Gujarat: key battleground

Gujarat, India's most industrialised state, goes to the polls this week.

The vote, in which Congress is trying to unseat controversial Hindu nationalist state leader Narendra Modi, may influence the timing of a general election, currently scheduled for mid-2009.

For a decade Gujarat, one of India's most communally divided states, has been a stronghold of the country's opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Modi last secured another term in 2002, after bloody communal riots. He has since overseen a significant upturn in the state's economic fortunes.

A good performance this week could propel him into a higher profile role in national politics, possibly to the leadership of the BJP, which has languished in the doldrums since its shock election defeat of 2004. There are signs of BJP resurgence: a recent offer of sanctuary to persecuted Muslim author Taslima Nasreen pointed to the presentation of a 'softer' side that might prove more politically palatable.

Congress leader Sonia Gandhi dismissed incumbent Gujarat leaders as "peddlers of death" as she hit the trail for votes, but her party campaign has lacked fizz. It might be the Hindu nationalists toasting victory again in Gujarat in coming weeks.