Unlike the LDF and NDA nominees who are at ground zero and campaigning hard every day, the Congress candidate's campaign is undertaken in absentia, dependent on an army of local and imported from the rest of Kerala Congresswomen and men.
'Aggravated fears about the fate of Article 370 and Article 35A of the Constitution have reopened old wounds and laid bare the widening emotional distance between Srinagar and New Delhi,' says Mohammad Sayeed Malik, the distinguished commentator on Kashmir affairs.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Wednesday
The note ban is Modi's make-or-break gambit for 2019. Opposition leaders see a vulnerability and won't gift pre-eminence to the Congress, says Shekhar Gupta.
The government's decision to stop surge pricing by app-based taxi companies Uber and Ola ignores the basic principles of economics to appease a vocal section of the vote bank.
Praveen Chakravarty gives a summary of Amit Shah's master strategy that helped the BJP emerge victorious in the recent Assembly elections
Robbed of prey as people fled, Omar Perez came marching back and shot bullet after bullet into Prudhvi Raj Kandepi's head, thus ensuring that a man he had never met before, known nothing of, would never get up again.
'As India progresses and takes an increasingly hardline approach to Pakistani hostility, the young and restless population of Pakistan, sooner than later, will demand 'Gazwa e Hind' (conquest of India),' warns Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
'Part of the problem lies in the US failure to stay focused on the goal of convincing Pakistan to crack down on terrorists that attack India.'
Grandmaster Sahaj Grover failed to capitalise on his chances and played out a draw with Iranian Pouya Idani, while Vidit Gujrathi defeated Polish Marcel Kanarek to be jointly third after the eighth round of the World Junior Chess Championship in Kocaeli, Turkey.
The finance ministry and several agencies under it such as the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED), which are investigating the affairs of Sahara India Parivar, are worried about its exposure to National Spot Exchange Ltd (NSEL) products.
China's Lu Shanglei and Wei Yi emphatically exhibited their rising chess prowess with convincing victories over Russians Vladimir Fedoseev, the top seed, and Mikhail Antipov, in the 10th round of the World Junior Chess Championships at Hotel Hyatt, in Pune, on Thursday. The victories ensured that the Chinese maintained joint-leader status with eight points each.
S L Narayanan, a regular visitor to Pune for the Maharashtra Chess League, has a reputation for shocking seeded players. On Thursday, in the fourth round of the LIC World Junior Chess championships, at the Hotel Hyatt, the teenager from Kerala played true to his reputation and stunned Polish Grandmaster Kamil Dragun.
'What gives hope is that Modi's own leadership is vitally linked to his capacity to deliver on the economic front. Indeed, if he succeeds, India's foreign policies will have changed beyond recognition,' feels Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'Pakistan has responded with appropriate contempt -- hrowing our national dignity into the waste paper basket.'
Nawaz Sharif may have permitted the trial of Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists for the Pathankot attack. But this fell apart because of General Raheel Shareef's keenness to make Kulbhushan Jadhav the centerpiece of global attention. Ambassador G Parthasarthy, a former Indian high commissioner to Pakistan, reveals the Pakistan army chief's gambit against India.
The moves in the fifth round of the World Chess Championship match between Viswanathan Anand and Magnus Carlsen, with analysis and quotes.
Here's an analysis of the style and strategy of the man who did the magic for Narendra Modi and then Nitish Kumar and whom the Congress has now hired.
After selling Polaris to Virtusa, Arun Jain will focus on Intellect Design, play the role of mentor and angel investor, and pursue his interests in healthcare and education.
'The category of crime and criminals called Maoist or Naxal or #UrbanNaxals is an illegitimate creation of right-wing propaganda media frenzy.' 'It is a fiction repugnant to the Constitution and the law of the land,' argue Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira.
N Sundaresha Subramanian, Karan Choudhury and Shreya Jai report on the sorry condition of homebuyers who invested in Jaypee Infratech and the Amrapali group's Noida-based projects.
Former India captain Ravi Shastri has been the team's Director since last year and guided the team during the just-concluded World Cup. This is an exclusive column for PTI
'If the government had not spent an incredible amount of energy on demonetisation it may -- may, because it had not done anything the previous six months either -- have been able to pay attention to the deeper problems of low investment and job creation.'
In a season of political deal-making, it would seem the BJP is not only keener to win new friends but is ahead of rival Congress in the game. Its only competition, if at all, has come from regional satraps and the Left parties, which on Tuesday resolved to fight the elections together against both the Congress and BJP.
On that day, Sheikh Abdullah, political anchor of J&K's accession with the Indian Union, was unceremoniously removed from power and put behind bars; causing a tectonic emotional breach and setting off disastrous fault lines between Srinagar and New Delhi and its effects continue to this day, says Mohammad Sayeed Malik.
'If the US-Pakistan relationship continues to suffer, Pakistan may feel it has less to lose and decide that it need not keep a leash on LeT in order to appease America.' 'A tougher US policy toward Pakistan could lead to an emboldened and strengthened LeT and JeM, resulting in more terrorist attacks in India.'
The new government must initiate a comprehensive review of India's nuclear weapons doctrine and posture. Ajai Shukla explains
How bridge keeps corporate India sharp and quick-witted.
We need transformative policies and incentives with purpose, especially in solar power and digital infrastructure.
The Congress is hopeful that the new messiah of the middle classes will cut into the BJP's votes in urban India, thus damaging the chances of the saffron party and its prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, believes Renu Mittal
Government's reforms are too half-hearted. But Rahul Gandhi's Congress is too amateurish and inept to hold it to account.
Aam Aadmi Party spokespersons, Ashutosh, Ashish Khetan and Raghav Chadha, are adept at turning issues on their head and putting up a good offence in their defence.
Paytm will cross 100 million wallets ahead of its self-determined deadline of 2015-end. It currently has 66 million.
How will India respond to an attack which keeps haemorrhaging India but stays below the threshold of tolerance?
The BJP needs to revisit its strategy ahead of the forthcoming Haryana and Maharashtra assembly elections, says Dharmendra Kumar Singh
'If the Americans believed that India is as strong as China or Russia, would they have shown this scant respect for us,' asks Tarun Vijay, MP. 'An economically strong and militarily powerful India would never have had this experience. Not just the Americans, everyone in this world respects might. China receives respect, India gets the law book.'
'Even with the restrictions of depositing more than Rs 2.5 lakh in a bank, people will find new methods to convert this cash hoard into legal tender.'
Prem Panicker, one of the finest cricket writers, on the ICC's Code of Conduct.
As the nation heads toward the general election, the Congress fortunes have most likely dipped below the point of no return. The Modi-BJP juggernaut rolls along despite some hiccups. And the meteor that rose in the form of the AAP and its leader Arvind Kejriwal seems to be disintegrating, says Shreekant Sambrani.
Lessons Nestle must learn from its big mistakes
