NEW DELHI // The first bell in a prolonged electoral fight between the Congress party and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been rung, with the announcement of polling dates in the states of Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh.
The results of these elections, analysts say, will have a wider impact on the two parties, as they gear up for national elections in 2014.
VS Sampath, India's chief election commissioner, announced this week that elections to the state legislature of Himachal Pradesh will be held November 4. Polling in Gujarat, the most populous state, will take place in two phases on December 13 and 17.
Sandeep Shastri, a political scientist who is the deputy vice-chancellor of Jain University in Bangalore, was careful to emphasise that state elections could not always be taken as barometers of national trends.
"But especially with Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh being BJP-ruled states, how these elections impact the BJP will be critical," Mr Shastri told The National.
Mr Shastri said that, given the BJP's strengths in these two states, Congress would be wary of extrapolating too much from these elections. Although any dip in the BJP's vote share would prove encouraging. Indeed, Manish Tewari, one of the Congress' key spokespersons,said: "No state poll is a referendum on the performance of the national government."
The elections in Gujarat, where the chief minister Narendra Modi will be seeking a third consecutive term for his BJP government, will be watched particularly keenly.
Mr Modi has positioned himself as a pro-business politician and has claimed that Gujarat has achieved extraordinary rates of economic growth under his chief leadership. But he has also been dogged by the shadow of horrific communal riots in his state in 2002, in which members of his government have been found complicit.
A win for Mr Modi will strengthen his hand within the BJP and further enhance the possibility that he could be his party's prime ministerial candidate in 2014. "Given the fact that Modi is pitching for a national role, he will want to come up with a spectacular performance so that he can run at the national level," Mr Shastri said. "He'd want to not just keep the state with the BJP but also win it with better numbers."
Both the Congress and the BJP have already begun to fire preliminary salvos in their campaigns.
On Wednesday, at a rally of farmers in Rajkot, a town in the heart of Gujarat, the Congress president Sonia Gandhi said that the BJP government in Gujarat "is neck-deep in corruption" and claimed: "It is the Congress party that has laid the foundation of development in Gujarat."
Although she did not refer to Mr Modi by name, she said: "Some people, who tend to look negatively at whatever we do, try to take false credit for the development of Gujarat. Why don't they tell people the truth?"
Thursday, Mr Modi shot back, at a rally in the town of Dahod: "The Congress is responsible for inflation and price rise in the country. The Congress has failed to keep each and every promise made to the people."
ssubramanian@thenational.ae
Tree of Hell
Starring: Raed Zeno, Hadi Awada, Dr Mohammad Abdalla
Director: Raed Zeno
Rating: 4/5
Joker: Folie a Deux
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Brendan Gleeson
Director: Todd Phillips
Rating: 2/5
The specs: Aston Martin DB11 V8 vs Ferrari GTC4Lusso T
Price, base: Dh840,000; Dh120,000
Engine: 4.0L V8 twin-turbo; 3.9L V8 turbo
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic; seven-speed automatic
Power: 509hp @ 6,000rpm; 601hp @ 7,500rpm
Torque: 695Nm @ 2,000rpm; 760Nm @ 3,000rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 9.9L / 100km; 11.6L / 100km
RESULT
Arsenal 0 Chelsea 3
Chelsea: Willian (40'), Batshuayi (42', 49')
TRAP
Starring: Josh Hartnett, Saleka Shyamalan, Ariel Donaghue
Director: M Night Shyamalan
Rating: 3/5
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BAD%20BOYS%3A%20RIDE%20OR%20DIE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Adil%20El%20Arbi%20and%20Bilall%20Fallah%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarring%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EWill%20Smith%2C%20Martin%20Lawrence%2C%20Joe%20Pantoliano%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%203.5%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The specs
Engine: 3.8-litre twin-turbo V8
Power: 611bhp
Torque: 620Nm
Transmission: seven-speed automatic
Price: upon application
On sale: now
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%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EName%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EYodawy%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Egypt%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EKarim%20Khashaba%2C%20Sherief%20El-Feky%20and%20Yasser%20AbdelGawad%3Cstrong%3E%3Cbr%3ESector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EHealthTech%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETotal%20funding%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2424.5%20million%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EAlgebra%20Ventures%2C%20Global%20Ventures%2C%20MEVP%20and%20Delivery%20Hero%20Ventures%2C%20among%20others%3Cstrong%3E%3Cbr%3ENumber%20of%20employees%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20500%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Total funding: Self funded
Keane on …
Liverpool’s Uefa Champions League bid: “They’re great. With the attacking force they have, for me, they’re certainly one of the favourites. You look at the teams left in it - they’re capable of scoring against anybody at any given time. Defensively they’ve been good, so I don’t see any reason why they couldn’t go on and win it.”
Mohamed Salah’s debut campaign at Anfield: “Unbelievable. He’s been phenomenal. You can name the front three, but for him on a personal level, he’s been unreal. He’s been great to watch and hopefully he can continue now until the end of the season - which I’m sure he will, because he’s been in fine form. He’s been incredible this season.”
Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s instant impact at former club LA Galaxy: “Brilliant. It’s been a great start for him and for the club. They were crying out for another big name there. They were lacking that, for the prestige of LA Galaxy. And now they have one of the finest stars. I hope they can go win something this year.”
Tightening the screw on rogue recruiters
The UAE overhauled the procedure to recruit housemaids and domestic workers with a law in 2017 to protect low-income labour from being exploited.
Only recruitment companies authorised by the government are permitted as part of Tadbeer, a network of labour ministry-regulated centres.
A contract must be drawn up for domestic workers, the wages and job offer clearly stating the nature of work.
The contract stating the wages, work entailed and accommodation must be sent to the employee in their home country before they depart for the UAE.
The contract will be signed by the employer and employee when the domestic worker arrives in the UAE.
Only recruitment agencies registered with the ministry can undertake recruitment and employment applications for domestic workers.
Penalties for illegal recruitment in the UAE include fines of up to Dh100,000 and imprisonment
But agents not authorised by the government sidestep the law by illegally getting women into the country on visit visas.
Company%20Profile
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The specs
Engine: 2.7-litre 4-cylinder Turbomax
Power: 310hp
Torque: 583Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh192,500
On sale: Now
The biog
Name: Dhabia Khalifa AlQubaisi
Age: 23
How she spends spare time: Playing with cats at the clinic and feeding them
Inspiration: My father. He’s a hard working man who has been through a lot to provide us with everything we need
Favourite book: Attitude, emotions and the psychology of cats by Dr Nicholes Dodman
Favourit film: 101 Dalmatians - it remind me of my childhood and began my love of dogs
Word of advice: By being patient, good things will come and by staying positive you’ll have the will to continue to love what you're doing
Company%20profile
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