BJP meet in Goa today; big announcement on Narendra Modi expected

Who will be the BJP's prime ministerial candidate for the 2014 Lok Sabha polls? This is likely to be debated when leaders of the party meet in the Goan capital Friday to Sunday.
While the office bearers will gather Friday, the national executive will meet Saturday and Sunday at the Marriott hotel here to discuss, among other things, a range of issues including the election strategy.
Senior party leaders told a news agency that the time had come to start projecting someone as the prime ministerial candidate.
"There is a feeling in the party that a decision on the prime ministerial candidate should be taken now," said a Bharatiya Janata Party leader who did not want to be identified by name.
"A decision should be taken, whether a leader has to be projected, and who it would be," added the general secretary.
It won't be an easy task though.
There are known differences within the main opposition party on who could be projected as a future prime minister.
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, who has ruled the state since 2001, has not hidden his ambition -- nor have his supporters within and outside the party.
Although he is a charismatic crowd puller, not everyone in the BJP -- or the larger Sangh Parivar -- is comfortable with him.
BJP leader and former deputy prime minister LK Advani recently rocked the Modi boat by comparing Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan with the iconic and former prime minister Atal Bihar Vajpayee.
BJP president Rajnath Singh immediately clarified that Advani's comments had been "misinterpreted" -- after the media reported that Advani had come out against Modi.
Others have floated the names of Advani, who was the prime ministerial contender in 2009, and Sushma Swaraj, the opposition leader in the Lok Sabha, as possible prime ministerial hopefuls.
The BJP, which ruled India from 1998 to 2004 and lost the 2009 Lok Sabha battle, has also to contend with the Janata Dal-United (JD-U).
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has made known his distaste for Modi but he has no problem, as yet, with the BJP per se.
Another BJP national executive member said the focus of the June 7-9 meet would be on the overall strategy for the next Lok Sabha election.
The BJP today rules four states -- Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat and Goa -- and is a junior partner in Bihar and Punjab.
Although BJP leaders are supremely confident of worsing the Congress in the Lok Sabha clash, the BJP itself was routed in Karnataka, it’s supposed bastion in the country's south, last month.
The BJP also has to contend with regional parties in states where it wields influence. The party also would like to stitch more alliances ahead of the Lok Sabha election.
The national executive has nearly 300 members, appointed by the party president. These include key party leaders like chief ministers, MPs, ex-MPs and state party presidents.

ICC asks players to surrender mobiles before boarding team bus

In the wake of the spot-fixing scandal surrounding the IPL and Bangladesh Premier League, the ICC is doing whatever it can to minimise the risk of corruption during the Champions Trophy, which starts in the United Kingdom from Thursday.

Players will have to surrender their mobile phones when they board the team coach to travel to matches and ICC Anti-Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU) officials will monitor behaviour around the hotels.

Six of the eight teams taking part, including their support staff, have been given an hour long presentation by ACSU officials on how to spot danger signs and raise concerns.

New Zealand and England will receive their presentation after Wednesday's match.

Bangladesh are not part of the competition. Cricket around the world continues to be under crisis with former Bangladeshi captain Mohammad Ashraful breaking down in tears as he admitted his involvement in match-fixing during a domestic Twenty20 competition.

Indian cricket has been embroiled in a fixing scandal for weeks, with the arrest of three players, who were on Tuesday remanded in custody until June 18, and 11 bookmakers.

Several key figures in the BCCI have resigned and a commission has been created to investigate alleged corruption.

Meanwhile, the global cricket controversy took another turn as former Australian cricketer Tim May quit as head of the international players' union after eight years amid allegations of threats and intimidation.

May, who was last month controversially ousted from an ICC players' committee amid claims of pressure from India, said he was tired of battling the governing body.

"More and more we see allegations of corruption and malpractice on and off the field dominating headlines," he said, stepping down as the Federation of International Cricketers' Associations (FICA) chief.

"As stakeholders in the game we look to leadership from the ICC to address these and other issues. A vital ingredient of any organisation is the ability of its leaders to set the moral and principled example to others, and to police its organisation from top to bottom to ensure adherence to those principles.

"Yet cricket increasingly seems to be pushing aside the principles of transparency, accountability, independence, and upholding the best interests of the global game, in favour of a system that appears to operate through threats, intimidation and backroom deals," May said.

According to a 'Daily Telegraph' report, when the Australian former Test off spinner was replaced as a players' representative on the ICC cricket committee by India's Laxman Sivaramakrishnan last month, FICA suggested there had been ballot 'fixing'.

The ICC cricket committee makes recommendations on issues including the umpire Decision Review System (DRS), which May has pushed to be used in all international series.

Opposition from BCCI means it is not used in contests involving India.

May has previously challenged all national cricket boards on issues ranging from tour scheduling to the Woolf report, which tried to revamp ICC governance but was allegedly rejected by India.

Paris Jackson attempted suicide by using kitchen knife

Late pop icon Michael Jackson’s daughter Paris – who allegedly tried to commit suicide and was rushed to a hospital in Los Angeles on Wednesday – is said to have cut her arm with a kitchen knife and even left a suicide note.

According to gossip website TMZ, it was a suicide attempt and the 15-year-old was taken from her Calabasas family home on a stretcher and conveyed to a nearby hospital.

Paris is “getting appropriate medical attention” after an early-morning apparent suicide attempt in which a police radio dispatcher indicated a girl of the same age at her address had used pills and a knife, ABC News reported.

Perry Sanders, a Jackson family lawyer, said: “Being a sensitive 15-year-old is difficult no matter who you are”.

He also said, “It is especially difficult when you lose the person closest to you [her father]. Paris is physically fine and is getting appropriate medical attention. Please respect her privacy and the family’s privacy.”

Sources have also revealed that the caller reported a possible overdose, although an insider source connected to the emergency response said there were multiple cuts on one of Paris’ wrists.

On the other hand, Paris had posted messages to her million-plus Twitter followers late in the evening.

“I wonder why tears are salty?” one of her tweets read.

In another tweet, she said: “yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away now it looks as though they're here to stay.”

According to People magazine, a source had revealed some time back that “Paris has been going through a lot of teenage angst and feels a little bit unloved.”

“Three months ago Paris reached out to her mother and told her she wanted to establish a relationship with her. Debbie was open to it and [Jackson's guardian and grandmother] Katherine Jackson is supportive,” the source added.

Paris, who lost her father in June 2009, also has two brothers - Prince and Blanket.

Modi won poll.bjp leader

New Delhi: Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's chances of being appointed the head of the BJP's campaign committee for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections has brightened after his party’s by-poll victory yesterday.

Reports, Thursday, said that Modi, already a front-runner to become the party’s official face for the next General Elections, is most likely to be appointed the head of BJP’s campaign committee and strategy for the next Lok Sabha polls.

Armed with a stunning 6-0 victory against the Congress in by-elections, Modi yesterday met BJP chief Rajnath Singh and then party veteran LK Advani, who is believed to be heading a faction that is opposed to Modi.

During the 15-minute meeting, Advani and Modi discussed the forthcoming national executive meeting in Goa and the proposal for setting up a campaign committee. Advani had earlier phoned him to congratulate him on the party's impressive show in the by-elections. Party sources indicated that the national executive may discuss the issue of making Modi the head of the campaign committee and an announcement to this effect is likely.

There is a growing clamour among the cadre and vast sections of BJP leadership for making Modi the head of the committee.
The Advani-Modi meeting held significance because it came amid strife within the party epicentred around Modi's rising status. Advani, once known as Modi's mentor, has reportedly opposed Modi's promotion to a national-level leader of the BJP and to his being projected as the face of the party for the national elections, due in May 2014.

However, the BJP veteran has agreed to Modi heading the committee that will handle election strategy for the BJP for the 2014 General Elections.

He had recently suggested that former party president Nitin Gadkari and not Modi be picked as the leader of the committee, but Gadkari has said a polite no.

As a compromise, Advani has suggested that two committees be created - one for the national elections, headed by Modi, and another for the elections due in important states over the next few months, which would be fronted by Gadkari. Advani wants both to be announced simultaneously at a BJP meet in Goa this weekend, to convey that Modi is one of a group of senior leaders, rather than the party's top man.
The top leadership is said to be mulling over whether two committees - an election management committee for the forthcoming Assembly polls in five states and a campaign committee for the Lok Sabha polls - should be formed or a single panel be constituted for both.

Modi has already sounded the poll bugle when he said the by-elections results were an ultimatum and message to the Congress to pack up and go in the next Lok Sabha Elections.

He said the results were an indication of the people's anger against the Congress-led UPA at the Centre.