The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is in desperate search for a candidate who can be pitted against Congress' Priya Dutt, who is a member of Parliament from Mumbai's north-west constituency. The party's first choice was to pick someone from the Bollywood brigade of Hema Malini, Raveena Tandon and Nana Patekar. But the party was left disappointed when all of them plainly refused to stand against Dutt (who is actor Sanjay Dutt's sister). However, the BJP has not given up yet, and has started another search.

Star play

Business Standard

Spokespeople of rival political parties may shout at each other on TV but off camera they speak the same language. Ravi Shankar Prasad of the Bharatiya Janata Party and Abhishek Manu Singhvi of the Congress bonded like long-lost friends at the reception hosted by the visiting German President last week. Soon after the formal address by the German President, the two were the first to rush to the buffet spread together before circulating among the guests. At least, the two parties share common ground on one issue!

Same differences

When Microsoft named Satya Nadella as its new boss this week, it ended Steve Ballmer's reign as one of the longest-serving CEOs of a tech company. During Ballmer's 14-year term at the helm, total annualised returns stood at just 0.4 per cent for the software giant's stock. Here's a look at how Ballmer's tenure compares with those of other tech chiefs.

Longevity leaderboard

Finance Minister P Chidambaram and Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council Chairman C Rangarajan expect economic growth for 2013-14 to be finally revised to over five per cent from the advance estimate of 4.9 per cent. However, the past trend may be an important indicator, Business Standard takes a look:

GDP for 2013-14 may not be revised to 5%-plus

A look at all the chairmen of Sebi since its inception

The Sebi Chair

A look at the steps taken by DGCA after its US counterpart's observations on Indian aviation

Aviation downgrade report

Marketers must seek watertight celebrity contracts

The endorsement dilemma

Independent directors' appointment norms need an overhaul

Jobs at the top

The names of Singur and Nandigram are often spoken of in the same breath since both are linked to the Mamata Banerjee-led movement, that catapulted her to power in West Bengal. So, it is no surprise that Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Rajnath Singh wants to claim a closer association to the movement in this election season. But in doing so during the party's rally in Kolkata, Singh confused Singur, where the abortive Tata Nano factory was located, with Nandigram, once a proposed zone for a chemical hub. Recalling his visit to the trouble spot, he robustly declared that his party stands by Banerjee's demand for returning forcibly acquired land in Nandigram. The trouble is, land acquisition never took place in Nandigram, the previous state government having been forced to call off the chemical hub project following Banerjee's protests; it is in Singur where the controversy lies. True, the distinction may be confusing for an outsider to the state but surely, being president of a p

Rajnath, Bengal's 'non-state actor'

The BJP had been on a celebrity hunt in West Bengal ahead of the party's ambitious brigade rally, which was addressed by Narendra Modi on Wednesday. Former Indian cricket team captain Sourav Ganguly was on the radar and the party had hoped he would make an appearance in Modi's rally. Unfortunately for the party, Ganguly refused the offer to join the saffron party in the first place. Apart from the BJP's recent catch, singer Bappi Lahiri, the other local celebrity who shared the stage was magician P C Sorcar. During an informal conversation a state BJP leader made the dry observation that "we hoped to produce magic with the presence of Sourav Ganguly, but at least we managed to get a magician."

Celebrity magic

The government's generous extension of the visa-on-arrival policy to all but eight countries from September this year may have sent strong signals that India is open for business and tourists. Whose idea was it? A senior government official showered praise on the persistent efforts of Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia and the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) for pursuing the matter. Then the official added an unprompted emphasis: "By PMO, I mean Rahul Gandhi, who was very keen to make the visa regime simpler for attracting tourists." Uh-huh?

Rahul & PMO

This refers to Dinesh Mohan's article "Unsafe in an Indian car" (February 6). It is not surprising that cars, even the ones manufactured by trusted Indian companies, are not safe on road (given the government's lax rules). What amazes is that even foreign companies such as Suzuki and Hyundai, which have a reputation of building safe cars in their country, follow the Indian practice of making easy profits.  In this respect, India has been a loser in the transfer of technology from abroad. Also, when carmakers say they make cars to suit Indian roads, what is their reference point - national highways or badly built internal arteries of roads? The government, too, has given little importance to road safety. There is no reason for having inferior Indian safety standards compared to those of the Global New Car Assessment Programme. It speaks volumes for the inertia of the government that the Sundar committee's 2007 recommendation to form a regulatory authority is languishing in bureaucratic

Letters: Unsafe by 'design'

The report "Govt banks develop cold feet on QIPs" (February 5) shows that the scenario is self-inflicted by public sector undertaking (PSU) banks because of lazy banking and poor loan monitoring. Bad debts are dissipating the health of banks that still control more than 75 per cent of the country's banking needs.The operating profits of these banks are on the rise, but there net profit has seen a clear fall over the years. The weakness lies in the monitoring and appraisal of loans, and the slackness in managing assets. The system is penalising the good borrowers and not able to contain the defaulters. The finance ministry should constantly watch the progress of these banks and appoint bank heads purely on the basis of merit.M Govardhan  MumbaiLetters can be mailed, faxed or e-mailed to:The Editor, Business StandardNehru House, 4 Bahadur Shah Zafar MargNew Delhi 110 002Fax: (011) 23720201E-mail: letters@bsmail.inAll letters must have a postal address and telephone number

Letters: Self-inflicted wounds

The United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government has already spent a large amount of money on issuing Aadhaar numbers to citizens. Though the project has faced several hurdles including disapprobation by the Supreme Court with reference to cash transfer of eligible subsidies, the enrolment process has continued, and it would be unwise to discard the system now. Considering the necessity of an authentic identification tool in a large country like India, there is a need to widen Aadhaar's base. It would have been a well-conceived idea to treat Aadhaar as a proof of citizenship combined with the PAN number, passport, Voter ID and other such documents. The Election Commission must step in to utilise the strengths of Aadhaar and enhance the voter base by introducing internet voting. The UPA should move before the next government contemplates an alternate scheme and shelves the current one.Rajiv N Magal  HassanLetters can be mailed, faxed or e-mailed to:The Editor, Business StandardNehru Hou

Letters: Widening Aadhaar's base

Financial and muscle power seem to be playing a large role in the Rajya Sabha elections

Millionaires & people charged with criminal cases seeking Rajya Sabha membership

Troublingly, India is an outlier on intellectual property

Turning down knowledge

Why Microsoft's new CEO might be the right pick

Satya Nadella's tough job

The Aam Aadmi Party's politics by dharna has attracted a fly-by-night operator. One such instance is a supposed party-organised protest rally at Jantar Mantar in Delhi on Wednesday to seek justice for Ugandan women in the state after its law minister's involvement in a controversy over their status. An event has been created by an unknown person on the website Iticket.kyazoonga.com, a site powered by ticketing firm Kyazoonga, which is selling tickets for the event named, "AAP Dharna For Justice Of Ugandan Women." It charges Rs 70 per head as fees to attend the rally. Even AAP took note of it and tweeted to say, "AAP does not endorse this. Kindly do not purchase any tickets from here."

Dharna and fraudulence

Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh was reeling off the names of backward districts that would benefit from the Centre's subsidised interest rate schemes for women's self-help groups when he was asked why Allahabad, home to so many of India's well-known leaders, figured in that list. The minister promptly shot back that the Centre had nothing to do with this list and it was the Uttar Pradesh government (headed by the Samajwadi Party) that had identified these districts. When someone half-jokingly asked why Amethi and Rae Bareli (the constituencies of Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi respectively) did not figure, Ramesh replied with a straight face "Saifai [SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav's ancestral village] does not figure in it either!"

Ins and outs of subsidies

The list of coal blocks that involve irregularities in allocation may be long but in an unusual move, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has asked the Supreme Court for permission to make public the list of coal blocks against which no criminality has been found. The principal reason that CBI has given for this request says much about India's business environment. Such a list would not only give the companies concerned some reprieve, CBI officials explain, it would also avoid the danger of con-men extracting bribes from businessmen to get their blocks out of the agency's radar.

Preventive disclosure

This refers to the editorial "In idle gear" (February 5). While India takes pride in saying that New Delhi organises Asia's largest and the world's second largest auto show, it is a fact that with a 10 per cent decline in annual sales, 2013 has been a year to forget for the Indian automobile sector. The ailing industry is expecting a facelift through this auto expo, which plans to showcase around 70 new models and concepts this year. Being always termed a price sensitive market, the Indian auto sector has failed to regain momentum despite all the discounts and offers announced by manufacturers. Together with the expo, the government can offer an interim revival package in the form of lower excise duty and incentives for scrapping older vehicles. These measures could create some demand that could eventually end the current slog and improve sales.Vivek George  AlappuzhaLetters can be mailed, faxed or e-mailed to:The Editor, Business StandardNehru House, 4 Bahadur Shah Zafar MargNew Delhi

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