Mulayam's heir Akhilesh takes centre stage, shows Rahul the way forward for dynasties

Akhilesh Yadav says he resents the comparison with Rahul Gandhi. Akhilesh's boy-next-door image endears him easily to people. "He mixes with people like milk mixes with water," says a senior Congress leader. What is significant about this metaphor is what is unsaid: the contrast with the person Akhilesh, 38, frequently locked horns with on the campaign trail - Congress General Secretary and Nehru-Gandhi family scion Rahul Gandhi.

While Akhilesh, son of Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, diffused natural warmth in the midst of people, Rahul, 42, has given the appearance of an aloof, reluctant leader despite his staged encounters with a farmer's widow or dalit families, say political observers.

DRIVEN BY MISSION
Rahul had to resurrect a 127-year-old party in one of its lost bastions.
Akhilesh, who studied engineering at Jayachamarajendra College in Mysore and Sydney University, took his party up many notches in what he calls the 'decency index'.  

AKHILESH HAD HIS EAR TO THE GROUND
Rahul, on the other hand lists scuba diving, squash and cycling. For Akhilesh, cycling is what he does when he connects with people - the cycle is his party's symbol.

"I think Akhilesh is more organic while Rahul Gandhi isn't, and that makes a lot of difference," says social scientist Shiv Visvanathan. He feels that Rahul was born a VVIP and treated like a VVIP, unlike Akhilesh who had the freedom to stay ordinary. Besides, Akhilesh had a robust party organisation, and he had his ear to the ground thanks to a better understanding of UP's caste dimensions. Rahul, steering a moribund Congress in the state, had outside voices advising him. "It is a pity that Rahul wasn't allowed to be ordinary while Akhilesh flaunted the rhythm of an ordinary leader who could connect easily," adds Visvanathan.

Another Congress leader says Akhilesh could successfully "build confidence, false or otherwise" that law and order could be normal under SP rule. Clearly, Akhilesh could articulate an alternative vision for a party otherwise linked to several ills - from crime to lack of political sophistication.

Both as an orator and conversationalist, Akhilesh appeared friendly and witty while Rahul was seen as plastic.

Election result 2012: Team Akhilesh Yadav set for new journey

At the Samajwadi Party manifesto release function on January 20, many party veterans were confounded over the presence of several new faces on the podium along with Mulayam Singh Yadav and his son Akhilesh Yadav. Quiet and disciplined, they carefully stood in their allotted spaces though eager to carry out any instruction from Akhilesh Yadav.

Many of the same faces were present at Akhilesh Yadav's press conference on Tuesday, heralding a new line of leadership in the party, except two, Abhishek Mishra and Tej Narain Pandey. Having done his Phd from Cambridge University, Mishra was a professor at IIM-Ahmedabad where he taught for six years before being persuaded by Akhilesh Yadav to join politics. This led SP, especially Akhilesh Yadav, largely avoiding hitting out against any of its political rivals. Tej Narain Pandey (aka Pawan Pandey) was among the rare chosen few from Akhilesh's band of followers, who got the party ticket to contest from the important seat of Ayodhya. Pandey, former Lucknow University student union vice-president, was in the news all through the elections as he got married during the election campaign. While defeating BJP in the symbolicly important Ayodhya seat, Pandey is also very close to Akhilesh.

SP insiders say that around 2003-04, when Akhilesh was emerging out of his fathers shadow, Pandey grew close to him by the virtue of being in Lucknow and hanging around Akhilesh's residence. Present on the stage during the manifesto release and Tuesday's event were Sunil Yadav, Ananad Bhadaouria and Nafees Ahmed, who are Akhilesh's eye and ears to the ground. Sunil Yadav has stayed with Akhilesh even after the SP was routed in 2007 and the Yadav family members had little say in the party affairs in the presence of the high-flying Amar Singh.

Instead of becoming a follower of Amar Singh, like most youth leaders did, Sunil Yadav kept his loyalty to Akhilesh.

Assembly election results: Will government now hobble towards 2014?

The assembly election results are not all good news for the country, the government that leads it and states like Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Punjab.

While the setbacks suffered by the Congress mean that the Manmohan Singh government will be unable to take any bold initiative on the reforms front, the scene will continue to be uncertain in Uttar Pradesh despite the majority secured by the Samajwadi Party (SP) although the outcome is expected to favour stability and purposefulness.

True the SP leaders, and especially its rising star, Akhilesh Yadav, are aware of this damaging trait in their outfit and will undoubtedly try hard to restrain the cadres.

In Uttarakhand, the virtual tie between the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has facilitated the scope for horse-trading now and in future, which means that no government will be able to settle down.

Although Parkash Singh Badal's government in Punjab does not face the problem of unruly cadres or the threat of defections, its negative feature is of a different nature. Having come to power with promises of freebies such as atta-dal, electricity and water, the state government is likely to make a mockery of fiscal discipline, setting a bad example even for the centre where Pranab Mukherjee's confession about spending sleepless nights over subsidies will acquire a darker hue.

It is only Manipur and Goa which are likely to remain trouble-free for the time being with the Congress and the BJP respectively running stable governments.

Cal Thomas and Bob Beckel: In Super Tuesday's wake, what's next?

Bob: Political pundits are falling all over themselves trying to convince voters the Republican presidential nomination is not over. They see Super Tuesday as a split decision and not the knockout punch Mitt Romney had hoped for. Cal: Explain that, my politically astute friend.

Bob: Gladly. Despite winning three states and coming close in Ohio, Rick Santorum cannot overtake Romney. Romney has amassed more delegates than his three rivals combined. Soon the GOP nominating process will include megastates such as California and New York, where Romney should dominate. Now, you tell me,

Cal, why are Republicans so unexcited by Romney?

Cal: It's no mystery, Bob. They'd prefer Ronald Reagan. Get behind Romney -- and push.

Cal: You've got that right. Bob: The candidates and their Super PACs have attacked each other with such intensity that all candidates, especially Romney, have come out of the nomination battle with significant negatives among voters. Case in point: Early on, Iowa polls had Romney with high favorability among the all-important independent voters.

Cal: Romney's major problem is his disconnectedness. Despite years on the campaign trail, it appears Romney hasn't learned to avoid missteps. Remember when he told blue-collar workers that his wife owned not one, but two Cadillacs?

Bob: The campaign has done more than expose Romney's shortcomings. There's a bigger issue at play: the fundamental divide between moderate-conservative-Establishment Republicans and the very conservative base of the party. Establishment Republicans, it appears, are more oriented toward winning, more secular and more focused on the economy.

Cal: Yes, they are the ones who gave the party John McCain and Bob Dole, among others.

Bob: It seems the energy of the Republican Party is clearly at the grassroots, especially among Tea Party activists and evangelicals. I seriously doubt that Romney can activate the base of the Republican Party.
Instead of arguing about Obama's policies -- failed or not -- how about demonstrating the superiority of Romney's philosophy? Romney should feature people who used to be poor but have overcome by embracing conservative principles.

Bob: That's fine, but that doesn't change the suspicion of those Republican voters who are solidly pro-life and are skeptical about his conversion from a pro-choice governor of Massachusetts to an ardent right-to-lifer in this campaign.

Cal: OK, how about if Romney touted the thousands of pregnancy care centers that care for women experiencing difficult pregnancies? It goes beyond right-to-life to include Romney's rhetoric about gay rights when he ran for governor. I could go on, but all the creative campaign events in the world can't change the GOP base's perception that Romney is a weather vane.

Cal: Here's another suggestion. Bob: I'm not the one who needs to be convinced, Cal. But besides conservatives, there's another group that needs convincing -- and that's Hispanic voters who make up the fastest growing demographic in the country. In trying to appeal to the far right, Romney has staked out a position on illegal immigration that has turned off Hispanic voters who supported Obama 2-1 in 2008. Without some headway with this group, no Republican presidential candidate can win.

Cal: Which is why Romney should hint that Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida could be his running mate. Rubio has spoken eloquently on this issue and his selection -- if he'd accept -- would help solve the GOP's Hispanic problem, don't you think?

Bob: Cal, you're a political consultant extraordinaire. Rubio would help. But unless the Republicans can find a candidate to unite the party's two wings, I don't believe they can win this presidential election. Mitt Romney is no Ronald Reagan.

Cal: The president has had the luxury of sitting on the sidelines while Republicans attacked each other. Cal Thomas is a conservative columnist. Bob Beckel is a liberal Democratic strategist.

Rush Limbaugh rejects Sleep Train's offer to resume partnership

First it was Sleep Train Mattress Centers that spurned its longtime ally and business partner Rush Limbaugh.

Limbaugh on Thursday rejected Sleep Train's offer to resume advertising on his national radio show and rehire Limbaugh as a paid spokesman. Limbaugh's spokesman said the conservative commentator would no longer carry Sleep Train's ads "in the future."

Sleep Train stopped advertising on the show last Friday, becoming one of the first sponsors to drop Limbaugh. The company's decision came two days after Limbaugh called a Georgetown University law student a "slut" and a "prostitute" over her stance on health insurance coverage for contraception.

Limbaugh apologized to the student over the weekend.

Sleep Train's decision was especially noteworthy because

Limbaugh and Sleep Train chief executive Dale Carlsen have known each other since the 1980s, when Sleep Train was a small company and Limbaugh was an on-air personality at Sacramento's KFBK (1530 AM).

Limbaugh's spokesman Brian Glicklich sent Carlsen an email rejecting Sleep Train's efforts to make peace. The email noted that Sleep Train asked Limbaugh to resume his "voiced endorsement" in which he personally read the ad copy on the air.

"Unfortunately, your public comments were not well received by our audience, and did not accurately portray either Rush Limbaugh's character or the intent of his remarks. Carlsen couldn't be reached for comment but said in a prepared statement: "We confirm that Rush Limbaugh will no longer be one of Sleep Train's radio endorsers."

Although he apologized to law student Sandra Fluke, Limbaugh has downplayed the impact of losing advertisers.

Eric Dezenhall, a public relations executive in Washington who consults with companies facing crises, said Limbaugh's rejection could hurt Sleep Train.

Carlsen hired Limbaugh to read his radio ads back in 1986, when Sleep Train owned just two stores and Limbaugh was trying to kickstart a not-so-successful radio career.

The relationship with Sleep Train continued after Limbaugh moved to New York and became one of the biggest stars in radio.

Jessica Simpson strikes Demi-like nude pose for Elle

A pregnant Jessica Simpson has taken a page from Demi Moore's celebrity playbook in a nude cover photo for the April issue of Elle magazine, and the singer and actress has confirmed the baby will be a girl.

A photo inside shows Simpson standing as her fiance and the father of her unborn child, pro football player Eric Johnson, kisses her belly.

Simpson, 31, revealed in October that she was pregnant with her first child, after dating Johnson since May 2010.

As it happens, Lachey revealed this week that his current wife, TV personality Vanessa Lachey (formerly Minnillo), is pregnant with the couple's first child.

Simpson's cover photo on Elle is similar to an attention-grabbing nude pose actress Demi Moore, who was pregnant at the time, struck on the cover of Vanity Fair in 1991. The April issue of Elle featuring Simpson officially hits newsstands on March 20. Inside the magazine, she reveals that she is pregnant with a girl, confirming previous speculation.

Thousands protest Putin

Putin, who was Russia’s president from 2000-2008 before switching to the prime minister’s office due to term limits, won 64 percent of the vote in Sunday’s presidential election. A December parliamentary election that was marred by fraud angered many ordinary Russians and bolstered opposition ranks.

Protests held after December’s vote attracted up to 100,000 people in the largest discontent in Russia’s post-Soviet history.

Although violations at the presidential vote were numerous, observers have viewed the vote as fairer than December’s.

Opposition leader Garry Kasparov echoed that sentiment from the stage ”This was not an election,” said Kasparov, a former chess grandmaster. Russian actor Maksim Vitorgan, who was among thousands of independent observers to have volunteered to monitor the presidential vote, said ”an amusement park would envy” the large-scale fraud he witnessed.

Putin ”won the war for numbers. Vitorgan added, voicing widespread concern that the opposition movement is losing its voice.

Other protesters, however, remained optimistic despite the fact that Saturday’s turnout could not match the massive rallies in December and February.

Mikhail Solontsev, a 19-year-old student, who has rallied at opposition protests since December, said the pressure on Putin is already high, and it’s up to people to increase it. On Monday, the day after the election, Moscow police arrested some 250 people who stayed on a central-city square after the time authorized for a protest rally ran out.