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Arunk:Don't you think that MMS shying away from a debae with Advani will emphasize what BJP says about him being a weak PM?

: hi good questions

VIKAS:Don't you think VARUN GANDHI incident has enthused and motivated Uttar Pradesh BJP workers especially in Rohilkhand-Western UP who were otherwise demoralised?

: elections are not just about enthusing cadres, but also about enthusing the indian nation

leo:Rajdeep, whats your take on Mayawati as PM and Lalu and Sharad as Deputy PMs?

: god save us

Subodh Deshpande:best wishes of the gudi padva and new year to you, your family, friends and relatives. how do look at the present political development, is it heading in some direction or what..

: happy gudi padva.. we are heading for uncertain, but exciting times. the indian political system is beginning to unravel

NITYA:I think Educational Qualifications should be Mandatory in this age. Will it be suited?

: wont work in a country like india..

amit:Sir dont u think that Varun Gandhi is emerging as biggest threat for Modi's candidature for the top post

: Varun gandhi at the moment is a media created 'leader', long way to go

ravindu:Hi Rajdeep, what are the chances of Capt Gopinath winning from Bengulur.

: looks like he will crashland

Anjan:At this day of 2009, I don't think there is a campaign against Sonia Gandhi for being a 'foreigner'. Then why do you think she is not a prime ministerial candidate? Doesn't Sonia gandhi has more political supporters than Manmohan Singh?

: I think sonia gandhi realises that should she aspire to become pm, the foreinger issue will return to haunt her. this way, she has power without the controversy

swapneel:How the results would be in Maharashtra...on one hand, 10 years of misrule of Cong-NCP, on other hand though SS-BJP can ride the antiincumbency, MNS can spoil there chances in some places. Also SP, BSP likely to spoil Cong+ncp chances

: mahaarshtra likely to be evenly divided between the two major fronts, but again its one of those too close to call states

Sanman Gowda:Hello Rajdeep, If BJP makes a emotional speech from Vajpayee during the election days..would this help BJP?

: i'd love to hear from vajpayee.. he had a knack of seizing the political moment

Nakul:Mr. Rajdeep, I saw in the news that a new party has come up - Professional Party of India. It has educated professionals from corporate world, doctors, engineers etc. as its members. What do you predict about its prospects as a political party?

: political parties like this will need time and a change in the political system before they will have a real impact

Jiten:Congress today welcome Tauqeer Khan to it's party. By welcoming the cleric who announced an award on killing of Danish Cartoonist, isn't Congress too playing Communal Divisive politics?

: if this is true, its unfortunate and should be condemned

Kiriti:What is the latest situation in Andhra Pradesh political scene.In your last survey you predicted small tilt in favour of congress.Is there any change in that prediction according to the latest developments.

: andhra is by all acoounts a tight race. the congress appears to have a slight edge as of now, but dont rule out the chiranjeevi factor this time.

ravindu:Hi Rajdeep BJP is supporting Varun but not Gujarat minister Kodnani your comments pls

: kodnani has become an embarassment for the party after the court decision. I wish the bjp had taken a stand and made her resign till such time her name was cleared. ditto with varun

Raj Nethaji:Because of Kandhamal,do you think ruling party have an edge?what is the groung situation in kandhamal?should they postpond the elections?

: i think kandhamal is a black spot on naveen patnaik's otherwise impressive rule.. how the people vote is still uncertain.

Rakesh:Hi Do you think a presidential system as in the US will be better way of preventing hung parliament and relections in 2 years ( as in the past) which is a huge drain on the country anyway?

: presidential system in india could lead to authoritarian leadership.

VIKAS:Rajdeep, don't you think English media is a perennial failure in determining Indian people mood, rather it is vernacular media which is more close to the the thinking lines of masses, which really matters. English media is always busy with non-pragmatic hyper idealistic discussion among elites who don't even vote.

: i agree, the english media needs to have a ear to the ground

Ganesh:During the 2004 elections the whole media world projected a thumbing win for the NDA, but the results were reveresed. Now they are projecting the win for the UPA. Do you think the results will reverse or turn to be the projected one?

: this election is even more difficult to predict because of delimitation and the fragmentation of elections..

Mithilesh Singh Yadav:Do you really feel that Nitish Kumar has done good work in Bihar and he has a fair chance of getting maximum seats??

: he has done by all accounts a good job.. he deserves to do well

innak:How long can left parties claim they are secular while tying up with Coimbatore Bomb blast prime accused in Kerala for sole purpose of Muslim Vote Bank?

: i agree.. they have much to answer for in tieing up with madni

Syed:How many seats do you think BJP will win in Uttar Pradesh?And will BJP have a clean Sweep in Gujarat?

: bjp will struggle in up, in gujarat i expect them to do much better than 2004

2009 Elections:Has Congress done a tactical mistake by giving ticket to MD.Azharuddin as it hurts our nationalistic sentiments?

: its sad that azhar has been reduced to a token muslim face

harishkp1:How are the Left Parties always able to take the moral high ground when it comes to Communalism or Association with Divisive forces and in fact how are they able to maintain that image ?

: the left claims it has a monopoly on morality, its a danegrous way to be, but i will concede that a numbe rof left leaders lead a more austere life in comparison to the rest

Mohit Dass:We keep on discussing UP,BENGAL,TAMIL NADU,BIHAR politics everyday....... But we never pay any attention to polity of smaller states like Himachal.Dont you think crores of people staying in these smaller states matter to media houses? I sincerely request you to have a seperate half hour show for smaller staes election coverage... Will help to increase your TRPs.....

: like politics, tv too needs to decentralise by going to smaller states

Rohit Nambiar:I really dont understand how someone like Pawar and Ram Vilas Paswan who would win like 20 seats at the most aspire to be a PM. How can they make statements like Maharashtra wants a PM, Dalits want a PM. We are Indians. We want an able Indian to lead. Why are they creating such discussions based on the views of an insignificant few. Majority of India wants an able Leader who has majority support.

: i couldnt agree with you more. but ambition, like hope, runs eternal

bahubali:Hello Rajdeep, will there be a stable goverment this time?

: unlikely am afraid, we are in an era of rickety colaitions

ghatotkach:why are your favorite leaders.. it would be good to know as you may have met most of them so you will have a better idea.

: too many favourites to name here. its not easy to be a neta in india, even more difficult to be an effective neta

Sanman Gowda:Rajdeep, Dont you think we are giving more importance to PM post..instead we shhould give more importance to Cabinet,,,, where PM is one of them in equal terms.?

: I believe its important to have a strong prime minister. But i agree with you that our cabinet system needs to be strenghtened. no point having a good prime minister, if his ministers are corrupt and incompetent

Ameya Tukaram Pawar:IPL ws not supported coz it wud hv spoled LS election atmosphere. is it true?

: Not sure.. i believe the ipl issue could have been handled better by all sides if they had shown a spirit of compromise and conciliation

gunish:Rajdeep, which 2 swing states according to you will decide the election?

: five states: UP, Bihar, West Bengal, andhra and tamil nadu are the five key states..

ananya:Dear Rajdeep, Happy New Year! Do U vote...? thanks

: happy gudi padva and ugadi to you. Yes, i vote..

tkatkatka:Rajdeep, So far the chat has been great, but I see you deliberately avoiding the point of hate speeches against hindus.eg imam bukhari and other muslims who ask to vote on communal lines? Why are you shying away?

: not at all. the shahi imam, and i have written and spoken about this, is someone who has had a pernicious effect on society with his inflamatory rhetoric. Hate speech goes against the spirit of a plural society like ours, hindus, muslims, christians, it doesnt matter

innak:What should be the poll plank based on Development? or Poverty?

: governance.. we should demand better, more effective governance at all levels

SWATI:wHO WILL BE NEXT PM?

: thats the million dollar question, if i knew it, id be the next prime minister!!

kishore:Rajdeep , are you saying Advani is only good speaker and has no skills and ideas

: never said that.. all i said is that a prime minister must have different qualifications, public speaking is one of them

Anish:Mr. Sardesai. Hello! You guys are awesome at CNN-IBN.. Well, in the views of most people in the country, including mine, we see Mr. Varun Gandhi as someone with a tactic to polarise the Pilibhit constituency .. But what about the way in which some Islamic leaders tend to say things which are anti BJP. For instance, they say that a Muslim vote for the BJP would be in the wrong interest of the nation.

: have stated my views on varun earlier

Arijit Choudhury:Hi Rajdeep, It is nice to see u online for a chat. I have a simple observation I want your view. I want to know your take on Advani jee's comment on a Live Debate between him and Manmohan Singh Jee. I Think it is a good idea as most often when we see the spokesperson of various political party in TV debate they are basically disgusting as the voter of the country hardly get any sense of their real agenda aboutthe future of the country. If the PM and PM in waiting debate about their agenda about the critical problems our country is facing in terms of terrorism, infrastructure, economy, Inflation - Deflation, Price Hike, Unemplyment etc. It will be great help for the Voter to decide which party they should vote. I want to know your point of view on this ?

: answered this earlier.. a live debate would be a good idea

chetan:Mr. Rajdeep..Good afternoon Why Congress does not talk about Illegal migration from Bangladesh in it's Poll Manifesto which is great cause of worry for India. I think It has to preserve it's minority vote bank

: I think this is the kind of issue on which there should be a national consensus.

Prince:I have heard debate on your respective channel about Mayawatis Prime ministerial candidature ship. Do you think that she has that material that need to bee the Prime minister of India, fare answer please?

: I admire her tenacity as a politician, but dont think she has it in her to be a prime minister of integrity.

Anjan:The congress has rejected Advani's idea of having a live tv debate. Is the congress scared? Does this prove that Advani is more stronger and confident personality?

: i think advani is a much better public speaker than manmohan. but remember also, becoming prime minister is not a public speaking contest, but its about who has the ideas and skills required to govern effectively

Prince:Who do you vote for Rajdeep?

: wont reveal that!

Raghu:Dear Rajdeep, On PMK's alliance with AIADMK, if you look at the party from the time of its birth in 1998, in every election they have always alligned with the combination that has went on to win the election. This man, Ramdass, highly opportunitic though, seems to know the knack of calculating the voters mood and gets his airthmatic rite. What do you say?

: he had a phd in election maths!!

lal:The politicians should have a retirement age and as well only a fixed age for fighting for the LS polls, what is your view

: I dont think we need a retirement age for politicians, but certainly we need men and women who combine experience with energy and new ideas. sad to see someone like george fernandes despite his age and poor health still contesting elections

Manas Chakraborty:As Varun Gandhi, Raj Thackrey did same job. What is your view in this regard?

: Varun and Raj should enter a made for each other contest!!

lal:What about the possibility of a govt formation with two congress and BJP, after all anything is possible in politics

: meghnad desai had once suggested a congress bjp grand coalition.. dont see it happening though, indian politics is much too polarised between the national parties.

Nitin B:What you think of abt MNS chances in maharashtra??? Is Raj going to make any differences to new political eqations happening in Mah??

: MNS can only be a spoiler, it doesnt seem to have the organisational base to actually change political equations in maharashtra yet

R.Sriram:Another instance of one sided debate is with regards to Varun Gandhi. While the entire media has done the right thing by asking for Varun Gandhis arrest and not allowing him to contest elections, why the same yardstick is not applied to Mr.Karunanidhi who has called Hindus as theives

: karunanidhi too was criticised at the time by us. As i said, any form of hate speech directed at a particular community shld be condemned

amit:Rajdeep ji ...u dont think that....wat cong did in Bihar....is just to eliminate Lalu yadav from the race of PM......

: good one.. the congress by not tieing up with lalu has kept its options open in bihar.. this may not have been deliberate, but it might help the congress in striking post poll deals

R.Sriram:Why is the entire English media biased. Why all the talk shows tend to be one sided. Always against BJP. Why dont you ask the same uncomfortable questions to Congress and Left. Say for instance why dont you ask Mr.Bhudhadeb to step down as CPM has owned moral responsibility for Nandigram. Or for that matter Sonia Gandhi for apologizing for the Sikh riots. By apologizing they had admitted that they made a mistake right

: i think the charge of bias is not true. The media reports extensively on the news event of the day, it could be nandigram one day, varun gandhi the next.

amit:Rajdeep ji u r doing wonderful work as CNN's editor in chief.....We Indians love u and CNN IBN......Sir my question is........You dont think that the biggest failure of this UPA govt. is....failing to give justice to Gujrat riot victims.....

: dont blame just the upa, blame the entire criminal justice system in our country. whether it is 1984 or 2002, we have failed as a nation to provide justice to victims of mass violence

Manas Chakraborty:What will be probable equation within UPA after poll?

: I think the congress will frnakly do better than some of its allies like the dmk and the rjd

Manas Chakraborty:Will third front benefited from present political turbulence created by SP, RJD and LJP and as well yesterday's stand of PMK?

: as i said earlier, the third front will emerge after the polls once the results are known

Abhishek Ojha:With turbulent times ahead due to rising threat from Terrorism and Recession, don't you think INDIA needs a strong and tough leader. With the visible choice that we have, i see only L K Advani and Mayawati as the strong leaders. Does Mayawati have the capability in becoming the next Indira Gandhi of INDIA? Else we will see a Dalit ki Beti spending tax payers money on her lavish B'day Celebrations, if by any chance she becomes the next PM of INDIA

: Mayawati's rise in politics is an affirmation of the churning in Indian society. Unfortunately, while the forces she represents are genuine, her own politics is based on self aggrandisement not genuine social change

nana:Why is the media going by TRP's When BJP released its IT vision for the country, you did not cover it but you in the media covered that Arun Jaitley came to the briefing 30 minutes late. IT Vision of BJP is thousand times better than that of the Congress manifesto. Why you give to much importance to glam quotient and other unwanted things.

: waiting for the bjp manifesto.. will cover it extensively

India will win:PMK Ministers have decided to quit Manmohan Singh Ministry after they decided to quit UPA?On the contrary Lalu and Paswan haven't submitted their papers yet.Don't you feel they are fooling the country by continuing in the cabinet even though they have filelded candidates against Congress?

: I guess we now have to distinguish national politics from state compulsions. Lalu and Paswan are fighting a battle for surivial in bihar...

pankaj bengani:Rajdeep, how you think about the impact of Varun's surrender drama? Will it help BJP?

: I think any form of political drama is subject to the law of dimnishing returns. Some people will be attracted to it, but a majority of the voters now want performance not theatrics

vinit dave:Hi Rajdeep , I remembered u hv made the request to Advani and Sonia to come in for debate in Big Fight that eventually not happned and instead of them Jetli and Kapil came, so pl organize debate between Advani(despate for it) and any of the congress big leader. As a citizen on the county we should have right to understand the philosophy of the prime minister candidate.

: why dont you help me convince them? would love to host such a debate

LOKESH SURI:Hi Raj, I am from singapore & a great follower of your kind of journalism since ND TV days. Whereever I am on this globe I follow your weekened edition. (1) My question ....Is the kind of political Kichdi is cooking currently which is leading to the rise of regional parties is going to help INDIA ?? (2) Does developing counties like India is suitable for democratic model or not? Is it not stopping the overall progress of a great nation? (2) Why suddenly so much modia focus is on Varun gandhi when he has made such remarks (which still needs to be proven) when their are other leaders ( like Imam bukhari, etc) who says lot worse than him.

: Let me answer question one: the rise of the regional parties may not be desirable, but is inevitable. India lives in its states, unfortunately our national parties, esp the congress, havent fully understood the logic of a decentralised polity.

Indranil Mukhopadhyay:IF Dr Manmohan Singh is a "strong" PM ... IF UPA has performed well in the last 5 years ... etc etc. then why is the PM not prepared to contest LS polls? Why does he prefer to take the RS route to the parliament? Doesn't it gives out a wrong message to the general public?

: I believe the prime minister should contest. I feel that the prime minister should be from the lok sabha.

End of Dark Ages:Congress and Rahul Gandhi talk about Criminal Free Politics.By accepting people like Sadhu Yadav in their party don;t you feel that Congress and Rahul have contraidcted their idelogy?

: I agree.. criminalisation of politics cuts across party lines. no party can claim the moral high ground in this regard

Aman Ujjwal:Don't you think under the leadership of experienced campaigners like Advani and Modi Varun Gandhi will get matured gradually?I feel Varun should be properly handled..what do you say?

: I think varun gandhi's remarks were not what one expects of anyone in public life. This is not about bjp or congress, hindu or muslim. its about being indian and a responsible citizen loyal to the constitution of the country

srini:there has been no news coming out of states like haryana and punjab. Does no news mean good news for the incumbents?

: i think the akalis have a tough fight on their hands in punjab, while in haryana, its the congress which is in a battle. both govts are facing strong challenges

srini:Dont you think that the Mulayam-laloo-paswan alliance is more of a electoral gimmick/pressure tactic on Congress? After all SP has no presence in Bihar while RJD and LJP are non-existent in UP. Why is CNN-IBN projecting this is as a 4th front knowing very well that the longevity of the 3rd front itself is dubious?

: we never called it a fourth front, its more of a front within the upa front.. the real third front will emerge post elections once the numbers are clearer

Mohideen:MR Rajdeep what you think about DMDK Vijayakanth? Is he can survive politics anymore?

: Vijaykanth can be a spoiler at best. he still doesnt have enough of a support base to win seats in the lok sabha, but he certainly would have been a useful of any of the major fronts in tamil nadu

Amit Sadhwani:Good Afternoon. Recent opinion polls are giving edge to UPA but at the same time are giving almost equal number of seats to both BJP and Congress. Do you think that during the last leg of the elections, BJP being an opposition party is likely to gain and cross 150 seats?

: i think both the congress and the bjp will struggle to reach the 150 mark.. whoever reaches anything between 140 and 150 seats will have an edge.

srini:What do you think will happen in Bengal? are we about to see a landmark verdict in the communist bastion? do you think mamata + congress can touch the half way mark of 21?

: bengal promises one of the most fascinating battles of 2009. the real battle is more likely in 2011 in the state elections, but for now, there is little doubt that mamta has emerged as a magnet for anti-left forces

satish:do u think it is time to sideline or pay the least attention to smallers parties like PMK in this election

: in this election, small is beautiful.. parties with a handful of mps will also play a role in post poll alignments

Jayesh:i'm not sure if this is your news policy, but of late, I tend to get the feeling that CNN IBN is biased towards the Congress. This is reflected very implicitly in a lot of the content, whether it be questions of the day or headline wordings (the headline right now: "BJP dare falls flat", instead of "PM refuses televised debate", which is the actual fact). On a broader note, is the Indian media headed the US way with media houses starting to endorse candidates publicly (or political parties)?

: CNN IBN is a firmly independent channel, we expose and report on leaders across political parties. I dont think we have reached a stage where we will endorse a political party in this country. that endorsement in itself may compromise our independence

prasana:Very Good evening Mr.Rajdeep... Looking at the series of events happening over the last week, do you think the people of India have been really given an opportunity to choose the best of the government, since BJP is struggling with internal politics and congress is struggling with its eccentric allies? No leader or party has come up with a promising note & spirit that would uplift the moods of the people as Obama did it just a couple of months back. Do you think both india and the political parties are losing out something here???

: This is an election devoid of ideology, its an election about deal making between regional satraps and so-called national satraps.I think till the national parties are able to get their act together, we will see this kind of flux in indian politics

vksathishnaidu:is there any chance for modi to become PM after advani?

: Modi has a strong chance of becoming the bjp's face after advani.. he certainly could become the prime ministerial face of the bjp, but probably not of the nda..

Pramod Ambady:What may be the stand of 4th front after election? Whos there PM candidate ?

: I dont think there is a fourth front as yet.. amar singh is merely bargaining hard to enhance his own position within the UPA and strengthen his party. Frankly, there isnt even a third front in the true sense as yet.. parties belonging to the third/fourth front dont have a single individual who can be deemed a clear cut pm candidate

sandeep:DONT YOU THINK THAT MR ADVANI'S INVITATION TO MR MMS FOR A LIVE TV DEBATE ON VARIOUS ISSUES WILL START BEGINNING OF A NEW ERA IN INDIA POLITICAL SYSTEM? THE PEOPLE OF THIS COUNTRY WILL HAVE OPPORTUNITY TO KNOW THE OPINION OF THESE LEADERS ON VARIOUS ISSUES AND CAN BE A BETTER JUDGE OF SELECTING SOMEONE FOR THEIR BETTER TOMORROW??

: I think we should have a live television debate between the prime ministerial contenders, we are now a tele-deomcracy.. the country needs to know where their pm contenders stand on the issues of the day.. i am using this platform to invite both mr advani and dr singh to have a debate on cnn ibn!

rafiq:Dear Rajdeep, I was just thinking about the recent political development in TamilNadu wherein the PMK has once again changed their alliance partner. This party is changing alliances for almost every elections. What is their policy? How do you think people would rate them? Due you think that they are just an oppurtunist political party which wanted to share power irrespective with whom they allign? Iam totally confused.

: The PMK has a limited but entrenched voter base in north tamil nadu. it just wants to consolidate its base, win half a dozen seats and then bargain with whoever comes to power in delhi.. it doesnt matter to the pmk, which alliance it is with, so long as it is part of the power matrix

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