Barackface

English: Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee attends a news conference in the eastern Indian city of Kolkata September 7, 2008. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

If and when Modi's time is up, it will be someone from the Federal Front who will take over. That is what I foresee. And so step one perhaps is a Federal Front leading the opposition.

AIADMK 37
Trinamool Congress 34
Biju Janata Dal 20

That alone is 91.

Telangana Rashtra Samiti 11

That takes it past 100, which is double whatever the Congress can muster.

Credit goes to Mamata for coining the term.

There is a real role in the Upper House for this Front.

The BJP grew almost entirely at the expense of the Congress. The BJP did not eat much into the votes of the non-Congress, non-BJP parties which together get as many votes as the Congress and the BJP combined. That is grounds for a pre-poll formal, structured alliance.

You broker peace between Mulayam and Mayawati and you get Uttar Pradesh, you broker peace between Nitish and Laloo and you get Bihar. Delhi goes to whoever gets the Hindi heartland.

But right now my bet is the BJP will also form the state government in Uttar Pradesh in a few years. Bihar, I don't know. I don't know what Nitish has on his mind. I think he would like to fight solo and sweep Bihar like his colleagues Mamata, Jayalalita and Patnaik.

Regional parties may form ‘federal front’, isolate Congress in Parliament

Friday, June 06, 2014

Modi, 15 Years, $18 Trillion Indian GDP

Nehru (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

If India's GDP stands at $6.3 trillion today, and any growth rate below 10% is a failing grade from me to Modi, and assuming he is Prime Minister for 15 years, at a 10% growth rate the GDP would double every seven years, which means the Indian GDP should stand at $18 trillion by the time Modi is done. Anything less and I will label him a failure.

At 18 trillion India will still be number three. China and the US will not stay stagnant.

If he is Prime Minister for 15 years, he will be to the BJP what Jawaharlal Nehru is to the Congress' imagination.

I think one challenge for Modi is to rope in Nitish Kumar. It is tricky political challenge. But now the onus is on Modi since he is the winner.

UPA-II wasted Laloo by not retaining him at the head of Railways. The Modi Sarkar might go on to waste Nitish if Nitish does not make a comeback as Chief Minister of Bihar.

Modi in Delhi and Nitish in Patna would be the best possible combo. Both could do 15 more years. What is Modi's weakness is Nitish' strength, and it is to do with the human development index part of development. Modi is good for business, but the Gujrat story tells us human development has not been his forte.

Sushil Modi could not what Nitish has done in Bihar. Maybe Narendra Modi should take the lead, and Sushil Modi and Nitish Kumar should meet and talk, and find a way to revive the alliance. That would mean double digit growth rates for India, high double digit growth rates for Bihar, and of course a Special Category Status for Bihar and Orissa.