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February 14, 2019
Rajdeep Sardesai
Columns

The importance of being Nitin Gadkari in a big election year

In February 1994, as I was preparing to leave Mumbai for Delhi, a senior professional colleague had a word of caution: “Remember, Delhi is very different to our city....

January 31, 2019
Rajdeep Sardesai
Columns

Behenji Needed More than Behen

This is the season for opinion polls with hyper-ventilating TV anchors throwing a volley of numbers at dazed viewers with an authority that at times belies the spotty track...

January 31, 2019
Rajdeep Sardesai
Columns

Remembering George Fernandes, the original political rebel

We were on a flight to Patna in early 2005 and I was sitting next to George Fernandes. He was off to campaign in the Bihar elections: as Samata...

January 17, 2019
Rajdeep Sardesai
Columns

Mayawati for PM is a Clever Ploy

‘One day, she will fulfill Babasaheb Ambedkar’s dream!” claimed Bahujan Samaj Party founder, Kanshi Ram, with a hint of pride, pointing to the woman who had just served us...

January 2, 2019
Rajdeep Sardesai
Columns

Kaun Banega Pradhan Mantri? Game on!

As the temperatures sharply dip in the national capital, the political heat is rising. The BJP’s defeat in three Hindi heartland states means that we enter a big general...

December 20, 2018
Rajdeep Sardesai
Columns

Why BJP should worry, not be in denial

In 2004, a few weeks before the general elections and a day after the Lucknow stampede in which 21 poor women were killed while collecting free saris, then prime...

December 12, 2018
Rajdeep Sardesai
Columns

The Five State Election: Ten Takeaways..

1) In electoral politics, no one is invincible, not even self styled Bahubalis and political Chanakyas. And yet, such has been the aura around the Modi-Shah duo that a...

December 6, 2018
Rajdeep Sardesai
Columns

Congress’s Make or Break Election

Defeat in sport can be dispiriting and contagious. In the 1980s, most teams lost to the great West Indian side even before they reached the pitch out of sheer...

November 21, 2018
Rajdeep Sardesai
Columns

No Ram or Rafale, the Rozi Roti election in MP

In the age of T-20 style elections — instant opinion, shoot and scoot polls and parachute reporting — it is increasingly difficult to confidently predict an Indian election outcome....

November 7, 2018
Rajdeep Sardesai
Columns

DeMo@2: What’s to ‘celebrate’?

For a government which has mastered the art of event management and never missed an opportunity to ‘celebrate’ a slew of anniversaries, there has been a markedly muted response...