The AAP effect

No wonder,Chandni Chowk MP Kapil Sibal was seen on a mass contact programme in his constituency late in the evening last Saturday.

The AAP effect

While Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi has expressed the desire to learn from the AAP,party MPs in Delhi have already learnt lessons from the drubbing at the hands of the AAP and are out in the field to recover the lost ground. According to them,the AAP had a major advantage in the Assembly election as their candidates got several months to launch door-to-door campaign even as Congress candidates kept on waiting for the announcement of party tickets till the eleventh hour. No wonder,Chandni Chowk MP Kapil Sibal was seen on a mass contact programme in his constituency late in the evening last Saturday. Other Congress MPs are likely to follow suit.

IN A CLEFT STICK

Muzaffarnagar riots have put the RLD in a fix. Party leaders claim that neither Jats nor Muslims are antagonistic to the RLD per se,but the hostility between the two communities is such that if the party fields a candidate of one community,the other would not vote for it. Eager to consolidate its hold on Jats,the RLD has been leading sugarcane farmers agitation from the front. Given that Jat-Muslim combine was the RLDs winning formula,the riots have forced the party leadership to explore the possibility of political realignments. But,as an RLD MP put it,even jumping on Narendra Modis bandwagon may not address the core issue Jat-Muslim rift. But,who can predict Ajit Singhs next move?

BEING NOTICED

It isnt just political parties in India who are drawing lessons from the AAPs spectacular debut in the Delhi elections. Former Nepal Prime Minister and Maoist leader Baburam Bhattarai,whose party suffered a drubbing in the recent Constituent Assembly elections,has said Left forces should look into AAPs success. In tweets last week,Bhattarai said the AAP phenomenon in Delhi election needs to be analysed properly by the Marxists forces and also,Maybe a fusion of Maoists amp; AAP could be a viable solution to political problems in South Asian countries! Why not probe into it ?

GOOD NEWS FOR HAL

The governments decision to give three choppers to the Afghanistan armed forces during President Hamid Karzais ongoing visit has brought cheer in the Bangalore head quartered Hindustan Aeronautics Limited. While the Afghans were earlier insisting on Russian Mi 17 choppers that its forces are used to operating,New Delhi has convinced them to go for Indian made Advanced Light Helicopters ALH. These choppers have had little demand in competitive tenders but are increasingly being sought for military diplomacy. In fact,the second of two ALHs to Maldives was handed over by the company last week to the visiting Defence Minister.