Hindu nationalist BJP favourites to form govt in India: Arab News

New Delhi, Jan 25: "India's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party looks set to form the next government in looming elections while the ruling Congress is headed for its worst-ever defeat," a report of the Saudi Arabia-based Arab News report said on Friday, based on a recent opinion poll carried out by the CNN-IBN along with the New Delhi-based Centre for the Study of Developing Societies.

According to the opinion poll, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance is favourites to win between 211-231 seats in the Lok Sabha while the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance, which is currently in power, could get reduced to between 107-127 seats. "On its own, the BJP, led by fiery hard-liner Narendra Modi would win 190-210 seats," the Arab News report said, citing the opinion poll. The Congress's tally is likely to take a nosedive to between 92-108, from 206 in 2009, said the poll.

The report also cited a Times of India headline saying "BJP poised for best-ever tally, Modi set to be PM, say polls".

The ruling Congress is headed for its worst-ever defeat, said the news report

"Pollsters have been predicting a defeat for Congress, with voters troubled by high inflation, sharply slowing economic growth which has hit jobs and a string of corruption scandals.But Modi, a pro-business reformer with a reputation for running a relatively clean administration in his home state of Gujarat, is also known for his strong Hindu nationalist leanings," the report said, adding: "Modi, 63, chief minister of western Gujarat state, is accused by critics of turning a blind eye to deadly anti-Muslim riots in his state in 2002".

It also spoke about the opinion poll carried out by India Today-Cvoter which also forecast the BJP as the biggest party with 188 seats. According to this survey, the BJP-led alliance would win 212 seats.

OneIndia News