From Gulf News.com:
“As India’s Parliamentary elections enter the fourth week, there’s a supreme irony for the perceived front-runner — the Bharatiya Janata Party. It hardly has any presence in Tamil Nadu, yet that state may decide whether the BJP is able to get past the winning 272-seat mark.
For decades, voters in Tamil Nadu have hardly looked beyond the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, with the Congress playing a side role at best.
The BJP has not been on the political radar here and yet its likelihood of forming a government in Delhi in 2014 may well hinge on securing a partner from Tamil Nadu, most likely the AIADMK.
Hopes of a post-election BJP-AIADMK tie-up appeared dented last week when AIADMK supremo and state chief minister Jayalalithaa Jayaram and BJP strongman Narendra Modi exchanged verbal volleys.
“They (the AIADMK and the DMK) have been ruling the state for decades, leaving the people with little choice”, remarked Modi during his recent rally in Chennai, going on to say that those “old tricks” would not work any longer.
Jayalalithaa wasted little time to hit back, pointing out that the “BJP stands no chance to win a single seat in Tamil Nadu”. Her ire was particularly directed at the previous BJP governments in neighbouring Karnataka, which she said sacrificed the interests of Tamil Nadu on the Cauvery water sharing issue.
Political observers believe that Jayalalithaa and Modi have good reasons to disagree with each other. While the BJP may already be dreaming of heading the government in Delhi, Jayalalithaa has every reason to believe that it cannot secure the requisite numbers without the AIADMK’s support.”
Meanwhile, both the Congress and the BJP have been receiving a lot of money from abroad:
“The Times of India reports on the Delhi High Court’s finding that both parties were receiving foreign funds in contravention of the law (Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act).
A division bench comprising Justice Pradeep Nandrajog and Justice Jayant Nath asked the government and the Election Commission (EC) to act against the two political parties for accepting foreign funds from Vedanta subsidiaries. It asked MHA and EC to “relook and reappraise the receipts of the political parties and identify foreign contributions received by foreign sources” and take action within six months.
In addition, the bench also faulted the Congress for taking donations from public sector undertakings State Trading Corporation of India and Metals and Minerals Corporation of India. HC asked the authorities to investigate Congress’ defence that the money was donated to NSUI and accidentally reflected in Congress accounts.”