Modi, Nitish share dais, Telangana Rashtra Samithi chief seeks votes for ‘iron man’ Advani

Days before the verdict of 2009, in an atmosphere thick with speculation on imminent political realignments, the NDA put up a show of strength and unity Sunday, bringing together on stage Narendra Modi and Nitish Kumar, and welcoming Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) into the fold.

TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao, who is supposed to be part of a grand alliance with the Telugu Desam Party and the Left in Andhra Pradesh, announced to the rally: “We will not only support NDA with an open heart but also rope in others to support it... You must vote for Lauh Purush L K Advani as the next Prime Minister.”

Modi walked to Kumar and, clasping his hand, raised it in a gesture of comradeship for the cameras. In his speech, Modi referred to the Bihar chief minister — who had just about a month ago said he would not share a dais with the Gujarat CM and there was no need for him to campaign for the JD(U)-BJP in Bihar — as “hamare apne Nitish Kumar”.

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Bharatiya janata party will have newer allies after polls, says Advani

NDA Prime Ministerial candidate L K Advani has said the BJP is confident of getting newer allies after the elections. “I will not like to name any particular party, but while I’m broadly satisfied with the number of parties having joined the alliance, I do think that there are other parties which might be willing to come along after the elections.” In an interview to The Indian Express, Advani also disclosed he had requested former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to enter Rajya Sabha after the latter decided not to contest for Lok Sabha but he declined.

“While the addition of the Asom Gana Parishad, Indian National Lok Dal, Asom Gana Parishad, Rashtriya Lok Dal, and Gorkha Janmukti Morcha to the NDA is satisfying, I do think that other parties might be willing to come along (post-election),” he said.

On the which the BJP had said would be unveiled before the first phase of election of a national agenda for governance, Advani said: “Our (BJP) office-bearers considered this matter, and the unanimous view of our party and the JD(U) was that we do it later.

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Kanpur Bhartiya Janata Party edit: Atal out of Advani rally posters, then back in

Atal Bihari Vajpayee has just been sighted in and around Kanpur.

After the Uttar Pradesh BJP gave the former Prime Minister a complete go-by in the run-up to prime ministerial candidate L K Advani’s June 27 rally, the local leadership, in a belated move, has started erecting hoardings with Atal’s pictures.

“This (hoardings without Atal’s pictures) is just not acceptable. It was the responsibility of the state BJP unit. They will have to include Ataljee’s pictures,” said a leader, close to Advani, when asked. Last week, Uttar Pradesh BJP chief Ramapati Ram Tripathi had an ingenuous explanation to offer: “Ataljee hamare hriday mein baste hain” (Atal resides in our hearts). On Saturday, he told this paper that the hoardings did carry Atal pictures.

The new cutouts, with Atal inscriptions, are embellished with a catchy slogan: “Ataljee ka yeh sandesh, Advani ko saupon desh (Atal’s message — give the reins of the country to Advani)”.

For a party that has turned sloganeering into an art, the message may just be apt. When Vajpayee became Bharatiya Jana Sangh president upon the death of Deendayal Upadhyaya, writes Advani in his memoirs, one slogan that fired the imagination of the party workers was “andhere mein ek chingari, atal bihari atal bihari (Atal is the only ray of hope in this darkness).

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US Defence Secretary turn to say: deal clock ticking

U S Secretary of Defence Robert Gates today said he has conveyed it to the Indian leadership that while Washington understands the domestic political compulsions of the UPA government on the nuclear deal, it is important to realise that the "clock is ticking" in the US as this is an election year and the Senate needs time to ratify the agreement.

"I said we are respectful of the domestic political situation here. But the clock is ticking in terms of how much time is available to get all the different aspects of the agreement implemented," he said at a select media interaction after concluding his two-day visit to India during which he met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Leader of Opposition L K Advani, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Defence Minister A K Antony.

Underlining that the civilian nuclear agreement "serves the interest of both countries", Gates said: "The real key here is providing time for our Senate to ratify the final arrangement. This being an election year, there is an open question of how long the Senate will be in session beyond the summer and September."

But he emphasised that the Indo-US relationship was "a wide ranging one" and among the few issues in US foreign relations policy with bipartisan support, which is unlikely to change after the US presidential polls. In this context, he also felt that the relationship will continue


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