Nitish Kumar: Prime Minister
My name is Paramendra Kumar, and I am batting for Nitish Kumar.
Bihar bats for Nitish Kumar as PM
L K Advani's blog about a non-Congress, non-NDA Prime Minister coming to power after 2014 polls stoked the fire on Tuesday with Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray criticizing the BJP leader while JD(U) leaders differed in their opinion on the issue. Thackeray's comment, that Advani's prediction might be based on the two contenders - Nitish and Narendra Modi - for the PM's post within the NDA, threw up the issue for debate .... TOI on Tuesday reached out to a cross-section of society for reaction on Thackeray admitting Nitish as potential PM candidate and majority of them preferred Nitish to Modi mainly because of the former's secular credentials, wider acceptability among the NDA allies, clean image and his pan-India appeal among youth. .... his stature will also bring other socialist, secular and nationalist parties under one umbrella. The 2014 battle will be fought in the Hindi heartland. In this backdrop, Nitish will emerge an automatic choice .... "Nobody in this country is ready to accept that Modi is a secular person. Nitish has secular credentials. If the NDA projects Nitish as its next prime ministerial candidate, he would be able to garner support from all secular forces. Among the non-Congress leaders, Nitish would be the best prime minister." .... "Nitish has emerged as the strongest prime ministerial candidate. He would be the most capable and dynamic PM. He has vision and ability to lead a country of different religions, faiths and languages. Unlike Modi, Nitish has experience of running ministries at the Centre. Whichever ministry he headed, Nitish hardly disturbed the basic fabric of bureaucracy." .... "Bihar has taken a big leap in terms of development, safety and security under Nitish leadership. The world has recognized his ability to govern. In 2008, when I was travelling in Gujarat, some co-passengers in train told me about crisis of workers mainly because Biharis had stopped going to Gujarat after tremendous development in Nitish raj. I think Nitish would prove a better PM." ..... "When Lalu Prasad was the chief minister of Bihar, Nitish used to be called his 'Chanakya'. Let this modern Chanakya from Nalanda be the next PM. As he has brought an overall growth in Bihar, he would surely change the economic scenario of the country." .... "Modi has no experience of heading ministry at the Centre whereas Nitish has been minister of different departments, including railways, for several years. Besides, unlike Modi, Nitish has acceptance among people of all religions." ..... "Nitish must be given a chance to become PM. He would definitely bring the nation on the fast track of development as he has done in Bihar. If Modi is doing well in Gujarat it is because he got a developed territory to lead. But Bihar has been a 'Bimaru' state for several years. Nitish has made the turnaround no one had even thought of."
Post-2014 polls, non-Congress, non-BJP PM likely: LK Advani
Advani wrote in his blog, "A non-Congress, non-BJP prime minister heading a government supported by one of these two principal parties is, however, feasible. This has happened in the past also." .... Advani also predicted that the Congress was headed for its worst-ever debacle and might for the first time "sink to just two digits" in Lok Sabha .... at a time when the BJP leadership is debating whether it can risk annoying allies like Bihar CM Nitish Kumar by projecting his Gujarat counterpart Narendra Modi as its prime ministerial candidate. ..... In his blog , Advani also wrote that a government which will not be led by either the BJP or Congress was not likely to last long. "This has happened in the past also. But as the prime ministership of Chaudhry Charan Singh, Chandrashekharji, Deve Gowdaji and Inder Kumar Gujralji, as also of Vishwanath Pratap Singhji have shown, such governments have never lasted long," he said.
A scenario I am looking at is where either the BJP or the Congress emerge as the largest party but distant from a majority on their own, the non-Congress, non-BJP parties collectively become bigger than either the Congress or the BJP, and the BJP throwing its weight behind Nitish Kumar among all possible non-Congress, non-BJP candidates. That BJP support wipes out any possibility of any other non-Congress, non-BJP candidate showing up. Congress gets left out big time. The UPA as an alliance is no more, and even the NDA as an alliance is in tatters.
For the first time the non-Congress, non-BJP government could last a full four year term.
Advani blog: Sena fumes, JD(U) welcomes prediction
A political storm has stirred up over Bharatiya Janata Party veteran L.K. Advani's blog post predicting a non-Congress, non-BJP prime minister after the next polls, with ally Shiv Sena terming it "demoralising" and another ally Janata Dal(United) (JD-U) welcoming it..... JD(U) MP Shivanand Tiwari, however, defended Advani, saying his assessment is "impeccable".... Old ally Thackeray, in a strongly worded editorial in Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamna, however, said: "If Advani has any doubts, he can come to me at Matoshri (Thackeray's residence in Mumbai) and I will give him a dose of morale and strength." .... He added that the comment would "add fuel to the fire" of ambitions in Nitish Kumar and Narendra Modi for the prime minister's post.... "There is price rise, unemployment, corruption, but the BJP is not fighting a sustained battle against these evils... In Uttar Pradesh, Punjab elections, there was anti-incumbency factor which should have benefited the BJP but it didn't," said Tiwari..... Tiwari's comment come a day after his party chief Sharad Yadav said he did not agree with Advani's prediction
LK Advani's Blog
Speculations About Congress' Fate In 2014
the Government likely to take shape can be that of the Third Front. .... It would not at all be surprising if the next Lok Sabha elections yield a result which for the Congress may prove the worst in its history since 1952
How Britain Promoted Opium In India
Today, it is universally acknowledged that the two basic touchstones to judge a country’s conditions are its performance in the field of education and healthcare...... the British rulers in India deliberately and systematically, destroyed whatever wholesome existed .... When the British came there was throughout India, a system of communal schools managed by the village communities. The agents of the East India Company destroyed these village communities…. ..... “Instead of encouraging education, the Government encouraged drink. When the British came, India was a sober nation. ‘The temperance of the people,’ said Warren Hastings, ‘is demonstrated in the simplicity of their food and their total abstinence from spirituous liquors and other substances of intoxication.’ ...... “With the first trading posts established by the British, saloons were opened for the sale of rum, and the East India Company made handsome profits from the trade. When the Crown took over India it depended on the saloons for a large parts of its revenue; the license system was so arranged as to stimulate drinking and sales....... “The Government revenue from such licenses has increased seven-fold in the last forty years; in 1922 it stood at $60,000,000 annually-three times the appropriation for schools and universities.’ ..... She does not tell us that the opium is grown only by the Government, and is sold exclusively by the Government; that its sale, like the sale of drink through saloons, is carried on despite the protest of the Nationalist Congress, the Industrial and Social Conferences, the Provincial Conferences, the Brahmo-Somaj, the Arya-Somaj, the Mohammedans and the Christians, that there are seven thousand opium shops in India, operated by the British Government, in the most conspicuous places in every town; that the Central Legislature in 1921 passed a bill prohibiting the growth or sale of opium in India, and that the Government refused to act upon it; that from two to four hundred thousand acres of India’s soil, sorely needed for the raising of food, are given over to the growing of opium; and that the sale of the drug brings to the Government one-ninth of its total revenue every year. ...... It was…the practice of the miserable tyrants whom we found in India, that when they dreaded the capacity and spirit of some distinguished subjects, and yet could not venture to murder him, to administer to him daily dose of the pousta, a preparation of opium, the effect of which was in a few months to destroy all the bodily and mental powers of the wretch who was drugged with it, and turn him into a helpless idiot. That detestable artifice, more horrible than assassination itself, was worthy of those who employed it. It is no model for the English nation. We shall never consent to administer the pousta to a whole community, to stupefy and paralyze a great people
The NDA has to project Nitish as its PM candidate before the elections. That is a sure way for the NDA to get into power.
The only person contesting against Nitish Kumar is Rahul Gandhi, and Rahul Gandhi himself is a fan of Nitish Kumar. I think that pretty much sums up the debate, if there is one.
May 2009:
Rahul praises Nitish Kumar, Naidu
"I am not saying that only Congress has leaders (who have done good work), there are leaders in the opposition.... Nitish (Kumar), for example," he said, praising the Bihar chief minister.
Rahul blundered by praising Nitish, Jayalalitha, quips Jaitley
"It is a blunder on part of young Gandhi to praise Nitish Kumar and Jayalalitha, for his overtures have been cold-shouldered by the parties he was trying to reach. On the other hand, UPA partners got upset and is seeing it with suspicion"
Lalu, Paswan Dismiss Rahul's Praise For Nitish
Reacting to Rahul Gandhi lauding Nitish Kumar for the developmental work done in the state, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader and former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad made no attempt to hide his ire. He told reporters: "Nitish koi achha kaam nahi kiya hai (Nitish has not done any good work)." ... He added, "Neither is the Congress ours nor are we in Congress." ..... Lok Janshakti Party leader and Bihar leader Ram Vilas Paswan too made apparent his irritation at the Congress general secretary's speech. "If Nitish has done good work, then why has the Congress pitched its candidates against him? Kya bolte hain Rahul? (What is Rahul talking about)."
And the biggest name in the BJP is himself saying no to Modi, and yes to Nitish.
Lal Krishna Advani moves away from Modi, says Non-Cong, Non-BJP PM possible
Advani's remarks assume significance in the context of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's reservations over BJP projecting Modi as the Prime Ministerial candidate in the next general elections..... Of late, there has been speculation that Advani and Modi do not share the same relationship they used to have years ago. Advani had in an earlier blog also written about not-so-rosy a picture about the state of affairs in BJP
A vote for Nitish Kumar will be a vote for double digit growth rates for India. India becomes the new China with Nitish Kumar at the helm. This is about the economy, stupid.
India's time on the world stage has come.
Bangladesh Diplomat Identifies Pakistan's Seven Deadly Sins
If Saudis Can Surrender Abu Jindal, Why Can't Pak Hand Over Dawood Ibrahim?
Some Memories Of Past Presidential Elections
I must say Advani has a great blog.
