Oct 12 2014, 10:46 IST
SummaryPrime Minister Narendra Modi spearheaded his party's campaign for elections later this week in Maharashtra state...
Prime Minister Narendra Modi spearheaded his party's campaign for elections later this week in Maharashtra state, knowing that victory in the home of India's financial hub Mumbai will make it easier to push through economic reforms.
The smaller northern state of Haryana also votes on Wednesday. But it is the western state of Maharashtra that will provide the best test of how well Modi's appeal is holding up, five months after he stormed to power in a general election with promises to mend a country battered by corruption scandals, high inflation, and sharply slowing growth.
Modi has campaigned personally in Maharashtra, betting he can help his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) win big in a state with a population of 110 million spread across an area the size of Italy.
Local polls predict the BJP will win, but perhaps only with a narrow margin. Newspaper Mail Today's survey showed the party is close to gaining the 145 seats needed to clinch a majority in the 288-member state assembly. Maharashtra, along with Haryana, announces results on Oct. 19.
The BJP surprised analysts by breaking off a decades-old alliance with Shiv Sena, a right-wing regional party popular among the region's Marathi people that is now expected to provide formidable competition.
The opposition Congress party, which has ruled Maharashtra with an ally for 15 years, faces defeat on the same anti-incumbency wave that toppled it from power in the general election but retains pockets of support in the state.
Modi is making two dozen campaign stops across the state, and his gift for working a crowd was on full display at a rally in Mumbai on Thursday.
"Unless Mumbai and Maharashtra progresses, the country won't move forward. You have wasted 15 years - please don't waste any more time," he said as the crowd chanted his name.
Hopes that Modi would revive an economy that for two consecutive years has grown under 5 percent - a rate too slow for a country with India's demographics - have spurred a record-setting rally in shares and attracted $34 billion worth of foreign funds in markets this year.
But Modi has so far unveiled none of the "big bang" reforms needed to revive the stagnating economy, focusing instead on small initiatives to reform governance.
Some of the major expected reforms, especially a reduction of price controls in diesel, could prove unpopular. Others such as changes in goods and services taxes or the government's right to acquire land
More from Miscellaneous
Editor´s Pick
Shahid Kapoor's 'Haider' box office collections fall to new low
Zen Mobile to launch low cost Firefox smartphone in October
Bajaj Discover 150 review: Cheap, but not cheap
Copyright © The Indian Express ltd. All Rights Reserved.
No comments:
Post a Comment