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The brouhaha over the RBI’s latest grant of ‘in-principle’ approval to two private players for getting into banking business on the eve of polls behind, the apex bank has not made any dramatic departure from established processes and procedures in this regard, This is notwithstanding a top-notch globally acclaimed economist as the Governor of the central bank in the country Dr Raghuram G. Rajan who has a manifest mind of his own. No doubt, the country’s retail banking segment is set to breathe a refreshing whiff of competition when following the recommendation of an expert committee under former RBI Governor Bimal Jalan the apex bank approved the license to start banking activity to IDFC Limited, the infrastructure financier and Bandhan Financial Services Limited, a microfinance institution from Kolkata.

This may well turn out to be a remarkable election for West Bengal. There is a new tendency among some political parties, not to mention large sections of the Bengal media, to depoliticise, even trivialise, the 2014 general elections. Parties vying for the power to control the destinies of nearly 90 million people, have fielded as candidates reigning as well as former glamour queens, from the Tollygunge tinsel town, not to mention singers, musicians and magicians. Most never had even a nodding acquaintance with the hurly-burly of active politics and gleefully admit this!

A new Government after the elections stands to gain from the prospects of growth recovery taking hold with reduced external vulnerabilities, inflation getting somewhat subdued, and at least some of delayed projects going on stream during 2014. In other words, the usual refrain of the 'economy in shambles' -would not hold good for a successor Government, which should address itself urgently to revival of investment for sustained growth.

Many Narendra Modi zealots are acting as if he had already been sworn in as Prime Minister, or as if that were only a matter of time. They have taken their cue from Mr Modi’s March 29 statement in Chandigarh, where he declared himself India’s future PM. He says the people have chosen the government even before voting; the national election is a mere formality to be gone through.

Ever since Narendra Modi realized that his action-reaction justification for the 2002 riots would not be politically effective outside Gujarat, he had been trying to adopt a kinder, gentler attitude towards the Muslims. This approach included his sadbhavna or goodwill fasts and appeals to the community to attend his rallies in their traditional attire to dispel the notion that he is not liked by them.

Left in the shadows for over a decade, TDP leader Chandrababu Naidu was only too eager to strike a deal with a party that seemed headed for power at the Centre, and so make the best of a bad situation in alliance with BJP. Thereby, Mr Naidu hopes somehow to regain the state he had lost to Congress, though now getting truncated (Seemandhra), and also become a power-sharing ally at the Centre. No wonder, he has triumphantly announced his re-entry into the BJP-led NDA.

Predicting the outcome of an election is a hazardous exercise even in the best of times. More so, when the two dominant fronts are evenly balanced and there is no visible wave in favour of either front.

Notwithstanding Aam Admi Party’s (AAP) thumping victory in Delhi election in December 2013, AAP is loosing grip on Delhi electorates. AC Nielson-ABP survey revealed a dramatic decline in AAP’s popularity in Delhi for Lok Sabha election. According to the survey, the vote share of AAP in Delhi, which was 55 percent in January, slid to 34 percent in March. A large pie of this was cut by Congress, which regained its popularity with vote share increased from 9 percent in January to 28 percent in March.

It is a ‘triple whammy’ for the Congress-led United Democratic Front Government and Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, who has staked his prestige in the outcome of the Lok Sabha election result from the State.

Narendra Modi has, after all, given an interview, the first after the BJP declared him as the party’s Prime Ministerial candidate. Notably, he preferred to give his interview to a little known Hindi channel, ETV, in which he talked on a variety of subjects but did not touch upon any of the controversial issues, like 2002 Godhra riots, if he would tender an apology for the riots, his attitude towards minorities, the question of sidelining of veteran L K Advani and expulsion of senior leader, Jaswant Singh. One does not know, if it was purposely or otherwise, the contentious questions were not put to him by the interviewer, Harishankar Vyas, editor of Naya India, considered pro-Modi.