India’s Modi seeks to cement power as key state votes

A delegation of BJP leaders went to the Election Commission Monday to submit a memorandum urging it not to ban live telecast of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rallies on the demand of the grand alliance. “If the BJP is in Bihar, the same government that’s in the center, they will run together”.

Mr Modi, referring to the TV sting operation on Sunday that showed state excise minister Awadhesh Kushwaha taking a bribe from a businessman, said the leaders of the Grand Secular Alliance had “insulted the memory” of socialist icon Jayaprakash Narayan “on a day people were paying their tribute to him”.

Modi’s spectacular performance in last year’s general elections was followed by victories for BJP in four states, giving him an aura of invincibility. In addition, a triumph in Bihar would break the opposition’s backbone and leave Modi’s detractors in the Sangh Parivar completely shattered.

India’s poorest state, Bihar, began voting yesterday in a high-stakes election that Prime Minister Narendra Modi hopes will give his party the presence in Parliament it needs to push through a faltering reform drive.

A delegation of BJP leaders including Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Rajya Sabha MP Chandan Mitra and partys spokesperson Sambit Patra and Siddhartha Nath Singh met here Chief Election Commissioner Naseem Zaidi and thanked the ECI for allowing yesterdays rally of the Prime Minister in Bhabua.

Mr Modi, meanwhile, attacking the UPA government at the Centre, said the state had suffered for over 35 years because of “ego problems between the Centre and the state”. The strategy worked unusually well in Haryana.

In the Delhi polls, however, as the Modi-centric strategy appeared to be showing signs of fatigue. This also becomes increasingly clear from the BJP’s not announcing the name of its chief ministerial candidate.

Bihar has always been notorious for corruption, and as the first phase of voting got under way on Monday, Kumar’s party was forced to drop a top-ranking minister after he was caught on camera apparently accepting bundles of cash from a businessman. I have never seen an election so polarized along caste lines.

But analysts and opinion polls indicate it is too close to call. That would be a setback for Modi, too. Although he is skeptical about Modi delivering on his promises, he said “there should be improvement, progress”. In the 2010 elections, the Nitish Kumar-led Janata Dal (United) had done exceedingly well in the area, that includes key districts of Begusarai, Bhagalpur, Munger, Jamui and Nawada, by winning 29 of these seats.