Indian Elections 2009

Flush with the success of the Lok Sabha elections, the four pre-poll allies of the Congress have begin negotiating for their share of the pie.

• UPA allies battle for their share of the spoils, Hindustan Times, May 20 2009

The DMK has already asked for seven cabinet positions. I guess their logic is that if they ask for seven, they will get five.

• DMK demands 7 cabinet berths; meeting with Pranab inconclusive, Indian Express, May 20 2009

Farooq Abdullah of the National Conference has also expressed a desire for a cabinet post for the party (read him).

Mamta Banerjee has not yet expressed a desire to join the cabinet in Delhi, claiming to be concentrating on the coming Assembly elections in West Bengal in 2011. As expected, the party has called for pre-poning the elections.

• Mamata yet to take decision on joining UPA cabinet, Indian Express, May 20 2009

NCP has been quiet so far …

May 20th, 2009 | Tags: allies, DMK, National Conference, NCP, Trinamool Congress, UPA government, UPA/Congress | Category: DMK, Dr. Manmohan Singh, Elections, National Conference, Sharad Pawar, Trinamool Congress, UPA/Congress, coalitions/alliances | Comments (1)

With 261 seats in it’s bag, the United Progressive Alliance (UPA), is confident of getting support of 11 additional MPs to cross the magic number of 272 needed for a majority in the parliament. Speculation is rife in main stream media that the parties that constituted the fourth front (RJD,SP and LJP) will not be invited to support the UPA government; instead the UPA will rely on like-minded independents and smaller parties to make up for the shortfall.

Apart from the Congress party that won 206 seats on it’s own, the UPA consists of Sharad Pawar’s NCP, M. Karunanidhi’s DMK, Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress and Farooq Abdullah’s National Conference, who won the remaining 55. Leaders of these four parties are expected to be part of the new cabinet. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is also expected to join the cabinet.

The PM, Dr. Manmohan Singh, will give his resignation to the President on Monday who will ask him to continue as the interim-PM. The Election Commission will present the list of successful Lok sabha candidates to President Pratibha Patil on Monday evening.

Dr. Manmohan Singh is expected to be sworn in as the PM either on 20 or 22 May 2009.

May 17th, 2009 | Tags: Dr. Manmohan Singh, Lok Sabha elections, lok sabha results, UPA/Congress | Category: Dr. Manmohan Singh, Election Results, Elections, Indian Politics, National Conference, Rahul Gandhi, Sharad Pawar, Sonia Gandhi, Trinamool Congress, UPA/Congress, coalitions/alliances | Comments (1)

Leaders from various regional parties have endorsed NCP leader, Mr. Sharad Pawar as a PM candidate. Orissa Chief Minister and BJD leader, Navin Patniak came out in support of Mr. Pawar. Their parties have also agreed on a seat arrangement in Orissa for the coming Lok Sabha elections.

• BJD may support Pawar for PM, says Patnaik, Times of India, Apr 19 2009‎

Mr. Pawar has now got a boost for his candidature from Tamil leader Ms. Jayalalithha who has also endorsed his candidature for the PM position.

• Jayalalithaa backs Pawar for PM, , The Hindu, Apr 21 2009
• Jayalalitha endorses Pawar for PM, Times of India, Apr 20 2009

One is not sure what this endorsement means. NCP will not be able to get enough seats in the coming Lok Sabha elections to independently form the government. It is a key member of the UPA and will need to rely on Congress’ support to stake such a claim. The probability of Congress endorsing Mr. Pawar over Mr. Manmohan Singh or Mr. Rahul Gandhi is nil. So the only conclusion one can reach is that Mr. Pawar hopes to become the next PM by getting support from the Third/Fourth Front parties or parties that will break away from the UPA or NDA coalitions post elections. He has been able to get support from some important Third Front leaders - but he still needs the nod from the left parties. He also needs to win over Behan Mayawati who has already declared her intention of becoming the next PM.

It is a very tough task for Mr. Pawar, but then the Maratha leader has fought bigger hurdles in the past.

April 21st, 2009 | Tags: BJD, Jayalalithaa, Maharashtra, NCP, Orissa, Sharad Pawar | Category: BJD, Indian Politics, Maharashtra, Orissa, Sharad Pawar | Comments (2)

Leader of National Congress Party (NCP), Mr. Sharad Pawar, has been publicly meeting with his counterparts in  the Third Front and this is causing intense speculation among the political parties and the Main stream media . NCP is a key constituent in the Congress led United Progressive Alliance (UPA). After the recent fall out between RJD and Congress, NCP remains the only party, apart from DMK, who can possibly win a huge chunk of votes for UPA.

Speculations are rife that Mr. Pawar has put forth his candidature for the PM post to the Third Front (now who hasn’t ?). Third Front leadership has maintained that their PM candidate will be decided only after the election results and will depend on which party has the maximum votes. Of course, that hasn’t stopped other political leaders in supporting him as a PM candidate.

• Pawar addresses Third Front rally over phone, Indian Express, Apr 3 2009
• Pawar’s move to attend Third front rally a shocker: Deshmukh, Press Trust of India, Apr 3 2009
• Cong feels Pawar shift: Rivals rally today, Mulayam backs him as PM, Indian Express, Apr 3 2009

Congress has looked at this development with apprehension, though Mr. Pawar has reiterated that his party is still part of the UPA. BJP is of course seeing this development with glee.

• Manmohan is Cong’s PM nominee, not UPA’s: Pawar, Indian Express, Apr 3 2009
• I am not part of a Third Front: Pawar, Sify, Apr 3 2009
• UPA disintegrated, no hope of its forming govt: BJP, The Hindu, Apr 1, 2009‎

April 3rd, 2009 | Tags: Sharad Pawar, Third Front | Category: Elections, Sharad Pawar, Third Front, UPA/Congress | Leave a comment