Gandhi's programme lacks essential details. We don't know what he stands for. Of course, he wants change, but change for what end? Rahul has supported welfare measures but on and off sporadically, looks instrumental. He's an obsessive organisational man, believes in grassroots organisation. That's good."

"Here is a person whose position cannot be challenged, above the fray, who'll allow the rest of the minions to create systems. The question of his position of how he got there is not going to be asked," said senior journalist and columnist Swapan Dasgupta.

During the debate, IBN18 Editor-in-Chief Rajdeep Sardesai also added that Rahul faced a tough task of rehabilitating the Congress. "The problem is that Rahul Gandhi faces a tough task of rehabilitating the Congress which is facing a crisis of organisation, of electability. So he gave a good critique and pulled them out of denial, but it is to be seen whether he can walk the talk."

AND THE CHALLENGES

Bumpy road ahead for Rahul Gandhi

10 things the Gandhi scion must focus on, to assert his role as a leader of his party... and of the masses

Has he given any fresh food for thought to the party leadership at Chintan Shivir in Jaipur? Or was it just old wine in a new (read emotive) bottle? Has Rahul Gandhi done anything tangible to alter the grand old party's style of functioning? Stupid, it was a speech!

The newly-elected vice president of the Congress delivered his speech against a backdrop of persistent complaints that few knew what he stood for. For years, he displayed an aloofness and disinterest that drove Congressmen to the edge of despair. Rahul concluded his speech by saying, "For me, the Congress party is now my life." It obliquely admits the worries expressed earlier about Rahul having made up his mind to be in public life.

The biggest problem of the Congress is: it is once reformist, but twice shy. A handful of senior leaders in the Congress is convinced that reforms can bring forth electoral gains. There is no effort made to persuade the people of India, especially those in rural areas, that economic reforms will also bring to them welfare, that wealth-making can be every Indian's dream. The cold rationality of economic reforms can be connected to the emotions of the people. This requires a change of mindset, not the system.

At present, India's oldest political party has nothing credible and convincing to offer the people of the country. It has no message to take to the people. The Congress is still directionless in policy matters. Here is a classic example: Congress boss Sonia Gandhi's call to end nepotism from the same stage on which her son was crowned a day earlier. With general elections about one year - or maybe a little more - away, will India take mother-son duo rhetoric seriously? His powerful surname and relative youth make him the Congress' main hope for elections in 2014.

Shantanu Bhattacharji takes off the blinkers and shows Rahul Gandhi the bumpy road ahead ...

• The 42-year-old leader has to establish a disconnect between the party's old-school outlook and the larger aspirations of today's assertive youth force. Congress workers want political heavyweights to lead the party in Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and many more other states.
• The corruption that has reached the highest levels in the Congress surely belongs to a bigger league.

The refusal of party and government to acknowledge this fact has been made worse by their arrogance towards the common citizenry.

Rahul must showcase some big-bang punitive actions against the corrupt.

• Rahul Gandhi also faces a potential adversary in Narendra Modi, should the saffron party project him as its prime ministerial candidate. He still seems somehow stuck in the image of a youth leader discovering India rather than one ready to lead it.

Modi has proved to be an able administrator. Rahul has a number of failures in his political career and has been at the receiving end not only from the opposition but even UPA allies.

He has failed as a strategist, which was visible during 2012 Uttar Pradesh assembly polls where he campaigned aggressively. In Bihar too Rahul proved to be a dampener. However, the Hindutva poster boy has superbly projected himself as the 'messiah' of 'development'.

• The party cannot regain its lost glory without winning back the backward classes, Dalits and tribals, especially in Hindi heartland. Any drastic policy change will further antagonise the party's traditional vote bank.
• Rahul needs an immediate image makeover. He must be seen as a no-nonsense politician. The days of identity politics were not over and he can even learn the art of social engineering from US President Barack Obama. Opportunities have presented themselves to Rahul in the past couple of years but he failed to grab them. When Sonia Gandhi went overseas for treatment of a serious ailment, he might have taken charge and confronted the anti-graft campaigners such as Anna Hazare and Arvind Kejriwal. It is high time to take the bull by the horns.
• The leader of the young brigade in the Congress needs a scalpel and not a cleaver, to cut the credibility crisis facing the party thanks to corruption scan-dals and perceptions of inefficient governance. A central theme as well as a slogan needed before the 2014 general election that would encapsulate the party's emphasis on welfare and employment generation, on the lines of Indira Gandhi's famed Garibi hatao. He has to explain to the aam aadmi the reasons for the ceaseless rise in the prices of essentials, unpopular decisions such as the LPG subsidy cap, and the eruption of so many corruption scandals.
• To galvanise the rank and file, the party must stop giving prominence to turncoats. Loyalists feel that leaders defecting from other parties are too readily given official posts or election tickets. Those who came from outside and occupied key positions in the Congress include P Chidambaram, Jaipal Reddy, Sanjay Nirupam, Mohan Prakash and Raj Babbar.
• Rahul reminded the party - and the country - of the personal losses suffered by the Nehru-Gandhi family. It may prove counterproductive as focusing too much on tragedies can invite charges of exploiting such issues. "… power is poison… " it will keep the urban voters wondering as at what length he will go to personally lead a government if and when the opportunity presents itself before the party again.
• Experts say he has an urge to improve the lives of poor Indians, but no real idea of how to do so. He must show some hardcore skills as a leader before campaigning starts in 2014. He must set short and long-terms goals for the party and for himself, as well. It should select 250-300 winnable constituencies and devote disproportionate resources for them.
• Rahul has many challenges and the clock is ticking fast towards the May, 2014 general polls. He has to act as an interface between party workers across the country, strike up a bond with present and future UPA allies and justify every action the Manmohan Singh government takes under a grim economic situation and coalition compulsions.

It's a cliché: nothing succeeds like success and Rahul's future depends on the party's success in winning the coming assembly polls in nine states, keeping workers' motivation high and bringing an element of moral value in every UPA-Congress action. To just think in Jaipur is not enough.

By Prakhar Mishra Political Editor / Inputs from Business standard & International press.