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Leading Indian politicians, who on Saturday raked up issues that seemed to belong more to 1999 or 2004, presented the strongest case for polls with shorter durations. As Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders dwelt on subjects like 'foreign origin', Dawood Ibrahim and black money - election planks from the late-1990s - apart from generally accusing each other of lying, it appeared the frontline parties had run out of issues more relevant to 2014.
From March 5, when the model code of conduct kicked in, to May 16, when the results will be out, this year's general elections are slated to be nearly two-and-a-half months long.
In Amethi, Priyanka Gandhi described Smriti Irani, her brother Rahul's BJP rival for that seat, as an "outsider". In Delhi, BJP Spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain retorted, saying Priyanka's mother Sonia would do well to advise her daughter on the issue.
"Smriti Irani was born in India. She is no outsider," Hussain said, hinting at Sonia Gandhi's Italian origin. He said it was surprising that Congress found people born in India "foreigners" and accused the Gandhis - all three of whom addressed separate rallies across India - of reading out carbon copies of old speeches. "Congress should accept its defeat with dignity and not indulge in personal attacks or keep repeating old charges on the Gujarat model of development," Hussain said.
Then there also were some, like yoga guru Ramdev, who had to apologise for their foot-in-mouth statements. On Friday, Ramdev had said Rahul went to houses of Dalits "for honeymoon and picnic". After a first information report (FIR) was lodged against him in Uttar Pradesh, Ramdev backtracked on his comments. Fearing the yoga guru's comments might potentially hurt its hope of getting Dalit votes in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, BJP was seen in a damage-control mode.
In another instance of returning to an old election plank, Modi, in a television interview, accused Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde of giving media statements instead of acting against Dawood Ibrahim. "What has the government done? I am ashamed that the home minister made such statements," Modi said.
