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India has not had a more adverse report card on its economic performance than the IMF’s Annual Health Check of 2013, in over two decades of the post-liberalisation era - a substantial slowdown in growth, elevated inflation, combined fiscal deficit of 8.7 per cent of GDP, widening current account deficit, and new risks to the financial sector.

Amidst campaign within the party to project Narendra Modi as its PM candidate during the next Lok Sabha elections, BJP is giving indications that it is going back with all force to its basic Hindutva agenda of the construction of Ram Temple on a disputed plot in Ayodhya. Since the demolition of Babri Mosque, BJP had tried many times to raise this issue, but it could not succeed to incite Hindus of even Uttar Pradesh.

Has the Bharatiya Janata Party decided to drop even the pretence of being autonomous of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh in organisational matters? Going by the manner in which it chose Rajnath Singh as its president just when Nitin Gadkari was all set to get his second term, that indeed seems to be the case. That sordid drama shows India’s leading opposition party in a totally uncomplimentary light and raises questions about its ability to take on the United Progressive Alliance even at the latter’s most vulnerable moment.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Congress and the United Democratic Front(UDF) led by it in Kerala are reeling under the political storm unleashed by the Supreme Court’s verdict in the Suryanelli sex scandal case.

The names of three contenders for the prime minister’s post in 2014 can be said to have been formally proposed. In the Congress, Rahul Gandhi is clearly the front-runner as his candidature has been advocated by more than one member of his party. The next major contender is Narendra Modi, who is evidently the BJP’s favourite.

Last week’s two developments have again pushed Punjab into media headlines. One is the Badal-led Akali Dal’s sweeping victory in the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee elections. The other is the report of the latest edition of Economic Freedom of the States of India, which has indicted the Akali-BJP government for the deep downslide in Punjab’s economy. Have the two developments any implications for the relationship between the ruling allies Akali Dal and BJP, particularly in the context of 2014 Lok Sabha elections due in 15 months?

KOLKATA: The silent war between Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and the Western countries continues unabated.