Saturday, September 01, 2012

Nitish Kumar's JD(U) Has National Appeal

I follow news on Nitish Kumar with great interest. This guy has given Bihar a miraculous 16% growth rate this year. I see double digit growth rates for Bihar as far as the eyes can see.

Nitish Kumar is in a very strong position in Bihar. We all know that. But he also has a national appeal. The only way to prove that to be true is for JD(U) to field candidates all over the country.

Could Nitish Kumar Do Broadband?
Paramendra Kumar Batting For Nitish Kumar
Nitish Kumar: Prime Minister
Nitish Kumar, Bihar



Nitish Kumar's good work as CM dents his PM prospect
The survey, conducted in 125 out of 543 Lok Sabha seats covering 18 big cities, also shows JD(U) gaining more seats in the next Lok Sabha polls at the cost of all other parties. The survey forecasts 25 seats for JD(U) (a gain of five seats from its tally in 2009 elections), while only for Congress and a loss of four seats to other parties, including BJP. ..... More worryingly for the Congress, it is expected to lose five of its seven parliamentary seats in Delhi to the BJP in the next elections. .... As many as 76% respondents said India must have reservation for women in Parliament.
Urban India votes for Narendra Modi as PM
In a survey conducted in 28 cities across the country by a Hindi news channel and Nielsen, Modi has emerged as the favourite ahead of even Rahul Gandhi and Bihar CM Nitish Kumar. While 42% of respondents wanted Modi as the next PM, only 29% were for Rahul Gandhi. Nitish Kumar got 12% in his favour. ..... If elections were held now, 27% potential voters would go with the saffron party, while only 18% would choose Congress. .... Only 66% of those who voted for Congress during 2009 Lok Sabha elections, are still intending to vote for it. However, the BJP is gaining only 8% of this vote swing. At the same time, for the BJP, 82% of its voters will stick with it and the Congress would gain only 4% out of this exodus, clearly showing an opportunity for regional parties to do well in urban centres. ..... he is favourite even within the BJP. He gets almost double the responses in his favour as against party veteran L K Advani (51% to Advani's 28%). Respondents also feel that if Modi is chosen PM candidate opposing allies (read JD-U) will eventually come around...... both the Congress and the BJP have lost confidence of urban voters. The combined response for willingness to vote for these two parties was less than 50% .... people showing overwhelming support for Team Anna entering politics and respondents hailing the activist as the country's role model. .... an overwhelming 77% said they would vote for Team Anna candidates in elections. Anna also emerges as country's top role model with Dr A P J Abdul Kalam (both bagging 12% responses in their favour)
Congress will be wiped out in 2012 polls: Narendra Modi Sanjay Joshi resigns from BJP
Both the BJP and RSS have been divided on the manner in which Joshi had to resign from the BJP's national executive as Modi put this as a condition for him to attend the Mumbai conclave.
Upset with Narendra Modi, Advani triggers implosion in BJP
Advani has told close aides that the personality cult that Narendra Modi was trying to impose on the BJP was harmful for the organisation. ... Instead of discussing important issues, he felt, the executive members speculated on whether Modi would attend the meeting or not. ..... Significantly, Advani left the venue immediately after Modi finally arrived at the executive, amid orchestrated chants of Dekho dekho kaun aya, Gujarat ka sher aya'. Also, he skipped the public meeting the next day. ..... He is upset that Gadkari is now happy playing second fiddle to Modi — which was evident from his denial of permission to Joshi to travel through Gujarat by train and his handing over of a memorandum to the President against the Gujarat governor. ....... Advani has been upset with Modi since September 2011 when the CM sat over his proposal to start a Rathyatra against corruption from Gujarat, preferably from Porbandar or Karamsad — the birth places of Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Patel, respectively. Instead, he chose to launch the programme from Bihar.
BJP patriarch L K Advani criticises party decisions on his personal blog
No doubt Advani raises some serious issues. But he's senior enough for his views to be heard within party forums. By washing dirty linen in public, he has reinforced the impression of drift in his party. .... It's no secret that Nitin Gadkari securing a second term as BJP president did not go down well with Advani. With the RSS orchestrating a patch-up between Narendra Modi and Gadkari, the BJP patriarch feels his chances of becoming the party's prime ministerial candidate in 2014 slipping away.
JD(U) has an alliance with BJP, not RSS: Nitish Kumar
Apparently seeking to link his secular NDA prime ministerial candidate plank to the foundation of ties between JD(U) and BJP in 1996, Kumar said his party had formed an alliance on the agenda against scrapping of Article 370 of the Constitution and Uniform Civil Code, besides judicial or negotiated settlement of Ayodhya dispute. ....... JD(U) will not compromise with dilution in any of these core issues vis-a-vis its relations with BJP, he said.
BJD, AIADMK shy away from third front
The regional party has taken the view that a third front is a misnomer and a federal front will emerge only after the next election.
NDA PM has to come from BJP: Nitish Kumar
Viewed against this and the backdrop of his reservations about the Gujarat CM, the disclosure that he would back someone else could be read as his trying to set a condition to continue his association with the NDA.
Thackeray family originally belonged to Bihar: Digvijaya's reaction to Raj's comments
Congress general secretary Digvijaya Singh said the Thackeray family itself belonged to Bihar and had settled in Dhar in Western Madhya Pradesh from where they migrated to Mumbai. .... "If you look at the history of Mumbai, then it is a city of fishermen. Rest all have settled there from outside," Singh said.
Nitish Kumar Reshuffles State Bureaucracy NDA PM has to come from BJP: Nitish Kumar Pakistan invites Nitish Kumar, wish to replicate his funda of growth
Kumar gave an assurance to visit all the five provinces to an all-party delegation of parliamentarians from Pakistan, led by secretary general of Pakistan People's Party and leader of the house in senate Jehangir Badr. ..... Praising Kumar's efforts in transforming Bihar, which drew the delegation to Bihar, the members said that they percieved him as a leading player in Indian national politics and the sub-continent. The Pakistani delegation said that the invitation had been given to Nitish Kumar in consultation with the governments of all five provinces, which wanted to know about the models his government had adopted to bring about complete transformation of Bihar. ..... "It was because of the people's aspirations, governments of both the countries are determined to ease the visa norms, the draft of which is almost ready for signing" ..... To a query, the delegation members said Pakistan was the worst victim of terrorism and the governments of both the country should strengthen their cooperation to fight it out. "If European countries can prosper on mutual trusts, why not India and Pakistan can help each other to fight poverty, terrorism to grow," they said.
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Could Nitish Kumar Do Broadband?

I read news on Nitish Kumar with great interest. Here is a man who has given Bihar a miraculous growth rate of 16% this year. That is double digit growth rates as far as the eyes can see.

One thing I do not read about is broadband. That is one missing link. Just like he has worked for universal access to good roads, he has to work for universal access to broadband. You do that well enough and not only Bihar competes well with the rest of India, it competes just fine with the rest of the world as well.

Paramendra Kumar Batting For Nitish Kumar
Nitish Kumar: Prime Minister
Nitish Kumar, Bihar


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Thursday, August 23, 2012

8.3% Is Not 38%

A lot of people just can't fathom how much worse things could have been. The Great Recession could have become the second Great Depression. There was a good chance. Obama prevented that from happening.

I also wish to see the unemployment rate go down to something like 5.3%. You get there by giving Barack Obama the House.

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1,000 Hijackers

Not Going Backward

Move Forward

Obama Rally Cry



Source: Barack Obama

Jon Stewart Readies For The Convention

Source: The Daily Show with Jon Stewart

Call It



Truth be told the only thing Barack Obama ever needed to do for me was win in 2008. And win he did. Twice.

Truth be told I never really gave a flying fuck about the economy, the recession, the deficit, the debt, the defense budget, Planned Parenthood, Social Security, Medicare, the space program. He could have messed up everything two times over and I would have still been for him. But he did not.

This dude is destined for greatness.

I am Barack Obama's first full time volunteer in New York City and I love the guy as much as ever. He has my full support, plus some more.




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Friday, August 17, 2012

The Honey Badger

The Madonna Of Global Politics
Hillary's Bobby Kennedy Comment: Bitter Heart, Bad Taste
Now, at age 64, Clinton continues to get heat for being, gasp, a 64-year-old political leader instead of Megan Fox. ..... And in June, author Ed Klein took to the airwaves to dismiss Clinton's chances of running for the White House in 2016 by saying, "She’ll be 69 years old. And as you know — and I don't want to sound anti-feminist here — but she’s not looking good these days. She's looking overweight, and she’s looking very tired." Because you can't run a country if you're not under 35 and skinny. Also, if you have a vagina. .... (One gets the sense that Angela Merkel isn't exactly losing sleep over whether or not you want to bone her, either.) ..... And there is something really, really fantastic about a first lady, United States senator, and secretary of state who has just had it with your stupid questions about what she's wearing, world. Last spring, she told CNN, "I feel so relieved to be at the stage I'm at in my life right now. Because, you know, if I want to wear my glasses, I'm wearing my glasses. If I want to wear my hair back, I'm pulling my hair back. You know, at some point it's just not something that deserves a lot of time and attention." ..... Priorities! Other than the size of her butt! What a radical idea. And it's why, though she may or may not ever get to be president, Hillary Clinton totally rules.
Salon: Hillary Clinton does not have time for your games