Everybody is talking about the winners and losers of the just concluded general elections. However, nobody is talking about NOTA that got a significant vote share. Interestingly, not many people know that NOTA does not have any bearing on the vote counting. It is merely a feedback mechanism to register a voter’s disappointment.

The Amethi-Wayanad Strategy

It’s been quite some time since Rahul Gandhi filed his nomination papers from Wayanad and Amethi. However, the controversy of him not contesting exclusively from Amethi, the Gandhi-family stronghold, has still not died down.

Anybody who follows politics cannot have missed one recent development – Rahul Gandhi’s new political avatar. Rahul has started speaking out ‘regularly’ on current issues, he has started expressing his opinions, and he has started taking a stand on contentious issues. This may have seemed implausible just a few months back. As they say, a week is a long time in politics. Indeed!

With the stupendous performance of the BJP in the recent state assembly elections, it is becoming clearer that the party, as expected by many, is likely to come out as the winner at the national level as well. How must the Congress be feeling right now? Is it still living in its ivory tower and cannot see the writing on the wall? Or can it actually see it, but refuses to acknowledge it publicly?

General elections are due in May next year, but the brouhaha surrounding them is such that it seems they have already begun. Come to think of it, they have. Only the casting of votes is pending, but the drama associated with them had already begun a year back. So, what are the political parties of our country doing? What are their strategies for winning the next elections?

Given the current political scenario, to ‘not’ say that Narendra Modi is likely to be the next Prime Minister of our country, is to risk being discarded as ignorant and naïve. So, having established this as a foregone conclusion, let us look at what Modi’s plans or focus areas could be and should be, if he actually becomes the head of the next government at the centre.

The state of politics of any country affects not only the state of the government, but also the state of the economy, international relations, and above all, the mood of the nation. Right now, all these sentiments are anything but positive. The next round of General Elections is due in May 2014, but the entire nation has been talking about them since early 2013. So much time, money, and effort is being wasted in wondering about and waiting for the next elections.

The PMs-in-Waiting

The 2014 general elections are round the corner, and the political parties have already started playing the campaigning-games. Like many times in the past, the game is not only about coming to power, but also about who will get the top-job of the Prime Minister, once in power.