Who do you support? Congress or BJP or the Third front?

[godsavetheworld]

Just 3 days left, for India to choose its next goverment. A new set of policies, that will affect not just India people, but will have an impact on the subcontinent, and will influence the world..

I dedicate this thread to both Indians and Pakistanis to discuss who they would think should come to power. Perhaps the only one who is more affected by a new government is India incase of Pakistan and Pakistan incase of India..

The BIG issues:

For India:
1) Economy and development
2) Terrorism
3) Kashmir
4) China's growing subcontinental interest which is persued as a " String of Pearls"
5) Communal harmony

For Pakistan:
1) Kashmir
2) Terrorism
3) Post 26/11, that nearly pushed the countries to war. We had all sorts of people on both sides some pushing for war, andsome urging restraint.. It does ring alarm bells about the fact that peace in the subcontinent is resting on the edge of a knife..

So with respect to all these issues whos policies and historic records do you feel would help both the countires the most...??

 

[indiatech]

please add to the issue list: Illegal Immigration into india.

No congress please. Have had enough. BJP has in the agenda to issue
ID cards to the citizens. Lets see how the Illigal immigrants gets ID cards. But again the problem is they will buy some from left and right
who will prevent them from acting against illigal immigrants like last time.

 

[niaz]

India is our neighbor and big neighbors cast a long shadow. Thus whatever happens in India will directly or indirectly affect Pakistan.

I grew up reading about independence struggle and despite being a Pakistani, I had nothing but respect for the pre independence giants of Indian politics ( all of them from Congress) such as Mahatma Gandhi, Valib Bahi Patel, Jawaharlal Nehru, Radha Krishnan, Sarojni Naido, Dadabhai Noorooji (founder of the Indian Congress), Krishna Menon etc. Nearly all were honest and worked for the independence from the colonial Raj.

No matter how dispassionate I try to be, being a Pakistan and a Muslim, I admit that I look at Indian leadership from the prejudiced perspective. Rightly or wrongly, I dislike BJP, mainly because it is a sectarian political party looking after the interest of high class Hindus only. It is also party (RSS is a part of BJP) of Nathoo Ram Godse, killer of Mahatma Gandhi. Its leaders such as Narender Sing Modi and LK Advani are out and out anti Muslim. Ultra anti Pakistani Shev Sena also forms a part of BJP coalition. What happened in Gujarat a few years back can only be termed as mass genocide of the Muslims?

My preference for Lalu Parshad, despite his proven dishonesty, is due to the fact the Bihar was one of the few States where Muslims weren’t massacred following the Babari Masjid riots. Congress on the other hand still has some secular outlook of its founding fathers left over.

My preference would therefore be for a continuation of Congress led government in India. It is however for Indians to decide which party they would like to govern.

 

[Max The Boss]

Indian National Congress will win. I Love Congress.

 

[Nemesis]

I support none of these coalitions. However i voted for Congress as i don't want BJP coming back to power.

 

[Patriot]

BJP ......:p

 

[Screaming Skull]

Exit polls suggest India's ruling Congress is ahead of the rest as voting ends​

5/13/2009

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – The ruling Congress-led coalition was slightly ahead of the opposition Hindu-nationalist alliance in India's general election, but both groups fell short of a parliamentary majority, early projections said on Wednesday.

Two exit polls showed both alliances would need new partners, renewing concerns that a shaky coalition government will emerge at a time when Asia's third largest economy is faced with a slowdown and instability in neighboring Pakistan.

A national projection by Headlines Today news channel also gave Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's ruling Congress coalition a lead, but they did not give the basis of the forecast. More polls are expected late on Wednesday.

Exit polls have had a mixed record in the past, given the difficulties of assessing an electorate of 714 million people, or more than twice the population of the United States. The polls were way off the mark in the last 2004 general election.

A poll by C-Voter polling agency showed the center-left Congress-led alliance winning 189-201 seats with the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led alliance taking 183-195 seats of the 543 seats at stake. The poll was conducted for India TV and UTV Business.

To rule a party or a coalition requires the support of 272 lawmakers forcing the Congress and the BJP led by Lal Krishna Advani to launch a frantic hunt for new allies.

"We are looking at political uncertainty and horse-trading," Amulya Ganguli, a New Delhi-based political commentator, said.

Indian shares fell 1.1 percent on Wednesday amid investor nervousness over the election outcome. Shares had rallied 4.1 percent in Tuesday's closing session on speculation the business-friendly BJP would form the next government.

Congress and the BJP are seen as taking broadly similar positions on Pakistan, with neither seen likely to give substantial ground until they are convinced Islamabad has dealt with the militants India blames for an attack on Mumbai last November.

Nor do either party have much room for maneuver on the economy, because a shaky coalition is seen as unlikely to carry key reforms including in the labor sector.

The actual count of votes is scheduled for Saturday and results from all the races to the 543-member lower house of parliament will be known that day.

THIRD FRONT

The "Third Front," a loose coalition of smaller parties spearheaded by the communists and which could hold the balance of power, could get 105 to 121 seats, the C-voter poll said.

It includes the caste-based Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) whose maverick leader Mayawati harbors prime ministerial ambitions. The poll projected BSP winning 24-30 seats which may be enough for her to leverage a key role in any government formation.

The election, projections showed, may have bruised the communists, leaving them with about 37 seats, down from more than 60 they won in 2004, weakening their ability to hold the balance of power in any new government.

The communists quit Singh's coalition last year to protest a nuclear deal with Washington.

Voting in nine states including the swing state of Tamil Nadu in the south ended on Wednesday, the final round of a process that began on April 16 to allow security forces to move across the sprawling country to supervise the vote.

The vote also included the state of Jammu and Kashmir where a former separatist and head of a faction of the regional People's Conference party, Sajjad Lone, has broken ranks to stand for election from Baramulla in the north of the state

Indian elections are notoriously hard to predict, but most polls had tipped Congress as the likely victor. Nonetheless, in the final stages of the vote, the pro-business BJP was seen as having gained late traction with some savvy alliance building.

India ruling Congress seen ahead as voting ends

 

[IceCold]

BJP

 

[TOPGUN]

I support whoever that will work out a peace deal & friendship with Pakistan the rest perhaps is for your countires interest! best of luck to whoever takes the seat and best of luck to India!

 

[tyagi]

Congress and third front are going to form the government.and i voted for bsp

 

[godsavetheworld]

I would prefer congress. BJP is completely 'ram bharose'. I believe if we can get a stable coalition, we mightbe able to implement all those reforms we couldnt. Man how I hate Left for blocking everything. Second reason, nearly all of my favourite politicians(Dr. Manmohan Singh, P.Chidambaram, Lalu(for what he did to railways)...

BJP

Haha Seriously? You want a government that would have "Sent in the Indian Army the run over Pakistan after 26/11" ???

 

[godsavetheworld]

US envoy meets Advani, Chandrababu Naidu; discusses India-US ties

Tells Naidu not to support the Anti-US Communists.

Ians May 13th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Amid mounting uncertainty over the outcome of the general elections in India, US Charge d’Affaires (head of mission) A. Peter Burleigh Wednesday met BJP’s prime ministerial candidate L.K. Advani and discussed issues relating to the India-US relations.


‘It was a routine courtesy call. The two discussed India-US relations,’ an official source in the US embassy said.

Advani has softened his stance on the India-US nuclear deal, which he and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had opposed till recently. He has now said he will not scrap the deal if the BJP forms the next government.

The BJP-led NDA’s tenure was marked by a dramatic improvement in India’s relations with the US after a brief period of strain following New Delhi’s 1998 nuclear tests.

A seasoned South Asia hand who speaks fluent Hindi, Bengali, Nepali and Sinhalese, Burleigh, who took over as the chief of mission in New Delhi over a month ago, flew to Hyderabad Tuesday ostensibly to inspect the new US consulate in the city.

He also met a spectrum of political leaders in the Andhra Pradesh capital, including Telugu Desam Party chief N. Chandrababu Naidu and Praja Rajyam Party chief and film star Chiranjeevi.

The meeting with Naidu triggered speculation among a section of the media that the US diplomat was trying to persuade Naidu not to back a Third Front government, in which the Left will have considerable influence.

The US embassy was quick to repudiate such reports. ‘He met with Naidu for routine consultations. The US categorically denies any attempt to interfere in India’s democratic political process,’ a spokesperson of the US embassy said.

The US is closely watching the Indian elections which is expected to produce a fractured mandate when results are announced Saturday.

With the Left fiercely opposed to the India-US nuclear deal and a larger strategic relationship between the two countries, there is concern in Washington about the Communists wielding influence in the next government.

The Left parties, which tried to topple the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government over the issue of the nuclear deal last year by withdrawing support, have said in their manifestos that if a government is formed with their support, they will review the deal and scrap the 2005 defence framework agreement.

 

[jeypore]

I like Dr. singh very much, but I do not like the congress party because Ghandi families hands on it. Since i have a very conservative views, l like the BJP.

 

[notsuperstitious]

We need change, but not the left front. so that leaves BJP. But will they be steady and responsible? Doubtful.

 

[Jako]

Congress will win,but with left support........which will have a greater left influence on the govt.......left is the way to go.......communism will be perfect for secular india,though a largely modified one,due to its partnership with the cong........no way bjp can win,and if they win hell will come to india,those communals can take no where with their ram rajya bullshit......