I am closing my bank account with the Axis Bank

To protest against the systematic and extreme corruption in the Axis Bank, I am closing my bank account there. Indians deserve Axis Bank coming clean on the internal processes followed in its demonetisation activity. The board of Axis Bank should fire the management for this serious lapse, and an extensive audit by a reputed independent firm should be conducted to weed out the yet-to-be-discovered crimes within the Axis Bank.

RBI should impose a heavy fine on Axis Bank for the mass indulging of its employees in the criminal activity of money laundering during the current demonetisation efforts.

The average Bihari and Tamilian

"The average Bihari is 19 years old, has attended primary school and earns roughly Rs 35,000 per annum. The average Tamilian is 30 years old, has matriculated and earns Rs 136,000 per annum, nearly four times more. This demographic, literacy and income gap between the richest and poorest big states of India is the starkest among all large economies in the world."

- Praveen Chakravarty (IDFC Think Tank)

Analyzing the density of the rape crime in India

Kolkata, Bengaluru, Chennai (major cities in East India & South India) are not present in the list.

Why? Is rape a regional menace? Is this something to do with the mindset of men living in cities in this shameful list -- in Delhi, in cities of Maharashtra, and in few other cities? Very disturbing.

A thorough analysis needs to be made to identify the real cause, so that this heinous crime is averted.

Increasing stamina of JP is mind-blowing

Something strange is happening in the Telugu-speaking region of India. A person who has lost the election badly, who is perceived to be a "failed politician", who has renounced electoral politics, who has persuaded his party to renounce electoral politics, who is ignored by the national and the local media, who continues to not indulge in any gimmicks to get attention, who is currently not leading a ground-level people's movement, who is ignored by all the power-players, who is slowly getting old in an young society, is increasingly being adored, respected by the people.

JP is gaining strength. Importantly, though JP is not doing much to get that strength, still, he is gaining strength.

Just watch his Facebook and Twitter traffic. It has been increasing consistently for the last 2 years since 2014 elections. And we all know that he is not paying for that traffic. It is organic.

I personally do not know any other Indian politician who has shown this enormous amount of capacity. The only person who comes to mind was Subramanian Swamy when he was leading Janata Party. But at least the national media was covering him a lot for his sensational statements. JP does not even have that advantage.

Why is JP gaining strength? May be because people are realizing that he is the only person left in the entire Andhra Pradesh who can set right the sad situation.

Let's see how this will eventually turn out. Will this adoration translate to votes if JP decides to enter electoral politics again? People have failed him twice. Will they fail him again?

Modi should invite JP to his Central Government team

The story started in 2013 when Narendra Modi began making the correct statements on building a successful India. The nation was furious about the corruption scandals in the Congress government. Jayaprakash Narayan, who prioritizes the nation above everything else, believed that Modi is the best PM that India can have in the current situation, and endorsed the PM candidature of Modi. In 2014 General elections, as JP contested from Malkajgiri, an important campaign slogan was "Modi for India, JP for Malkajgiri". People accepted the slogan even though Modi belonged to Bharatiya Janata Party and JP belonged to Lok Satta Party. Due to certain reasons, JP could not win that election.

Now, the biggest drawback of Modi's Government is the shortage of talented and driven ministers in the Central Government. Many ambitious plans are not getting executed because of this reason, resulting in low performance of India. Modi should immediately invite talented people to his team, else India will not perform to its full potential. JP is one of the apt persons that Modi should approach. I am sure that JP will accept to work with Modi, in an apolitical manner, keeping the best interests of the country in mind.

Previously, JP helped the former PM Manmohan Singh and Congress Chief Sonia Gandhi when Congress was in power. Even though JP was extremely critical of Congress Government (example: JP filed the 2G spectrum scam case against Congress Government Supreme Court), JP was always available to help the then PM Manmohan Singh and also Sonia Gandhi on policy related issues.

Now, Modi should realize the shortcomings of his Government and invite capable persons such as JP to take up responsibilities. If Modi does not act fast on these shortcomings, then he will face a very tough time in the next General Elections in 2019.

Urban local elections is the future of LSP

Winning seats in city corporations is the most effective way for Lok Satta Party to grow. The party has gained acceptance in educated urban areas in certain cities in South India. The party can translate this into electoral victories if it focuses on certain specific divisions / wards in these cities where the party enjoys the demographic advantage. That is the reason it is important for LSP to fight hard in city corporations such as GHMC, BBMP, etc.

It is not easy for a party like LSP to win an MP or MLA seat in an urban area without first tasting success at the level of city corporations. Why?

1) An MP or MLA campaign requires significantly higher resources to create a 'wave' in that constituency towards victory. Even highly reputed contestants end up biting the dust

2) Sizable section of people tend to vote during General elections for a national party that they want to see in power at the center, even though they 'like' the LSP candidate who is contesting as an MP candidate.

For example, a large section of LSP sympathisers voted for BJP in the 2014 elections because they wanted Modi to become PM, even though they hated the local MP candidate of BJP (or a local party in alliance with BJP). This holds true for a typical State election too.

3) With a great campaign, an election at the division/ward level is winnable, as it is far easier to inspire your target voters to vote for you on pure 'performance' plank.

That said, the major challenge for LSP is that a typical LSP supporter does not vote at all in the city corporation / municipal elections! Hence, the mobilization and inspiring skills of the local candidate to get her educated voters (who are notorious for not exercising their vote) to the voting booth becomes most important.

Hence, LSP fighting the oncoming GHMC elections in February 2016 with enthusiasm is a very important story of the endeavor for clean politics.

Where is Aam Aadmi Party in 2016 GHMC elections? Why are they shying away?

We all know how Aam Aadmi Party acted irresponsibly with Lok Satta Party between 2013 to 2014. Even though Lok Satta Party supported AAP in 2013 Delhi Assembly elections and stopped itself from placing candidates against AAP candidates, AAP decided to fight against LSP in 2014 General Elections and 2014 united Andhra Pradesh Assembly elections. Ungrateful, small-minded folks!

If AAP was serious about bringing out a corruption-free politics, then why did it go all out to attempt to defeat LSP? AAP fielded candidates against Jayaprakash Narayan in Malkajgiri MP constituency, and against me in Malkajgiri MLA constituency. But AAP failed miserably to damage LSP.

Now, where is AAP in Hyderabad? What is it doing for 2016 GHMC elections? AAP tried to do negative politics in 2014 elections in Hyderabad -- against JP, against me. Now, where is it?

AAP members in Hyderabad should honestly ask themselves -- was such negative politics in 2014 against JP and myself worth it? It is time they grow up.

LSP, CPI and CPM are in alliance for GHMC elections 2016

Today, LSP, CPI and CPM have announced a local-issue based alliance for GHMC elections that are slated to be held this month. The broader agenda is clean politics and the alliance is rightly called 'Alliance for Clean Politics' (ACP). It is still the early days and the modalities of seat-sharing will be announced soon.

My comments:

1. I welcome this alliance but only for specific local body elections such as GHMC elections.
2. Alliance in the name of clean politics is a good idea, because the Left parties and LSP have nothing else in common!
3. It is good that the discourse is on clean politics especially when GHMC is corruption-ridden. Other parties have no proper agenda except for inciting regional feelings.
4. This alliance between LSP and the Left parties can become a blue-print for other local body elections that will be held in other metropolitan areas in certain states of India where LSP has a presence.
5. Demographically this alliance makes sense -- educated voters typically favor LSP, while low-wage workers typically favor the Left parties. That said, we need to check how effective the vote-transfer between these parties will be.
6. This kind of alliance might not work for Assembly or General elections because the ideologies of LSP and the Left parties are very different. Also, the Left parties have a tendency to align with Congress during General elections whereas it is unlikely that LSP is going to align with the Congress.

At this stage, the developments are not earth-shattering. Let's observe how the situation evolves from here.