"Maha" disaster for BJP-SS

The trends showing BJP-SS leading in more seats than Congress didn't hold and the BJP-SS combine suffered a big defeat in the elections. This is a body blow to the BJP and led to the resignation of Venkiah Naidu as the party president. Advani has taken over for now and has the monumental task of energising the party, prepare a plan of succession and stop the seemingly unstoppable path to irrelevance that BJP is on now. It would seem like an overstatement to consider the BJP to be on a path to irrelevance, but with many states scheduled to have assembly elections next year, in every one of which the BJP is expected to do rather badly, it is the most important time in BJP's existence. It is a good thing that the man who made BJP relevant in the 80's and early 90's is at the helm to try and make the party strong again. But it begs the question, whither the new generation of leaders in the BJP?. Advani is in his late 70's and cannot possibly carry on for long, especially not at the energy level needed to campaign in numerous state elections.

Advani's job has been made that much more harder by the public disaffection with hardcore hindutva politics. BJP has to somehow craft a development based agenda that appeals to both urban and rural voters. It is easier said than done. As Swapan Dasgutpa poined out on NDTV yesterday, economics has never really been the BJP's strong suit. It is now in the unenviable position of building an economic agenda from scratch. They don't seem to have any clear ideas on that front, with some RSS leaders spouting protectionist "Swadeshi" policies and senior BJP leaders like Jaswant Singh and Yashwant Sinha favoring reforms and liberalisation. Adavni has never really spoken much on economic issues and it is high time he did.

Oh, yeah I forgot. The Congress and the NCP are in the middle of their first fight (of the new election cycle) even before forming the government. Well it figures, because the problem is with forming the government. NCP surprisingly (or maybe not surprisingly) won more seats than the Congress and is now claiming the CM's post for itself based on the formula on which the 1999 elections were fought which said that the party that won more number of seats would get to choose the CM. Congress never expected this and are now trying all sorts of arguements to convince the NCP to give up its claim to the CM post. But Pawar is having none of it.

The worst thing for the saffron alliance in all this is that they lost to this alliance. Advani has a job that no one else really wants (and frankly no one else can handle) because any one else will most assuredly fail initially and never ever get another chance to lead the BJP. Exhibit Number 1 being Venkiah Naidu. So Advani has to pick his successor and create conditions which will be suitable for that person to move the party forward and make it stronger.

Test Match balanced on a knife edge

India goes into the 3rd day of the 2nd Test against Australia leading by 57 runs with 4 wickets in hand. Kaif and Patel played reasonably well in the final hour of play to build a lead for India. They have to stay as long as possible (duh!) and try to get a lead of 150 for India.

This Test match looked like a vintage India vs "team that can't play Kumble" from the mid 90's, you know like England or WI or SA or even SL. Australia were shot out for 235 by a briliant Kumble spell and then yesterday Sehwag batted like a champion. But give the Aussies credit for pegging away and getting wickets at regular Interval after lunch. The match could have easily gotten out of hand for the Aussies, but they bowled themselves back into it.

This Test match reminds me so much of the India-Australia Test match played in Chennai in 1998. India made 230 odd in the first innings and then Australia made 328 in their first, getting a lead of 90 odd in the process. Then first Sidhu and then Sachin batted brilliantly and piled on a huge score for Inda and then the spinners routed Austalia in the fourth innings of the game. Sachin made a magnificent 155*, hitting Warne (bowling around the wickets) repeatedly over mid-wicket and over cover. Can someone in the Australian camp do it today?. Ofcourse Hayden is perfectly capable of doing it. Look for him to attack Harbhajan and Kumble right from their first deliveries. I am excited by the prospects of a great day of cricket.

Maha Elections D-Day

The counting of votes for the 2--4 Maharashtra assembly elections started this morning and trends are coming in quick and fast. Rediff.com says BJP-SS are leading in 107 seats and Congress-NCP in 109. This is closer than the 1999 elections when thr COngress and NCP fought separately and together won 137 seats. This is good news for BJP but not great news. It might be a hung assembly again and with so many rebel COngress-NCP candidates winning, those rebels might return back to the mother ship and help them form the governement again. Now that won't be good news for BJP.

Update: Rediff.com now show BJP-SS leading in 119 and the "other guys" leading in 111. Wohoo!!!. I am getting nervous.

Congrats to Warne!!!

Warne just got Pathan caught at slip by Hayden for his 533rd wicket is Tests and is now the sole holder of the world record for most wickets in Test cricket. ABC radio just had some stats comparing him with Murali. Murali it seems has 87 wickets against Zimbabwe and 20 against Bangladesh. Warne has 6 against Zimbabwe and hasn't played Bangladesh. So that is a 107 to 6 advantage against the minnows for Murali. This does put Warne's career in perspective. But this is not to diminish Murali's achievements. Both Murali and Warne have done well against teams that struggle against spin (everyone except India and Australia to an extent,in this era), as they should.

Now that Pathan is gone and the score is at 88 for 2 with ten minutes to go before lunch, the game is delicately poised. India has to go into lunch without losing any more wickets. They have to bat till atleast lunch tomorrow to win this game. India cannot expect Australia to collapse once more in the 2nd innings and so they have to get a sizeable lead in their first go around.

Warne seems to be bowling well, but for me the danger man is Gillespie. He has the pace (that Mcgrath does not) and can bowl a great leg cutter. Kasper, despite his relative success in India, has been underrated in this series. He is also a danger man. Mcgrath for all his success in the previous Test matches in India does not seem to have it on this occasion. Pathan played him quite this morning.It remains to be seen how he well does.

Kumble destroys Australian middle order!

Kumble just caused a sensational collapse of the Australian batting lineup. The Aussies went from 189 for 2 to 235 all out!!!. Kumble took 7 wickets in 60 balls. Great stuff from the veteran legspinner and he crossed Ambrose (407) on the all-time wickets list.

I thought India needed to win the lunch and post-tea session (see previous post) to get back in the game after the great start for Australia and they did that quite brilliantly. There is still an hour's play to go and India need to win this portion of the day (or atleast tie)to end a great day for them. After lunch Harbhajan got the breakthrough with 2 wickets in 3 balls (Hayden and Langer) and then at the stroke of tea Kumble started his magic.

Tomorrow (2nd day) should be a great day of cricket. As I am writing this Clarke drops Yuvraj of Mcgrath in the first over. My,my, how I wish I was home watching this on TV or even better be at Chepauk watching it all live.

India vs Australia, 2nd Test

The Chepauk test match got underway this morning and the Aussie openers Hayden and Langer have put India on the back foot right way. The score is 123 for no loss after just 29 overs. This is not good for an Indian team hoping to comeback after the disastrous first test. Hayden didn't make a lot of runs in the first tests and he was due.

With the Aussies batting first, India has to get them out for within 350 to have a chance of winning. The Indian batting has been shaky for the last few months and they just can't let the Aussies make a huge score and put the pressure on them again. The Chennai pitch will apparently have a bit of bounce and Mcgrath and co. will definitely be licking their chops to have a bowl on this wicket. The series hangs in the balance for the Indians and they have to win this session and the next one too. They better have the Aussie 6 or 7 down for less than 320 at the end of the days play or this test could be over.

Petrol Pump Scandal

This does not bode well for the BJP. Nearly three-fourths of the petrol pump allotments made during the NDA rule were found to be improperly awarded by a panel setup by the Supreme Court. The list given by Indian Express in that link above has lots of relatives of BJP politicians and RSS functionaries (a few relatives of politicians from other parties). Ram Naik has a lot of explaining to do. BJP's "party with a difference" slogan is ringing very hollow right about now.

Maha Elections Redux

The elections to the Maharashtra assembly were over yesterday. NDTV (in alliance with Indian Express and Lok Satta) had a one and a half hour long exit poll program. I was surprised by the results of their polls. They seemed to give the BJP-Shiv Sena combine between 125-135 seats and the Congress-NCP combine between 120-130 seats.

The Headlines Today Polls (owned by India Today magazine I believe) had it for the Congress (140-150 seats) over the BJP-Sena (100-110 seats).

Maha Elections

This is the first post to this blog. I hope to give a "from India" perspective on all things India.
The most important event today is the elections to the Maharashtra assembly. Opinion polls seem to indicate that the Congress-NCP alliance will be back in power despite lots of rebels contesting against official party candidates. If true this will be a big blow to the BJP coming just a few months after it "lost" the Lok Sabha elections. (Yes, as far as I am concerned, BJP lost the elctions and Congress did not win it. You can't claim a victory if you have only 145 odd MP's in a house of 537(?)).