Poll Shows Bjp And Allies Would Defeat Upa Today

[Anta Assamey]

[img]http://www.ndtv.com/news/images/rahul_gandhi_turban_295.jpg[/img]

[b][url="http://www.ndtv.com/article/list/cities/1/delhi"]New Delhi[/url]: [/b][color=#000000][font=Georgia,]Congress is headed for defeat in the Lok Sabha elections next year and barely one in five voters thinks Rahul Gandhi, its likely candidate, would be the best prime minister, a poll suggested Friday.[/font][/color]

[color=#000000][font=Georgia,]Mr Gandhi - whose father, grandmother and great-grandfather have all served as prime minister - is widely expected to lead Congress into the polls after being elevated to the post of party vice-president last weekend.[/font][/color]

[color=#000000][font=Georgia,]But only 22 percent of voters surveyed by the magazine India Today said he would make the best prime minister - well behind the hardline Hindu nationalist politician Narendra Modi who had a 36-percent rating.[/font][/color]

[color=#000000][font=Georgia,]The same poll showed the left-leaning Congress and its allies are on course to get 152-162 seats in the 552-seat Lok Sabha while the right-wing Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies were projected to get 198-208 seats.[/font][/color]

[color=#000000][font=Georgia,]Mr Modi, who is the chief minister of Gujarat, is widely seen as pushing to lead the party into the polls amid a fierce internal power struggle.[/font][/color]

[color=#000000][font=Georgia,]42-year-old Mr Gandhi has often appeared less than hungry for power after rejecting repeated requests to take on ministerial responsibilities.[/font][/color]

[color=#000000][font=Georgia,]But he is now his party's official number two behind his mother Sonia and a senior minister said on Wednesday that he was the party's "consensus" choice to be its prime ministerial candidate in elections due early next year.[/font][/color]

[color=#000000][font=Georgia,]Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who is 80, is not expected to stand in 2014.[/font][/color]

[color=#000000][font=Georgia,][img]http://www.ndtv.com/news/images/story_page/narendra_modi_felicitated_delhi_295.jpg[/img][/font][/color][color=#000000][font=Georgia,]The BJP chose veteran Rajnath Singh as its new president earlier this week after the scandal-plagued incumbent Nitin Gadkari abruptly resigned.[/font][/color]

[color=#000000][font=Georgia,]But analysts expect Mr Modi, who was re-elected as Gujarat chief minister for a third time last month, to launch a bid for the party leadership in the coming months and few expect Rajnath Singh to be the final candidate.[/font][/color]

[color=#000000][font=Georgia,]Mr Modi, whose humble roots are in sharp contrast to Mr Gandhi's privileged upbringing, remains a hugely divisive figure as he was at the helm in Gujarat during religious riots in 2002 in which some 2,000 people were killed.[/font][/color]

[color=#000000][font=Georgia,]While the survey made grim reading for Congress, it also represents a blow for the BJP as regional parties appear to be the chief beneficiaries of voters' frustration.[/font][/color]

[color=#000000][font=Georgia,]According to government forecasts for the fiscal year ending in March, India's economy is growing at less than six percent a year - its worst performance in a decade.[/font][/color]

[color=#000000][font=Georgia,]Congress has also been hit by corruption scandals but allegations surrounding Mr Gadkari have also damaged the BJP's standing, according to the survey of 12,823 people.[/font][/color]