Would you concede this is the most difficult poll the Congress has ever faced?

Yes. And I will give you three reasons. There is definitely an element of anti-incumbency… and also the influence of a systematic, high-voltage campaign targeting the government and the unfair vilification of the leadership… The second reason is the kind of money being used by the BJP. By conservative estimates, the BJP is spending at least Rs 10,000 crore only on publicity… The third factor is that the BJP ran a concerted and systematic campaign for months and months to malign us. While they levelled false charges against the government, we did not step out in time… We allowed the negative narrative to be built up for far too long.

Why didn’t you counter it?

I think the positives were not effectively communicated. I can attribute this to a number of factors. Maybe the kind of publicity the governments do, we did not… Frankly speaking it is not that the PIB or the DAVP did not do it. They did. But somewhere it did not register.

One view is that the PM was not communicating enough.

Not only the prime minister, I think collectively we should concede that we should have been saying this, that we are a government committed and accountable…

The opposition has often questioned the PM’s silence.

That is his nature. It is not in his personality to claim credit for the achievements. On a few occasions, he has spoken out. His courteous nature and humility should not be misconstrued otherwise.

Was he silent because he did not have full control?

That is a canard being spread. When it came to the government, it was entirely left to the PM, as the leader of the team, to take charge of issues related to governance and policies. When it came to priorities, after all it is a Congress-led government, on certain issues like the social security net, NREGA, loan waiver or food security, the Congress did have a say. These were decisions taken in the core group in which both PM and the Congress president are there.

The NAC was often called the super-cabinet.

That is a wrong assessment. I don’t think it had any influence when it came to decision-making or governance.

Is it a fact that you did not take Narendra Modi seriously initially?

I must give the RSS and Modi credit for one thing. They have meticulously planned and drafted the campaign and in a way managed to create an artificial image. They packaged and marketed something that is not there. The packaging is good, but inside there is a substandard product.

The Congress has been reluctant to package its leader; Rahul Gandhi himself has been reluctant.See, we are an incumbent government. We have a PM in office, a government in office. Respecting the parliamentary form of government, there was no way we could have announced (Rahul as PM candidate)… Besides, we respect the Indian electorate unlike the RSS continued…

JD(U) president Sharad Yadav, who had to face embarrassment over the party’s “decision” to not send any party leader to campaign for AAP’s Arvind Kejriwal as announced earlier, would finally go to Varanasi on Monday along with the party spokesperson and Rajya Sabha MP K C Tyagi.

“We are both leaving for Varanasi tomorrow morning and Sharadji will address two meetings in the temple town tomorrow evening,” JD(U) secretary-general K C Tyagi told The Indian Express on Sunday. He said Yadav will also meet with some prominent citizens during the day to drum up support for Kejriwal. He would follow it up with a media interaction on May 6.

JD(U) state president Bashistha Narayan Singh had said on Saturday that as Bihar battle was more important, no leader should go to campaign for Kejriwal. Singh’s statement had come a day after the party announced its support for the AAP leader.

Sources said as Sharad Yadav was upset with the party’s “volte face” and registered his protest by saying that he would do “what the party wants him to do”, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar promptly responded and said the national president should go as per schedule.

JD(U) spokesperson Tyagi said, “I was surprised how our state president made such statement. I had announced party support for Kejriwal after talking to Sharadji and Nitishji at least four times. Things have been sorted out. Nitishji would not go because of his preoccupation with Bihar. Sharadji and I are going”.

Sharad Yadav also seems to have softened his stand and blamed the media for distorting his statement.  While at a Muzaffarpur public meeting two days ago he was reported as attacking Lalu and Nitish for not rising above caste politics, Yadav claimed he had never mentioned the two leaders, but was referring to BJP and Congress.

Tyagi, however, said: “It might be a slip of tongue at Muzaffarpur. Sharadji at times gets philosophical and his statement should not be read between the lines”.

Sources close to the CM indicated that Nitish could not afford to displease Sharad Yadav. “The party has been undergoing a process of churning. We have taken an ideological position against Narendra Modi and would stick to it. Some leaders have left the party in the past few months. But Sharadji is an asset and he must not feel hurt. The state president’s statement came because of lack of coordination”.

But this is not the first time that Yadav has disagreed with Nitish. While campaigning in Madhepura, when a reporter asked him about state government becoming weak if JD(U) does not get adequate number of LS seats, Yadav had said: “Nitish keeps saying such things and I do not need to react to everything”. The party sources said the national president should have forcefully ratified Nitish line.

In the last lap of electioneering in Amethi, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi held two maha-chaupals in his family pocket borough even as he upped his attacks on BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi over the latter’s statement he has been “chosen by the God” to rescue the country from the mess created by UPA.

“They (BJP) say no development has taken place in India in 60 years, that nation was sleeping, that Gujarat was sleeping. Aasman se ek vyakti gire aur unhone poore Gujarat ko jaga diya (A person fell from the sky and awakened all of Gujarat),” Rahul said while addressing one of the maha-chaupals.

“Modiji says that India’s public lacks power. He talks of giving power to the women and youth. Arey bhai kya samajh rakha hai aapne Hindustan ko? (What have you taken the country’s people for?) US President says he is scared of Indian youth and women…Inme itni shakti hai ki America kaanp raha hai (Indian youth is so powerful that even America is shivering),” Rahul said.

In an apparent dig at the snoopgate controversy, Rahul said that instead of promising to empower women, Modi’s hoardings should read “I will respect women”.Modi will be addressing a rally for party candidate Smriti Irani in Amethi Monday.

Rahul claimed that in Amethi alone, Congress has connected 13 lakh women to self-help groups Uttar Pradesh, including 1.5 lakh in Amethi.

“An opposition leader too said that we have done excellent work with women, but later retracted under pressure,” Rahul said, referring to remarks made by his cousin and BJP leader Varun Gandhi recently.

Rahul further alleged that Modi’s development model was limited to one or two industrialists, of which one was Adani. He said that while UPA government waived Rs 70,000 crore loan of the farmers, Modi gave land worth Rs 40,000 crore to Adani alone. Stating that UPA government spent hundreds of crores on welfare schemes, Rahul said, BJP wants to abolish them.

Addressing the maha-chaupals at Bhadar and Jagdishpur, Rahul also recounted his 30-year connection with Amethi while targeting the “outsiders who come very five years only to never return after losing.”

In the evening, Rahul was joined by sister Priyanka Gandhi for a road show from Jais. Like yesterday, Priyanka tried to remain in the background, letting her brother hog the spotlight. She remained seated next to the driver’s seat and only joined her brother atop the vehicle after he insisted.

The impressive road show brought Jais to a halt. Priyanka too egged on the electors, saying, “Vote nahi rasgulla hai, panja ekdum khullam khulla hai!” In between, Rahul acknowledged the enthusiastic supporters by hurling back garlands and often stepping out of the vehicle to talk to them. Seeing some people wearing Aam Aadmi Party’s caps, Rahul smiled and waved at them.

BJP PRIME ministerial candidate Narendra Modi’s close aide Amit Shah on Sunday called Azamgarh the “base of terrorists”.
Addressing a public meeting in Sagri area of Azamgarh, Shah said, “Azamgarh is the base of terrorists as there is no fear of the government, which is advocating their release.”

“The accused in the Gujarat bomb blasts were from Azamgarh. Being the then home minister there (Gujarat), I got the accused arrested. Since then not a single terrorist act has taken place in Gujarat,” he said.Blaming the Centre also, Shah said Pakistani intruders would retreat “30 kilometres” inside Pakistan when the Narendra Modi government comes to power.

The SP said Shah’s remarks were an expression of the BJP’s communal agenda and anti-Muslim politics. “Thousands of Muslims were killed in Gujarat and the Muslims of Gujarat are terrorised even now. They want to make Uttar Pradesh like Gujarat, that is why Shah is making such communal comments,” said SP’s Rajendra Chaudhary.

The already crowded TV news space has seen at least three dozen new launches in the past five months coinciding with the ongoing elections. Besides the so-called national space that comprises Hindi and English channels operating mainly out of Delhi, small broadcast markets such as Haryana, Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, and Kerala too have witnessed some hurried launches.

India is already a unique market, with as many news channels as those for all other genres such as general entertainment, films and sports put together. The trigger for the fresh avalanche, according to those in the business, was the elections.

According to estimates, more than Rs 300 crore has already been spent on political advertising on TV so far. While this was the lure for some players, for others the attraction was the assumed influence a news channel wields over politics and politicians, say those in the business.

The new promoters mainly included real estate developers, regional businessmen as well as large corporate houses, some with alleged political leanings. In March, for instance, TV18 Broadcast, with Reliance Industries as its primary investor, launched a Bangla news channel followed by one in Kannada.

Three more, targeting Gujarat, Orissa, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh were added last month, said Jagdeesh Chandra, head, ETV News Network. Chandra said all the relatively known 70 news channels in the north are making losses except the ETV Network. “I have no idea why people want to get into this business,” he said.

Another player to branch into regional markets was News Nation, a broadcast news network co-promoted by industrialist Abhey Oswal, the father-in-law of Congress MP Naveen Jindal. After a successful launch of its Hindi channel, the group launched new channels in UP and Uttarakhand. Notably, Oswal already has a little less than a 15 per cent stake in NDTV Ltd.

From a loudspeaker on an autorickshaw in Naugarh town under Domariyaganj Lok Sabha constituency blare these verses, which translate loosely as: “The cycle (the SP symbol) has become old, its tyres gone flat; the elephant (BSP) has taken ill, its mahout gone absent; the fan (Peace Party) is spinning faster by the day.”

The campaign is for Peace Party founder Dr Ayub; the target audience is poor Muslims unsure about their choice. With the Congress having lost its appeal in constituencies it unexpectedly won in 2009 — Faizabad, Bahraich, Shrawasti, Gonda, Domariyaganj, Maharajganj and Kushinagar — Muslims anxious about Narendra Modi remain uncertain about the alternative.

This in effect provides the BJP a window of opportunity. That is, however, offset by the fact that Muslims are more conscious and vocal than ever about the need to stop the BJP and stop Modi in his tracks in UP. In the 2007 (assembly), 2009 (Lok Sabha) and 2012 (assembly) elections, Muslims had been largely nonchalant towards the prospects of the BJP and allowed themselves to be wooed by the SP or the BSP.“Sir, you have travelled, do tell us who the BJP’s top challenger is here,” the elderly Mohammed Hadis, retired from the Army, asks this correspondent at Mahua Bazar in Gonda Lok Sabha.

Because of mass disenchantment with the ruling SP and its MLAs, Muslims are inclined not to count the party as strong enough to be able to withstand the Modi resurgence. At some places, they are looking hopefully at Mayawati’s BSP and its solid Dalit support base as something to rally around. In Kushinagar and to some extent Gonda, represented by union ministers R P N Singh and Beni Prasad Verma, they see the Congress as a potential option.

Two young Muslims in Domariyaganj, one working as a driver in Mumbai and who cannot read and write, the other preparing to go to Kota for coaching classes for medical entrance exams, reflect both the anxiety and the intent.

Sitting with a friend just back from Saudi Arabia, and waiting while their tractor gets serviced, Nazir, the taxi driver, initially offers a deviation when he talks of the job opportunities in Gujarat he has heard about. But then he suddenly plays a video clip about the Gujarat riots on his smartphone. “I don’t think people (in his village Aandi) will be united while voting. If they realise the importance of consolidation, Modi will lose,” Nazir says, predicting that the Peace Party and the BSP will get his village’s votes. He says the video had been sent to him by Shakeel Ahmed, who lost his family during the riots.

At Motipur village in Birdpur is the other young Muslim, Abdullah, the only one in his family to have appeared for continued…

In a verdict that will have serious implications on curbing paid news, the Supreme Court on Monday ruled that the Election Commission was authorised to disqualify a person on account on lodging false accounts of election expenditure.

A bench of Justices A K Patnaik and FMI Kalifulla held that the EC was well within its jurisdiction to hold inquiry into correctness of accounts and order disqualification if a candidate is found indulging in the menace of paid news.

The judgement came on a batch of appeals by former Maharashtra chief minister Ashok Chavan, former Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda, and Uttar Pradesh MLA Umlesh Yadav.

The bench has asked the EC to conclude inquiries against Chavan and Koda within 45 days and take appropriate action.

The Ashok Chavan case, known as the Paid News scandal, pertained to the alleged incorrect filing of election expenses by the former Maharashtra CM. Chavan was under inquiry by the EC after his 2009 victory from the Bhokar assembly seat in Nanded district for allegedly having misstated his real expenditure in the election campaign of 2009, and indulging in paid news. Chavan had come to the SC against an order of the Delhi High Ccourt.

The high court had rejected Chavan’s argument that the EC cannot go into the details of a statement of expenditure filed by a candidate to verify its truthfulness. Chavan had argued that this jurisdiction is given only to the high courts.

Koda was probed by the EC in a similar case whereas sitting Uttar Pradesh MLA Umlesh Yadav ultimately got disqualified on exactly the same grounds in October 2011. The EC, in its disqualification order, had said: the ECI observed that “by suppressing expenditure on ‘paid news’ and filing an incorrect or false account, the candidate involved is guilty of not merely circumventing the law relating to election expenses but also of resorting to false propaganda by projecting a wrong picture and defrauding the electorate.”

During the hearing, the central government took a stand that the EC has no power to disqualify a candidate on grounds of “correctness or otherwise” of his or her election accounts.

A counter-affidavit by the Union Law Ministry in the Ashok Chavan case had stated that “the power of the Election Commission to disqualify a person arises only in the event of failure to lodge an account of expenses and not for any other reason, including the correctness or otherwise of such accounts.”

The pandemic nature of this malpractice can be assessed from the fact that EC has identified more than 1400 instances of Paid News in 17 assembly elections over the last 4 years. Aimed at checking this menace, the EC has set up an Election Expenses Monitoring Committee to keep a watch on paid news for the 2014 general elections.

The UPA-II government had also drafted an amendment to the Press and Registration of Books Act, 1867.

The draft Press and Registration of Books Bill mandated that publications found