Vote for BJP and Professionals

Vote for BJP! I have said Vote for BJP. This ADVICE holds even after this current message. This current message is about the Independents who are Professionals & the recently formed Profesionals Party at Mumbai..... Yes.. they should be voted also.. they can be ideal Ministers [hopefully]. But you know what happens to Independents who are not even poll savvy (I doubt Ms Sanyal ever did any party politics during her time when she was busy studying... and since this party - so called Professionals Party of India- is new and will need time to grow. Let us support them with an eye to the future BECAUSE we are PROFESSIONALS too.. BUT THIS time VOTE FOR BJP and in pockets Vote for these People.. WHO I am afraid must be ONLY in Mumbai because of the Terror attack and will also not be equipped to move the masses as they are looked at as the Elite class.. and at the end it is the mass vote that matters in India (Alas) - which is why you see all the games being played.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/LS-polls-Banker-to-take-on-Milind-Deora-in-Mumbai/articleshow/4311925.cms
25 Mar 2009, 0830 hrs IST, Namita Devidayal, TNN

MUMBAI: Corporate India has finally roused itself from its political apathy. Meera Sanyal, the 47-year-old head of ABN Amro Bank, is south Mumbai's Meera Sanyal latest political contestant in the Lok Sabha elections. Sanyal will be contesting the city's most affluent constituency against Congress MP Milind Deora, Shiv Sena candidate Mohan Rawle and another newcomer, ophthalmic surgeon Mona Shah, who is being backed by the recently formed Professionals Party of India.

"Let's get Mumbai back on track," says the IIM and Insead-educated Sanyal, who says she was roused to act when she saw the directionless state of Mumbai after the terror attacks.

"The decline in the quality of life in Mumbai is evident. My sense is that in the last several years, there doesn't seem to be any coherent plan and no one is in charge. So the city has gone from growing at a GDP rate of 7% (1994-98) to 2.4% (2004-2006). This is also a city that is contributing Rs 95,000 crore to the exchequer and has received, in return, 3% for infrastructure?"

Sanyal's punch-mantra or five-point plan is: More investment in the infrastructure of the city, a radical overhaul of the public transport system especially the local trains, stronger security, implementation of the Nagara Raj Bill which is about local self government at the neighbourhood level, and a directly elected and fully empowered mayor who becomes the single point of accountability. She is encouraging citizens to respond to her proposals on her website.

"This is a people's campaign," says a supporter. “The reason we’re in this jam is because corporate India hasn’t stepped up."

Transport is one of her top priorities. "Mumbai has one of the best public transport systems in the world but it does need a major overhaul. These commuters are the lifeline of the city. Don’t we need to do something to improve their quality of life?"

Why did she chose to go independent, especially when national elections are most often party-based? "Is this formidable political party system working in favour of the citizens of Mumbai? Why haven’t they delivered?" says Sanyal.

For the other first-time candidate, Dr Mona Shah, security is a top priority. "26/11 changed many of us but it didn't change any thing in Mumbai in terms of security. Even today, the coast guard doesn’t have night binoculars," says Shah.

The 38-year-old is from the Professionals Party of India which was founded in Pune in 2008. Some political observers scoff at the new entrants, saying they will merely split the votes. Says one, “It is incredibly naive on their part to think that any one cares about their candidatures. All this Loksatta and Jago Bhago is a lost cause.”

Says AGNI activist Gerson da Cunha, “The experience of independents elected to the corporation is that they have to chime in with the major party if they are to achieve anything. Having said that, the one advantage is that their loyalties are to their constituencies and to the city, not to any far-off high command.”

--The last para is true.. but then a start has to be made!!