Indian campaign begins year before polls as parties rally around leaders

NEW DELHI (AP) - India's national election is not expected for a year, but the campaign has already begun.

The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, which has resisted naming a candidate from among its many leaders, began coalescing around a successful, deeply polarising, politician who launched a scathing attack against the ''termites" of the ruling Congress Party.

Meanwhile, Mr Rahul Gandhi, long assumed to Congress' candidate, hinted he might not want the job after all, even as he laid the groundwork for the coming vote by plowing through nonstop meetings with coalition allies and party lawmakers.

All of this portends a long campaign that could distract a government struggling to revive India's sputtering economic growth.