LONDON: The coming Indian general election is likely to lead to a Left-leaning government led by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati, a leading pollster predicted yesterday.
Yashwant Deshmukh, who runs the Team Cvoter polling firm and has covered more than 100 state and national elections in India, will tell British politicians this week that neither the Congress nor the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will be able to win a majority in elections to the Lok Sabha.
In fact, he believes that both parties will see their number of seats dramatically reduced. “This election result is less clear than any before it. It is not clear who will have the most seats, who will be able to form a majority and therefore who will be PM,” Deshmukh said, ahead of the House of Commons briefing.
“What is clear is that a lot of political deals will have to be done resulting in a leftwing coalition with protectionist tendencies having a much greater say than ever before.
“This time round the Congress party will be the loser and the BJP will be the even bigger loser. Both will all need to give away a lot of power if they’re going to even come close to a majority,” he added.
The briefing, which is being organized by the public relations company Saffron Chase, is expected to be attended by British MPs and leading businessmen and investors.
Saffron Chase Managing Director Vikas Pota said the elections were expected to lead to a slowdown in the process of liberalization in India. “It seems that the current world recession is leading to protectionist language from all nations. It will be difficult to grow the insurance, retail and banking sectors as a result,” he said.
In an unrelated development, in an incident of road rage yesterday, the staff of a Bahujan Samaj Party legislator allegedly thrashed the driver of a private bus when he did not let the politician’s motorcade pass quickly, the police said. The incident occurred in the afternoon in Luxur locality under Rabupura police station in Greater Noida.
