The RSS appears all set to sack its liaison man in the BJP, Suresh Soni, and is likely to replace him with RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s close confidant Krishna Gopal. If this happens, it will be a big jolt to the Narendra Modi camp as the rival LK Advani camp has been pressing for Soni’s removal for some time now.
Sources say Bhagwat had given indications to this effect while interacting with BJP leaders during his three-day visit to Delhi last week. Sources said Gopal had accompanied Bhagwat to all these important meetings and he was virtually introduced as RSS’ future point person for the BJP.
Bhagwat’s move is aimed at striking a balance between the two power centres in the BJP: Modi and Advani. In fact, when the RSS was trying to placate Advani after he had dramatically resigned from all posts at the time of BJP’s Goa convention, the BJP patriarch had kept Soni’s removal as one of the conditions for taking back the resignations.
Just a couple of months back, RSS had asserted that Soni will not be removed. However, Soni has been involved in controversies for some time, making his continuance as Sangh’s liaison man untenable. Recently, his name had cropped up in the diaries seized during income-tax raids on the premises of two business houses of Bhopal. According to the notings in the diaries, payments were made for Soni’s travels.
The Modi camp is against Soni’s removal before the elections saying it will send a wrong signal to the cadres. Besides, many in the BJP are uncomfortable with Gopal’s pro-Brahmin image. The Modi camp feels that if the change has to be made, it should be done after the polls.
However, the Advani camp is not prepared to wait. Besides, what has made matters worse for Soni is that he can’t see eye to eye with Bhagwat’s blue-eyed boy, former BJP chief Nitin Gadkari.
Hailing from Mathura, Gopal has done doctorate in environmental science from Council of Scientific & Industrial Research.

A few days ago, SP Parliamentarian Jaya Prada met BJP President Rajnath Singh and told him of her desire to contest the Rampur Parliamentary constituency on a BJP ticket. But she wanted a favour of Rajnath Singh, which was that in the cash for vote scam, the BJP, especially Opposition Leader in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley became a little soft on Amar Singh. Rajnath has assured Jaya Prada that he will talk to Arun Jaitley about it and will let her know about it.

VHP leader Ashok Singhal seems to have woken up after 23 years and he has decided to initiative a “84 kos parikrama” in favour of Hinduism and to talk in favour of Narendra Modi. It is said that this plan has, consciously or unconsciously, the support of Mulayam Singh Yadav, too. The heart of the matter is that both the BJP and the SP wants votes to be polarised in UP. And the VHP brouhaha will also suit Mulayam and Co especially at this time when attention can be diverted from the way Akhilesh is running the government. Ashok Singh feels obligated because of the many favours Narendra Modi has done for Singh and his late brother. After Modi came to power in Gujarat, he helped a great deal in Singhal Brothers’ business flourishing and even helped in their assembly unit being formed in the state. It’s payback time today and Singhal has decided to stage the entire drama with the intentions of make Modi appear as a Hindu hero. When BJP’s UP secretary Amit Shah went to Faizabad, UP, the final touches to the planning to the yatra were made then itself. Thereafter, the VHP let the plan be known to the Sant Samaj in Allahabad and Hardwar through Baba Ramdev’s ashrams. On his behalf, Modi didn’t let the paucity of money come in the way of the planning.

After the Congress, the BJP’s Central War Room, too, has started working. During the last Lok Sabha elections in 2009, BJP’s War Room was an Ananth Kumar’s official residence. Later, the responsibility was given to Sudhindra Kulkarni. This time, the War Room has been established at the party’s headquarters at 11, Ashok Road. The responsibility for the same has been given to party’s National Secretary Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi. Both Modi and Rajnath are fairly interested in the War Room and in a way, Modi himself has decided to monitor the goings-on there. BJP’s War Room includes election organisation, election campaign, strategy, election programmes and taking care of programmes related to the politicians’ local areas. The War Room is a good synergy between new and experienced people. It will also coordinate all that is happening in different states at the party level. It will share and mitigate information, take care of party campaigns, tours by politicians, organising public rallies, as well as coordination between the party’s state units as well as the central unit. The BJP is looking at making the War Room more active in the days to come.

In a move which can clearly be seen as part of image makeover exercise for BJP Campaign Committee chief Narendra Modi, the saffron party’s prime ministerial aspirant has embarked upon the process of preparing a comprehensive package for the country’s Muslims.

Called the “Vision Document for Empowerment of Minorities” Modi’s exercise is clearly an attempt to cleanse his image among the Muslims, blotted by the 2002 communal riots in Gujarat. Curiously, it runs contrary to the aggressive Hindu agenda that Modi seems to be pursuing. Modi had recently said that he was a proud to be a Hindu nationalist.

Modi has constituted a team headed by BJP vice-president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi for the vision document. Naqvi told ENI that the document aimed at empowerment, and not “appeasement” of Muslims. “Our particular focus is on the political empowerment of Muslims. If we come to power, we will bring out an Action Taken Report detailing the promises made to the Muslims and whether they are fulfilled,” said Naqvi. Modi’s team is also preparing a chargesheet accusing Congress of “exploiting Muslims for its political gains”.

Apart from Naqvi, BJP leaders Gopinath Munde, Ravi Shankar Prasad and Nirmala Sitaraman are part of this team. However, Modi’s team realises somewhere that bringing about such a document could be perceived as a cosmetic change that the BJP is attempting. “It’s not that one vision document will change the outlook of the country’s Muslims towards the BJP. But we are making an honest effort from our side,” Naqvi said.

In the past, Modi’s efforts to woo the minorities community who feel aggrieved and targeted after the 2002 riots have only backfired. In 2011, Modi had refused to wear a cap offered by a Muslim cleric at the end of his Sadbhavna fast, leading his critics to attack him saying that Modi’s “sadbhavna (all faiths) mission” was just a charade. The shadow of 2002 riots hangs on Modi and it is to be seen whether the country’s Muslims will delink riots with Team Modi’s latest exercise.

The BJP might fail to score a hat-trick in Chhattisgarh if Raman Singh government’s intelligence report is to be believed. Sources say that according to a recent intelligence report, the BJP might end up with just 30-32 seats in the 90-seat assembly, thanks to a 10 per cent projected fall in the party’s vote share.
Under Raman Singh’s leadership, the party had won the 2003 and 2008 assembly polls. In 2008, with 40 per cent votes, BJP had won 50 seats while Congress won 38 seats with 36 per cent votes.

The Congress appears set to project Charan Das Mahant as the chief ministerial candidate and this could help the party wrest power from the BJP. The Raman Singh government has been on the backfoot on the issue of Naxal menace in the state, particularly after the dreaded red attack a few months ago in which top state Congress leaders, Mahendra Karma, Nand Kumar Patel and VC Shukla were assassinated.

However, the Congress’ dream of wresting power from the BJP could turn into a nightmare if former chief minister Ajit Jogi plays a spoilsport. Sources say that the Congress high command had summoned Jogi to Delhi recently and told him in clear terms that he will not be projected as the next chief minister. He was also told that his son Amit Jogi will not be entertained either because of corruption complaints against him.

However, his wife Renu could be considered for a Cabinet post in the state if the Congress returned to power.
Sources said Jogi was warned in no uncertain terms of strong disciplinary action if he chose to sabotage the party’s prospects.

On the face of it, Jogi has agreed to work for the party’s victory. However, insiders claim that Mahant’s projection has upset him and he has complained separately to two BSP MPs about this. BSP polled 6 per cent votes in 2008. If Jogi chooses to collaborate with BSP, the chief minister would be more than happy to help him.

Narendra Modi has readied a strategy to deal with his opposition within the party and outside of it. So, no one should be surprised if in the days to come, media comes to know of some old skeletons from the cupboards of Lal Krishna Advani, Sushma Swaraj, Yashwant Sinha and Shatrughn Sinha. Modi is getting all possible help from the US PR firm Apco Worldwide in this regard. Modi agreed to use the services of PR company Apco for the first time in August 2007 on the advice of some of his NRI friends. Since then the company has been working on making a brand out of Modi and Gujarat. The idea for “Vibrant Gujarat” is also said to be the brainchild of this company. This same company has a role to play not only in Amitabh Bachhan becoming the brand ambassador for the state but also Modi being addressed by the moniker NaMo. Modi renewed his contract with the company in 2009 and it is said that with the help of this company, an investment worth $153 billion have come to Gujarat until now. This same company has spread-headed the successful political campaigns such as One Israel, One Malyasia. Sukanti Ghosh takes care of the media company’s operations in India.

Despite the recent political rebuffs, the Advani camp refuses to stay quiet. It is busy trying to garner support against Modi within and outside the party. The Advani camp has a clear motive that in the ongoing political strife, it will not give in easily against Modi. Advani’s biggest loyalist and Opposition Leader in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj even let her intentions be known publicly at the BJP’s Working Committee meeting in Goa. Thereafter, Advani’s close friend Shatrughn Sinha’s quote appeared, saying that the 2014 Lok Sabha elections much be contested under Advani. Now lesser known leaders from the Advani camp may give their opinions. Then Yashwant Sinha may speak out against Modi. And in the end, Jaswant Singh from the Atal era may make his stance known. But for now, both Modi and Rajnath seem oblivious of the idea.

So who is behind the Rs 5-ticket for Narendra Modi’s speech in Hyderabad that has sparked off a controversy with the Congress seizing the opportunity to slam the Gujarat Chief Minister’s “corporate” culture? E Newspaper of India has tracked down the mind behind the controversial decision. Sukanti Ghosh is the man whose team has been working for over a year to build Brand Modi.
Ghosh, Managing Director of India at APCO Worldwide, a US-based lobbying firm, has been given the task of turning Modi’s 7 Race Course Road dreams into a reality. An expert in devising public policy and strategising on public affairs in the US, Ghosh’s team has been working on “Operation Modi” from APCO’s US and Mumbai offices.
The Mumbai team includes 12 communications experts, who have a rich experience in devising media strategy for various clients in the US. For them, turning NaMo’s Prime Ministerial dreams into a reality is a “business strategy”, according to sources. For instance, the team keeps a close tab on how the “media market” responds to the slogans and phrases used by Modi in his public speeches. A feedback is duly given to the Gujarat CM on the same.
Sources said that Ghosh speaks to Modi for an hour every day. He supplies media dockets to Modi on a regular basis which explains various nuances of his media strategy. There is a different strategy for different situations. Ghosh had served Barclays Bank as its communications head before joining APCO.

BJP President Rajnath Singh is trying to change his image. Ever since saffron leaders such as Nitin Gadkari, Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley are out of the race for the PM’s post, this Thakur from UP couldn’t have been happier. He has turned aggressive, hi-tech and is brimming with confidence. After an invitation from the US State Department, Rajnath Singh is off to the US on July 22. Ram Madhav of the Sangh has a biggest role to play in this journey of Singh. Ram Madhav has good relations with the US administration. In the past few days, Rajnath is travelling all over the country and is giving his candida opinion about national and international matters. So be it the Ishrat case or how the rupee has weakened against the dollar, you must have heard Rajnath’s opinions on the same. Now he wants to go to the US and broaden his horizons, so much that he can imbibe the US interests and ambitions as well.