Assembly elections 2017: Modi new Shah of heartland as BJP wins big in UP, Uttarakhand

The Bharatiya Janata Party won stunning election victories in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand on Saturday, a personal triumph for Prime Minister Narendra Modi that could now ensure his party’s near-domination of politics in India.

Riding on Modi’s charismatic campaign, the BJP registered the biggest-ever victory by any political party in Uttar Pradesh since Indira Gandhi led the Congress to 309 seats in 1980 before the state was divided. In doing so the saffron outfit replicated its landslide victory in the 2014 national polls.

The results routed the Samajwadi Party-Congress alliance, as well as the Bahujan Samaj Party, once a dominant power in a state where the BJP last ruled in 2002.

Winning the politically crucial state could help Modi set the tone for a second term in the national elections in 2019. The mandate also signaled a ringing endorsement of his policies, especially his controversial decision to scrap 500-and 1000-rupee banknotes, which led to a cash crunch but was welcomed by many as helpful in fighting corruption.View more:-Bulk Sms Service provider

For Prime Minister Modi, who staked his personal reputation on a high-octane campaign in Uttar Pradesh, winning the politically crucial state will boost his chances for a second term in the national elections in 2019.

Source:-Hindustantimes

Modi 360 and Modi 24X7: Politics of hope, aggression, magnetism, writes Rajdeep Sardesai

In the final leg of the 2014 general elections, Narendra Modi dramatically announced in a rally, “Yeh dil maange more”. It was a quintessential Modi soundbite: the BJP’s internal polls had captured a surge but the party leadership of Modi and his lieutenant, Amit Shah, were determined to push beyond “mission 272” towards a triple hundred. The rest, as they say, is history.

Twenty two months later, the 2017 assembly elections have shown that the BJP’s appetite is clearly undiminished. When Modi undertook a three-day intensive roadshow-cum-rally programme in his ‘adopted’ home of Varanasi, it was seen by some as a sign of desperation. More than one analyst predicted that the Modi juggernaut was being halted in the complex caste and community matrix of Uttar Pradesh. As it turns out, the BJP has swept the city and the entire eastern UP belt which went to the polls in the seventh and last phase. What was seen as desperation is perhaps a reflection of a trademark Modi-Shah campaign mantra: when ahead, simply go for the jugular.

For full coverage on UP election, click here

It is this constant hunger and desire for success that separates Modi from star politicians before him. Indira Gandhi was just as popular and authoritarian but maybe less driven (she actually had interests beyond politics!). The BJP’s original Lucknow poster boy, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, was charismatic and arguably a much finer public speaker; but he clearly lacked the ruthlessness that is part of the Modi persona. The Atal-Advani era was a gentler one and the BJP was still an exclusivist party struggling to shed its Brahmin-Bania upper caste image. The Ram Mandir movement aided the party’s political expansion, especially in UP, but it was never able to fully accommodate the aspirations of a new India because its leadership was still haunted by the dominance of the Congress–Nehruvian system.View more:-Bulk Sms Service provider

Source:-Hindustantimes

Narendra Modi’s UP victory, the BJP and India’s political future

The astonishing victory of Narendra Modi in UP elections is similar to what the Israelis in 1977 referred alternately to as the upheaval or earthquake. This was when Menachem Begin, the conservative Likud leader and former leader of the Irgun underground organisation, did the unthinkable by winning the national election, defeating the Labour-led establishment that ruled the country since 1948.

Modi’s victory indeed transforms India’s political landscape. BJP’s dominance is now a fact of India’s political life that everyone has to get used to. The party, with the means at its disposal, looks incapable of losing any state in the Hindi heartland. That should assure its hold on power for the foreseeable future.View more:-Bulk Sms Service provider

Source:-Hindustantimes

Mann Ki Baat highlights: Urge all to join ‘New India’ movement, says Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the nation in his first Mann Ki Baat following the BJP’s victories in the recently concluded assembly elections in five states.

This is the 30th edition of the Prime Minister’s monthly radio address. ‘Mann ki Baat’ will be broadcast in regional languages immediately after its Hindi broadcast.View more:-Bulk Sms Service provider

In his previous address, Modi discussed a range of subjects from the ISRO’s historic launch of a record 104 satellites aboard a single rocket to the Indian’s team’s victory in the Blind T20 Cricket World Cup. He also spoke about moving towards digital currency and the Bhim App.

Source:-Hindustantimes

PM Modi cites Dehradun girl’s impassioned message on Mann ki Baat

A teenager poured all her disgust in a voice message to the Prime Minister over a stinky, garbage-choked river flowing close to her backyard in the Uttarakhand capital.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi liked 16-year-old Gayatri Singh’s explosive appeal for her right to live in a clean environment so much that he included the girl’s audio clip in the 30th edition of his Mann ki Baat monthly radio address on Sunday.

He complimented the class 11 student from Dehradun’s Ajabpur Kala area for flagging a public problem — the rain-fed, seasonal hill river Rispana, which has been turned into a meandering mound of garbage.

Modi quoted the girl’s message to draw people’s attention towards cleanliness, which is necessary for the success of his government’s signature programme, Swachh Bharat. He said her message should be an inspiration for all.

For her part, Gayatri thanked the Prime Minister for acknowledging the problem and highlighting it in his popular radio show.View more:-Bulk Sms Service provider

“He said ‘Gayatri has a lot of anger in her towards this pollution, and every citizen should have the same anger towards pollution, then only can the nation achieve cleanliness’,” she recalled.

Source:-Hindustantimes

Barapullah Phase-III runs into land transfer hurdle

New Delhi: Barapullah phase III, connecting Mayur Vihar with INA, is expected to get over only by mid-2018 as the government hasn't been able to sort out a land acquisition problem.

"We need to acquire about eight acres in the middle of the riverbed, which comes under the Nangli Razapur village. We have been in negotiation with the residents who are asking for an absolutely impractical amount of money to transfer the land. Against Rs 27 lakh per acre that the government is offering, they are asking for Rs 9 crore per acre. They have had several meetings with the PWD secretary and senior officials but now the chief secretary is personally taking up the matter. Without this land, PWD cannot complete its foundation laying work," said a senior official.

Then there are BSES and Delhi Transco lines passing over the project area. "We have deposited money with BSES for shifting of the lines but there has been no movement there. Additionally, we have been asking Transco to shift its high tension wires for more than a year but that matter is also pending," the official added.

As a result of the delay, the Rs 1,260.63-crore project could take an additional six to eight months for completion.

source:-Timesofindia

New Faces in Congress: Catherine Cortez Masto, First Latina Senator

WASHINGTON — For many Democrats, Catherine Cortez Masto’s victory in Nevada’s high-stakes Senate race was a bright spot on an otherwise grim Election Day.

The granddaughter of a Mexican immigrant, Ms. Cortez Masto is the first Latina senator in history.

A former criminal prosecutor and a Democrat, Ms. Cortez Masto, 52, started her political career as Nevada’s attorney general, a post she held for two terms. She is replacing Harry Reid, the longtime Democratic leader in the Senate.

Ms. Cortez Masto sat down with The New York Times to talk about what comes next. This interview has been condensed.

How does it feel to be the first Latina senator?

It’s incredible to have made history, but it’s more important to me to be able to bring that diversity to the United States Senate, because it’s about time. One, to bring that voice and a different perspective to the table and use it and have a seat at the table to weigh in on decision-making and laws that are being made.

Source:-nytimes