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'Jaswant Singh would be a good choice'

Date: Tue, 26 Sep 2000, 12:16:00EST -0400
Subject: After Vajpayee, Who?

You completely missed out V P Singh's name from the list of PMs, the man during whose tenure all the schools and colleges in UP and Bihar remained closed. He ruined the careers of so many people. I didn't like the writer referring to Narasimha Rao as the one with 'a leg in the grave'. Also, why do you suggest that Vajpayee will have to be replaced during this term itself?

Soahn R Ranjan

Date: Tue, 26 Sep 2000, 08:53:30EST -0500
Subject: After Vajpayee, Who?

Jaswant Singh would be a good choice though it is unlikely that he will make it as he is not too popular within the saffron brigade

Hrishi

Date: Tue, 26 Sep 2000, 13:09:23EST +0100
Subject: After Vajpayee, Who?

Rubbish. This is the word came to my mind after seeing the title of this article. Yes, India has to think about who will be Vajpayee's successor, but the talk of mid-term polls will only create confusion in the minds of people and investors who are beginning to feel that India is politically stable.

Rabindra

Date: Tue, 26 Sep 2000, 07:53:53EST -0400
Subject: After Vajpayee, Who?

It was Krishna Prasad first and now it is Anvar Alikhan who have raised the question, 'After Vajpayee, Who?' Such posturings serve no purpose. Shri Vajpayee is not going anywhere. True, he will go through a minor surgery, but that does not entail a change in leadership.

The contention that Chandrababu Naidu is in the running for the PM's post is the most hilarious contention I have heard. The PM has to come from the dominant party within the NDA. Furthermore, surfing the web or being a glorified typist is not a prerequisite to becoming the PM of India. Chandrababu Naidu's time may come when the Telugu Desam Party acquires an all India character. Your reporter's contention that US approval is a factor in choosing India's PM smacks of Euro-American colonial mentality.

After Vajpayee, if it comes to that, another top BJP leader will bear the responsibility. All said and done, however, succession in the BJP will be nowhere close to what the Congress administrations have seen in the past.

Pran Lal

Date: Tue, 26 Sep 2000, 17:22:40EST +0530
Subject: After Vajpayee, Who?

The next PM is going to be P V Narashima Rao.

Jitani

Date: Tue, 26 Sep 2000, 17:02:15EST +0530
Subject: After Vajpayee, Who?

The coalition partners are a useless bunch, so there will be another election and L K Advani will be the next prime minister. The only other eligible person for the position is Chandrababu Naidu.

Nagendran Thampi

Date: Tue, 26 Sep 2000, 16:06:48EST +0530
Subject: After Vajpayee, Who?

The author made a very good point that was new to me: All the PMs in India after Nehru have been surprise choices... True indeed.

However, I would have appreciated it if Mr Anvar Alikhan had also made an analysis of the major contenders to the post rather than consider only Chandrababu Naidu. How about Advani, Yashwant Sinha, George Fernandes, Sonia Gandhi, Jaswant Singh, Jyoti Basu, Sharad Pawar, Manmohan Singh etc?

Interestingly, Pakistan too could face the same question -- after Musharraf who? Would anyone else from the army be as acceptable to the Pakistani masses as Musharraf who has projected some level of sincerity, determination etc? Would any of the tainted (or otherwise) politicians be able to return? It seems that the fates of both India and Pakistan hinge to a large extent on one person each. The NDA would have collapsed if it were not for the spirit of consensus and the leadership provided by Vajpayee, factors that have made the BJP acceptable to the other coalition partners.

Rajesh

Date: Tue, 26 Sep 2000, 17:57:34EST +0800
Subject: After Vajpayee, Who?

After Vajpayee, hopefully we should have a leader who will sweep away the joke that is Indian politics!

Prasad

Date: Fri, 22 Sep 2000, 14:23:30EST
Subject: Gladiators, Alligators and Animators

Congratulations! That was a wonderful news item. Reading a news article from a distant land, (US to be precise), about the contributions being made from my home city really warmed my heart.

Cheers to Anvar Ali Khan for presenting it so well and thanks to Rediff for publishing the same.

I look forward to reading more such articles.

Ajit V Kumar

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