Opinion polls are crawling out of the woodwork in Karnataka. While most previous surveys have predicted a BJP downfall, a new one by the little-known Prabodhan Research Group, published by The Pioneer, Delhi, suggests it is going to be a hung assembly in the State: Congress 95 , BJP 81, JD(S) 27, KJP and independents eight each, BSR-Congress five.
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Narendar Pani of the national institute of advanced studies (NIAS), in Mail Today:
“There are also signs of aggressive Hindutva being a vote loser. Long before the BJP came to power in Karnataka it had a strong cadre-based stronghold in coastal Karnataka.
“When it came to power this area became the laboratory for its strong Hindutva methods. Churches were targeted, young couples of mixed religions were attacked, and moral policing took on a new momentum. But far from attracting fresh support, the BJP appears to have lost ground in this region.
“In the recent elections to urban local bodies in this region the BJP lost several ULBs, including one that it had not lost for 40 years.
“If Narendra Modi were to step in now and deliver Karnataka to the BJP he would be able to present himself to the nation as the political superhero India was waiting for. And within the BJP all challenges to his leadership will fall by the wayside.
“Which makes it all the more interesting that Narendra Modi has not shown any inclination to take over the leadership of the Karnataka battle. He was not among the national leaders who launched the party’s campaign in the state. Is it that the situation of the BJP in Karnataka is too adverse for even the Gujarat strongman?”
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THE POLLS SO FAR
Suvarna News-Cfore (April): Congress 115-127 out of 224; BJP 50-60; JD(S) 25-35
Headlines Today-C-Voter (March): Congress 114-122, BJP 48-56, JD(S) 32-38, KJP 10-14
Tehelka-C-Voter (January): Congress 133, BJP 63, JD(S) 19, KJP 5
Suvarna News-CFore (December 2012): Congress 113, BJP 58, JD(S) 31, KJP 14
Prabodhan Research Group (April 2013): Congress 95 , BJP 81, JD(S) 27, KJP and independents eight each, BSR-Congress five
Read the full article: Karnataka elections
Also read: Why is corruption not an issue in Karnataka?
POLL 2013: Can the Karnataka opinion polls go awry?
churumuri 
want to meet the head of Prabhodan Research group!
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Is that why bombs are going off near the BJP office in Bangalore?!!!
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You start off your article with an untruth. The poll you are mentioning is one made by BJP not by Pioneer, so naturally it inflates BJP’s chances. Do some homework before writing such a misleading opening statement,
And I don’t understand why Modi is being associated with Hindutva, he hasn’t spoken a word about Hindutva. Also, why should Modi take charge of Karnataka and try to win it for BJP? He is not even a functionary of the BJP. If the BJP makes him their leader, then probably he would accept the challenge, else why should he bother?
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How long can people be fooled in the name os secularism?
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But there is handsome returns on being “Secular” Congress style :)
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So? Does Naredar Pani advocate submissive Hindutva for increased returns!
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Well, I always felt RSS & its pariwar goons would be the albatross around BJPs neck.
We need a Right of center party in India, to counter the so called leftist (which in real are crony capitalist) parties. We need such a right to be truely rightist in economic sense, conservative in social sense (as with all right wing parties around the world).
We have way too many ‘left-of center’ parties. All these espouse a failed ideology and keep pushing us in to ever darker era where the only way out for oppressed would be violence.
What we need is breaking off from the shackles Nehru put our country into, and BJP is best placed to do that.
But, it can’t do that if it is shackled by its own pariwar running wild and hijacking a good economic agenda with non-sensic ‘religious agenda’.
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@Deepak
I don’t like the fact that Modi never apologizes or even regrets the violence in 2002.
Having said that, I don’t think even in worst days of 2002-2004, Modi ever brought up Hindu supremacy, or Hindu pride issues. As far as I can remember, he only spoke of regional pride “Gujarati Asmitha”.
His policies are such that casteism and religion doesn’t seem to play a role. That in my book makes him a true secularist!!
For all the ‘pseudo secularists’ of India, that must look ‘communal’!!!!
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What i see is India could probably do well under modi. But who will be in the team with him that if he gets elected would run the government ? I think BJP should try to form a team of sorts with one person as their head and start coming up with propaganda for the next elections.
Secularism is important and i think even congress is not all that secular. So maybe BJP is being targeted unfairly by media.
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Would like to see all four parties, each one of their candidates, defeated, even though I am not naive enough to believe the President’s rule would be corruption free.
Cry, my poor state.
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Invasion of the chaddi fanboys, eh?
A misplaced ideology like Hindutva is bound to fail.
Perhaps it is only 12% of the population (Sangh Parivar’s target audience) subscribes to this uniform and regimented Hindutva. The rest of us are happy with our flavours of Hinduism.
Pity the nation that is caught in between a manic Sangh parivar and an incompetent Nehru-Gandhi parivar.
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Hhahaah Pioneer the mouthpiece of BJP can only publish such comical figures for BJP and Cong. A bunch of jokers headed by that man called Chandan Mitra
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