Two powerful leaders vie in India PM election match-up for a chance to lead developing giant

Democracy, elections and voting at Democracy Chronicles

India’s election battlelines drawn as Modi rises

AFP – Narendra Modi’s elevation as opposition chief for India’s elections sets up a contest between a Hindu nationalist who must shed the taint of religious riots and the reluctant prince of the Gandhi dynasty. Modi, the chief minister of Gujarat state known popularly as “NaMo”, was named election committee head.

Veteran Indian opposition leader Lal Krishna Advani resigned Monday in apparent protest at the elevation of hardliner Narendra Modi to lead his party into next year’s elections. Advani, an 85-year-old stalwart of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and a former deputy prime minister, resigned.