Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah have again secured the top positions, number 1 and 2, in the 'Indian Express Power list for 2017-2018', reports The Indian Express.
The prominent daily came up with a list of 100 most powerful Indians that ranged from politicians, cricketers to Bollywood actors.
It seemed the ups and downs in the political arena for BJP, that included Northeast wins and bypoll losses have never influenced the position of the PM and BJP president in the list, leaving them to remain in the same ranks like previous year, commented Indian Express.
The third position is captured by Dipak Misra, chief justice of India for asserting the Chief Justice of India's position as the master of the roster. In November last year, a Constitution bench Misra headed ruled that even where there are allegations against the CJI, the CJI alone can assign cases to different benches and decide the composition of benches.
While there are people from the government or ruling party holding different ranks, faces from the opposition did not lag behind. Sonia Gandhi and Mamta Banerjee find themselves in the top 10 too.
Sonia Gandhi may have surrendered her presidentship of the Congress, but the UPA chairperson remains as influential as before while she is ranked fifth in the list.
Power of the opposition is seen as Mamta Banerjee, chief minister West Bengal, holds the sixth position being the most popular mass leader in West Bengal and carving a niche in the national discourse with her fierce criticism of the Modi government.
With his captaincy of Indian Cricket Team earning a rave review for winning 21 of 35 Tests, cricketer Virat Kohli has been ranked number 20.
Bollywood celebs also made it to the list with legendary actor Amitabh Bachchan being placed as number 77 owing to his massive influence in film, television and social media. He is followed by superstar Rajnikanth at number 78 for his influence in films although he had turned to politics.
