India's regional political leaders and their parties have emerged as kingmakers after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party failed to win a simple majority in the country's parliamentary elections.
The BJP fought the elections for the 543 seats of Lok Sabha – the lower house of Parliament – in partnership with the National Democratic Alliance against the main opposition Indian National Congress-led INDIA bloc.
But Mr Modi's party, which achieved an absolute majority in 2014 and 2019, failed to cross the majority mark of 272, after securing 240 seats.
Mr Modi has since announced the BJP will form a government for a third consecutive term with the help of its allies in the NDA, which is a coalition of 41 parties.
His new reliance on coalition partners has significantly boosted their position in India.
The BJP is by far the biggest party in the NDA, but two of the others have enough seats to be able to break up the coalition – the Janata Dal (United) party from the eastern state of Bihar, and the Telugu Desam Party in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh.
The opposition's above-expected performance has also strengthened their hand, giving them stronger numbers to attempt to form a coalition if Mr Modi's NDA breaks apart, and has produced some surprise winners.
Here are the potential kingmakers and surprise winners in the elections.
Nara Chandrababu Naidu
Nara Chandrababu Naidu, a veteran politician who is the former chief minister of the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, has emerged as the biggest kingmaker in this year’s Lok Sabha elections.
Mr Naidu, 74, is leader of the Telugu Desam Party, which joined the NDA alongside Mr Modi's BJP before the election.
The TDP performed well, winning 16 of the 25 seats in Andhra Pradesh.
Mr Naidu has extended support to Mr Modi to form a government. However, his support has come with conditions, including demands for meaty cabinet portfolios such as health, transport, agriculture ministries and the Speaker’s post for his party leaders.
The Speaker is a constitutional and ceremonial head of the lower house of the Parliament and the post usually goes to the ruling alliance while the Deputy Speaker’s post is conventionally held by a member of the opposition party.
Mr Naidu is known to be an astute politician and has been a pivotal political figure in Andhra Pradesh for nearly five decades.
He started as a student leader with the Indian National Congress, the current largest opposition party, in the 1970s before joining the TDP founded by his father-in-law NT Rama Rao, a prominent actor-turned-politician.
He has played a pivotal role in the success of the party as well as the development of Andhra Pradesh, serving as the state's chief minister from 1995 to 2004 and 2014 to 2019.
Mr Naidu played an important role in transforming Hyderabad, then the capital of Andhra Pradesh, into an IT hub attracting global tech giants such as Microsoft. He also pushed initiatives such as rural development programmes.
In 1999, he was named ‘South Asian of the Year’ by Time magazine.
Mr Naidu joined hands with the BJP in 2014 but pulled out ahead of state elections in 2018.
He was arrested last year in an alleged scam but after nearly two months in jail, he was granted bail in November.
He rejoined the NDA alliance for general elections and his party has emerged as a key player in the soon-to-be-formed coalition government.
His party also won the state legislative elections that were conducted simultaneously to the national vote. Mr Naidu is expected to be sworn in as chief minister of Andhra Pradesh for the fourth time.
Nitish Kumar
The election results leave the BJP also dependent on another of its partners in the NDA, the Janata Dal (United) party.
It is based in the eastern state of Bihar, where it won 12 out of 40 seats.
Its leader, Nitish Kumar, has been chief minister of Bitar since 2000 and is one of the most influential regional leaders in India.
An ambitious politician who is from the community of tillers, which is identified as a socially and educationally "backward" class in the Indian society, Mr Kumar has been known to have long harboured the dream of becoming the Prime Minister.
A known opportunist, he was instrumental in forming the Congress-led INDIA bloc, the main opposition alliance formed to fight against Mr Modi's BJP in the election. However, as the ballot approached, Mr Kumar changed tack and joined forces with the BJP to contest the polls as part of the NDA.
He now has demands for his party's continued support, including the post of Speaker.
Rahul Gandhi
Although Mr Modi has won a third term as Prime Minister, the opposition outshone pre-election expectations and claimed a "moral victory".
Indian National Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is seen as the main challenger to Mr Modi and has received a boost from the results.
The 53-year-old leader contested from Wayanad in the southern state of Kerala and from his family bastion Raebareli in northern Uttar Pradesh state.
He won Wayanad by more than 364,000 votes against BJP’s state president K Surendran, while defeating Dinesh Pratap Singh from BJP in Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh by 400,000 votes.
He looks set to vacate the Wayanad seat and retain Rae Bareli.
Mr Gandhi stepped down as the Congress president after the party’s crushing defeat in the 2019 national election amid criticism that he lacked the political acumen to defeat Mr Modi.
Congress leaders and workers blamed his reluctant leadership as a reason for the election debacle and demanded a need for robust strategy and an organisational overhaul of the party.
Mr Gandhi re-emerged with the Bharat Jodo Rally – the longest rally in the country in the last century, from Kanyakumari – the last point of India in southern Tamil Nadu in September 2022 and covered 3, 500km in varied weather for 150 days, culminating in Srinagar in Kashmir.
The rally energised party workers who had lost faith in him, propelled his image in the party and helped him form the INDIA bloc with regional parties.
His Congress party won 99 seats, gaining 47 on its 2019 results, leaving it firmly as the second-biggest party in the Lok Sabha.
Kishori Lal Sharma
One of the biggest surprise winners of this election is Kishori Lal Sharma, who fought the election for the Congress party.
Mr Sharma defeated Smriti Irani, a firebrand BJP leader and former Minister of Women and Child Development, in Amethi constituency in Uttar Pradesh.
Ms Irani had defeated Rahul Gandhi in the same constituency in 2019 by 55,000 votes.
She had scoffed at the idea of fighting against Mr Sharma, a Congress loyalist, even calling him a “personal assistant” of Mr Gandhi's.
But on Tuesday, she lost to the 62 year-old by 160,000 votes – three times the margin over Mr Gandhi.
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They use the victim's personal details - obtained through criminal methods - to convince such companies of their identity.
The criminal can then access any online service that requires security codes to be sent to a user's mobile phone, such as banking services.
How Tesla’s price correction has hit fund managers
Investing in disruptive technology can be a bumpy ride, as investors in Tesla were reminded on Friday, when its stock dropped 7.5 per cent in early trading to $575.
It recovered slightly but still ended the week 15 per cent lower and is down a third from its all-time high of $883 on January 26. The electric car maker’s market cap fell from $834 billion to about $567bn in that time, a drop of an astonishing $267bn, and a blow for those who bought Tesla stock late.
The collapse also hit fund managers that have gone big on Tesla, notably the UK-based Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust and Cathie Wood’s ARK Innovation ETF.
Tesla is the top holding in both funds, making up a hefty 10 per cent of total assets under management. Both funds have fallen by a quarter in the past month.
Matt Weller, global head of market research at GAIN Capital, recently warned that Tesla founder Elon Musk had “flown a bit too close to the sun”, after getting carried away by investing $1.5bn of the company’s money in Bitcoin.
He also predicted Tesla’s sales could struggle as traditional auto manufacturers ramp up electric car production, destroying its first mover advantage.
AJ Bell’s Russ Mould warns that many investors buy tech stocks when earnings forecasts are rising, almost regardless of valuation. “When it works, it really works. But when it goes wrong, elevated valuations leave little or no downside protection.”
A Tesla correction was probably baked in after last year’s astonishing share price surge, and many investors will see this as an opportunity to load up at a reduced price.
Dramatic swings are to be expected when investing in disruptive technology, as Ms Wood at ARK makes clear.
Every week, she sends subscribers a commentary listing “stocks in our strategies that have appreciated or dropped more than 15 per cent in a day” during the week.
Her latest commentary, issued on Friday, showed seven stocks displaying extreme volatility, led by ExOne, a leader in binder jetting 3D printing technology. It jumped 24 per cent, boosted by news that fellow 3D printing specialist Stratasys had beaten fourth-quarter revenues and earnings expectations, seen as good news for the sector.
By contrast, computational drug and material discovery company Schrödinger fell 27 per cent after quarterly and full-year results showed its core software sales and drug development pipeline slowing.
Despite that setback, Ms Wood remains positive, arguing that its “medicinal chemistry platform offers a powerful and unique view into chemical space”.
In her weekly video view, she remains bullish, stating that: “We are on the right side of change, and disruptive innovation is going to deliver exponential growth trajectories for many of our companies, in fact, most of them.”
Ms Wood remains committed to Tesla as she expects global electric car sales to compound at an average annual rate of 82 per cent for the next five years.
She said these are so “enormous that some people find them unbelievable”, and argues that this scepticism, especially among institutional investors, “festers” and creates a great opportunity for ARK.
Only you can decide whether you are a believer or a festering sceptic. If it’s the former, then buckle up.
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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What is blockchain?
Blockchain is a form of distributed ledger technology, a digital system in which data is recorded across multiple places at the same time. Unlike traditional databases, DLTs have no central administrator or centralised data storage. They are transparent because the data is visible and, because they are automatically replicated and impossible to be tampered with, they are secure.
The main difference between blockchain and other forms of DLT is the way data is stored as ‘blocks’ – new transactions are added to the existing ‘chain’ of past transactions, hence the name ‘blockchain’. It is impossible to delete or modify information on the chain due to the replication of blocks across various locations.
Blockchain is mostly associated with cryptocurrency Bitcoin. Due to the inability to tamper with transactions, advocates say this makes the currency more secure and safer than traditional systems. It is maintained by a network of people referred to as ‘miners’, who receive rewards for solving complex mathematical equations that enable transactions to go through.
However, one of the major problems that has come to light has been the presence of illicit material buried in the Bitcoin blockchain, linking it to the dark web.
Other blockchain platforms can offer things like smart contracts, which are automatically implemented when specific conditions from all interested parties are reached, cutting the time involved and the risk of mistakes. Another use could be storing medical records, as patients can be confident their information cannot be changed. The technology can also be used in supply chains, voting and has the potential to used for storing property records.
Brief scores:
Barcelona 3
Pique 38', Messi 51 (pen), Suarez 82'
Rayo Vallecano 1
De Tomas Gomez 24'
Other acts on the Jazz Garden bill
Sharrie Williams
The American singer is hugely respected in blues circles due to her passionate vocals and songwriting. Born and raised in Michigan, Williams began recording and touring as a teenage gospel singer. Her career took off with the blues band The Wiseguys. Such was the acclaim of their live shows that they toured throughout Europe and in Africa. As a solo artist, Williams has also collaborated with the likes of the late Dizzy Gillespie, Van Morrison and Mavis Staples.
Lin Rountree
An accomplished smooth jazz artist who blends his chilled approach with R‘n’B. Trained at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Washington, DC, Rountree formed his own band in 2004. He has also recorded with the likes of Kem, Dwele and Conya Doss. He comes to Dubai on the back of his new single Pass The Groove, from his forthcoming 2018 album Stronger Still, which may follow his five previous solo albums in cracking the top 10 of the US jazz charts.
Anita Williams
Dubai-based singer Anita Williams will open the night with a set of covers and swing, jazz and blues standards that made her an in-demand singer across the emirate. The Irish singer has been performing in Dubai since 2008 at venues such as MusicHall and Voda Bar. Her Jazz Garden appearance is career highlight as she will use the event to perform the original song Big Blue Eyes, the single from her debut solo album, due for release soon.
Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
Electric scooters: some rules to remember
- Riders must be 14-years-old or over
- Wear a protective helmet
- Park the electric scooter in designated parking lots (if any)
- Do not leave electric scooter in locations that obstruct traffic or pedestrians
- Solo riders only, no passengers allowed
- Do not drive outside designated lanes
Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
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Youth YouTuber Programme
The programme will be presented over two weeks and will cover the following topics:
- Learning, scripting, storytelling and basic shots
- Master on-camera presence and advanced script writing
- Beating the algorithm and reaching your core audience
Who was Alfred Nobel?
The Nobel Prize was created by wealthy Swedish chemist and entrepreneur Alfred Nobel.
- In his will he dictated that the bulk of his estate should be used to fund "prizes to those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind".
- Nobel is best known as the inventor of dynamite, but also wrote poetry and drama and could speak Russian, French, English and German by the age of 17. The five original prize categories reflect the interests closest to his heart.
- Nobel died in 1896 but it took until 1901, following a legal battle over his will, before the first prizes were awarded.
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Emergency phone numbers in the UAE
Estijaba – 8001717 – number to call to request coronavirus testing
Ministry of Health and Prevention – 80011111
Dubai Health Authority – 800342 – The number to book a free video or voice consultation with a doctor or connect to a local health centre
Emirates airline – 600555555
Etihad Airways – 600555666
Ambulance – 998
Knowledge and Human Development Authority – 8005432 ext. 4 for Covid-19 queries
