Indian politics: Top newsmakers of 2012

New Delhi, Dec 31: The year 2012 has finally come to an end. It was quite an eventful year from politics perspective as well. In this year, Arvind Kejriwal finally decided to wear the hat of a politician, Pranab Mukherjee took the reins of Rashtrapati Bhavan, Akhilesh Yadav led Samajwadi party made a spectacular comeback in UP, Vijay Bahuguna's ascendancy as Uttaranchal CM came as a bolt from the blue and Narendra Modi created history in Gujarat by winning elections for third time in a row. Let's have a look at the top newsmakers of 2012:1.Narendra Modi: No body doubted Narendra Modi's chances in assembly elections of 2012. All opinion and exit polls expected a landslide majority for Narendra Modi in assembly elections.Narendra Modi proved pollsters' right and romped BJP home for third time in a row. His victory was significant in view of the fierce opposition he faced from Keshubhai Patel who campaigned hard among his caste-men ‘Leuva Patels' who constitute around 20 percent of the electorate. It was a year that saw the conviction of 32 people in post-Godhara massacre but even that could not dent the image of Narendra Modi and Congress failed to stop the juggernaut of Narendra Modi. Narendra Modi's image as a no-nonsense administrators won him laurels and the people of Gujarat reposed faith in him for all the development work he did in Gujarat.2. Arvind Kejriwal: Arvind Kejriwal finally broke ranks with Team Anna and decided to test electoral waters. Kejriwal launched ‘Aam Aadmi Party' with an aim to fight a political battle for making the Lokpal Bill a reality. Before launching the political party, Kejriwal adopted a shrewd ‘shoot and scoot' policy. Kejriwal used media as a weapon in launching a scathing attack on his perceived political opponents – Congress and BJP. Kejriwal first targeted Robert Vadra, son-in-law of Sonia Gandhi, for his alleged illegal and unethical links with DLF. After that, he targeted BJP president Nitin Gadkari for his role in a land scandal in Maharashtra. Kejriwal's attack almost cost Gadkari his job.Kejriwal has been using social media successfully to gather support from his anti-corruption campaign days. Kejriwal hopes to make his presence felt in upcoming Delhi assembly elections. It seems Lokpal is no longer at no. 1 in his agenda. Now he is focusing on securing as many electoral victories as possible so that his voice is heard effectively in law making bodies like parliament and state assemblies. 3.Pranab Mukherjee: Pranab Mukherjee finally succeeded in getting Congress party's nod for his long-held presidential ambitions. Pranab knew he'll never be the party's choice for Prime ministership given his revolt against Rajiv Gandhi in post Indira Gandhi assassination days. Therefore, he wanted a befitting farewell to his long and outstanding political career. The party and Sonia Gandhi was still skeptical over his candidature but Mamata Banerjee's idiosyncratic one-upmanship turned the tide in his favour and Sonia Gandhi decided to back his candidature in order to teach Mamata a lesson.Pranab Mukherjee succeeded in fetching support from even unlikely quarters like Shiv Sena and JD(U). A person who was never trusted enough to be handed over the crucial home portfolio ,finally, succeded in occupying the highest office of the country.4.Vijay Bahuguna: When Congress party won Uttaranchal assembly elections, nobody even knew Vijay Bahuguna . Everybody thought Harish Rawat would take the mantle of Uttaranchal CM but Vijay Bahuguna emerged as the proverbial ‘dark horse' and took oath as the CM of the hill state.The selection of Vijay Bahuguna, Son of Hemwati nandan Bahuguna and brother of the then UPCC chief Rita Bahuguna, faced fierce opposition from union minister Harish Rawat and his supporters with the danger of vertical split looming large on this matter.The central leadership of the Congress party finally succeeded in cajoling Harish Rawat. Rawat accepted the decision of the high command and as a quid-pro-quo; he was promoted in the union cabinet from a MoS to a cabinet minister.5.Nitin Gadkari: The year proved disastrous for the BJP president Nitin Gadkari. Gadkari was first targeted by activist-turned-politician Arvind Kejriwal over his role in a land scandal in Maharashtra. Gadkari was accused of acquiring govt land for making money in connivance with NCP leadrs Sharad Pawar and Ajit Pawar. The double whammy came when charges of huge irregularities were leveled against Gadkari run ‘Purti' group. It was alleged that the company, which got contracts for Mumbai-Pune expressway when Gadkari was a minister in Shiv Sena-BJP govt, invested heavily into ‘Purti' group and that many of the investors existed on paper only. It was also brought to light that Gadkari made even his driver one of directors in the company.6.Akhilesh Yadav: Akhilesh Yadav, son of Mulayam Singh Yadav, led Samajwadi party from the front and secured 224 seats in an assembly of 403 members. In a four cornered contest, SP comprehensively defeated the ruling Bahujan Samaj Party that could win 80 seats only. BJP and Congress had to console themselves with 3rd and 4th position respectively.The media looked at the UP elections as a direct fight between younger generation represented by Akhilesh on one hand and Rahul Gandhi on the other hand. But Rahul failed once again and Akhilesh emerged as the most popular face among the UP electorate. 7. Y S Jaganmohan Reddy: Y S Jaganmohan Reddy, the son of ex-CM Y S Rajshekhar Reddy, was incarcerated on May 27 over the charges of embezzlement of money and is still behind bars.Y S Rajshekhar Reddy's death appeared to have made Jagan Mohan quite vulnerable although he has successfully defeated Congress in recent by-elections.Y S Jaganmohan Reddy is presently lodged at the Chanchalguda Central Prison in Hyderabad.8. Mamata Banerjee: The mercurial Chief Minister of West Bengal Mamata Banerjee finally withdrew support to UPA govt on Sep 18 over the issues of price rise of petroleum products , FDI in retail and corruption.Actually, Mamata was planning to pull the rug from under the feet of Manmohan Singh led govt for a long time and was just waiting for the right opportunity. She was miffed with govt over a number of issues, financial package for Bengal being the most important one. Sonia Gandhi's support for Pranab Mukherjee proved to be the last straw that broke the camel's back.9. Rahul Gandhi: The year did not prove very encouraging for Rahul Gandhi as he failed to win a victory for the Congress party in UP although he led the campaign from the front.The Congress party, on the other hand, has decided to put Rahul Gandhi in the forefront of its 2014 general election campaign. He has been made the head of Congress election committee. With Narendra Modi winning Gujarat assembly elections for third time in a row, it could well be a direct fight between Narendra Modi and Rahul Gandhi in 2014 elections.10. Sonia Gandhi: The Congress workers will remember this year for Sonia Gandhi making way for his son Rahul as her political heir. Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi accused the govt of spending around 1,880 crores on the treatment of Sonia Gandhi but failed to provide any substantive proof. Sonia Gandhi took the courageous decision of calling the bluff of Mamata Banerjee. Mamata finally moved out of the government but Sonia managed to run the coalition without any hassle.11. Manmohan Singh: Manmohan Singh, the Prime Minister of India, faced a lot of criticism in 2012 on ‘governance' front. The media blasted him for ‘policy paralyses' and Singh looked helpless in the wake of a series of corruption charges leveled against his cabinet ministers. The increasing prices of petroleum products coupled with a ceiling on LPG cylinders resulted in widespread criticism of PM and his economic policies. The government's inept handling of the public outrage over the death of a 23 year old girl further tarnished the image of his govt.