The cross-country foot march stayed in the news almost right through, mostly for the barbs between the BJP and the Congress and occasionally for other reasons, including infighting in the opposition party.
Pandemonium prevailed in Jammu and Kashmir assembly on Monday as banner-waving members of the legislative assembly of opposition National Conference and the Congress stormed the well over beef ban and other issues.
'The government is trying to give a message that we as political bosses have discretion of deciding what people will read and what people will not read.'
24 hours before campaigning ends in Thiruvanathapuram, Archana Masih/Rediff.com discovers Shashi Tharoor and his BJP rival Rajeev Chandrasekhar are busy getting their message across to voters.
As round one of the seven-phase Lok Sabha election began in 91 constituencies across the length and breadth of India, from the hills of Kashmir to the islands of Andaman and Nicobar, reports of unrest and irregularities cast shadows over the world's biggest poll process.
Heading a PDP-BJP government formed with an alliance between two ideological extremes, Mehbooba faces a challenging task ahead as she will strive to carry forward her father's 'healing touch' legacy.
'The struggle of insurgents and pro-independence political activists is fuelled by a deep conviction that not only is a free Balochistan possible, but they also believe that Pakistan will inevitably break apart, leading to Balochistan's independence.'
The fate of the BJP-PDP alliance may be known on Monday as PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti talks tough.
The Congress too condemned Mufti's statement on the Tricolour, saying it is unacceptable and has hurt sentiments of people.
Right to apprenticeship, legal guarantee for MSP, passing a constitutional amendment to raise the 50 per cent cap on reservations for SCs, STs and OBCs, a nation-wide caste census and scrapping of Agnipath scheme are among the promises made by the Congress in its Lok Sabha polls manifesto released on Friday.
'This election was the first opportunity where Kashmiris told the world they do not agree with the Centre's policies and are unhappy about their disempowerment.'
Faced with severe criticism, Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday announced significant restructuring of the party from the grassroots to the national level and tried to reach out to dissidents, admitting he too makes mistakes.
The Wayanad Lok Sabha seat, where Rahul Gandhi won for the second time in a row, comprises three assembly constituencies each in the tribal district of Wayanad and the Muslim-dominated Malappuram, as well as one in Kozhikode district where Christians hold a significant vote base.
Speaker of Jammu and Kashmir Assembly Mubarak Gul on Wednesday aid he will summon former Army Chief V K Singh to explain his position on his controversial statement about payoffs to politicians in the state.
According to separate orders issued by the Home Department of the Union Territory, the PSA against Faesal, who was a 2010-batch IAS officer, Sartaj Madani, uncle of Mufti, and Peer Mansoor, her political advisor during her tenure as chief minister, was revoked 'with immediate effect'.
Muhammad Yunus urged the people to "exercise patience" before judging his government's role.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, who had reservations against the holding of assembly polls in the state soon, on Saturday said there was no question of not contesting the elections and "we will put our best foot forward."
Congress president Sonia Gandhi led the delegation. She said Modi government was 'shutting down' people's voices and bringing legislations which are not acceptable to them.
"It (JK) is not a political issue as far as I can see. They have been barking up the wrong tree for the last 50 or 70 years by talking about the politics of it, that the political situation has never improved. We seriously need to look at in terms of how it is a society that is in search for itself," Drabu had said at an event organised by the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry in New Delhi on Friday.
'Our fight is not against the country but against the BJP and its ideology. The BJP is not the country and vice versa'
"Trust is something that has been missing from both sides (Delhi and Srinagar). Successive prime ministers -- Jawaharlal Nehru, Narasimha Rao, Atal Bihari Vajpayee -- made promises but the trust deficit has persisted," he added.
The former J-K CM said the general perception about the delay in government formation was that it is being done to salvage some bare minimum credibility for the PDP.
'We repent our decision today as we feel we betrayed our (Congress) party, while the DAP betrayed us'
Women will have a decisive say as chairpersons in seven of Jammu and Kashmir's 20 districts.
Taking to Twitter to express his anger, Abdullah, who is also the vice president of the National Conference, said that he would be taking legal action against the Chhattisgarh chief minister for his comments made during an interview to a prominent English newspaper.
"There are differences in the (PDP-BJP) coalition, no body can deny that. If you need evidence, just look at chief minister's iftaar party in Delhi yesterday where no Central BJP leader was present," said Omar Abdullah
The 45-year-old separatist leader has been booked under the harsh law for waving Pakistani flag and chanting anti-India slogans at a rally in Sringar.
There will be eight more phases of Panchayat polls in Jammu and Kashmir.
PDP will ask the Centre for Geelani's passport on humanitarian grounds to visit his ailing daughter in Saudi Arabia
The decision comes in the aftermath of the Pulwama terror attack, besides another attempt to target a Central Reserve Police Force convoy with a car bomb on the highway near Banihal in Ramban district on March 30.
Carter was in politics, but not a politician, certainly not a transactional politician, points out Shreekant Sambrani.
Mehbooba Mufti is likely to call a meeting of senior party leaders in the coming days to clear the "misgivings" about the deadlock over government formation with the BJP.
The Janata Dal-United leader maintained that having taken the initiative to bring parties opposed to the Bharatiya Janata Party, he desired nothing for himself but admitted having stressed at the meeting the need to expedite seat-sharing arrangements.
Suspected militants on Monday night shot at and critically injured a sarpanch who joined Peoples Democratic Party earlier in the day in the second attack on a village head in Shopian district of Kashmir Valley in as many days.
She said she was an "Indian citizen and a law abiding citizen" and has not broken any law. "But, even to issue the two-year passport, the Official Secrets Act has been invoked against me. This Act is usually invoked for espionage," Iltija claimed.
The deceased were identified as Abdul Majeed Ganaie, Mehraj-ud-din Dar, Anees Ahmad Mir and Hameed-ul-lah Ganaie.
The constituency had recorded an abysmal 7.13 per cent voter turnout, the lowest ever in its history.
The impact of Shinzo Abe's towering personality is such that even in death, Abe remains a polarising figure, asserts Dr Rajaram Panda.
Cautioning the Peoples Democratic Party against forging an alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party in Jammu and Kashmir, the Congress party on Tuesday hoped that party patron Mufti Mohammad Sayeed would take a decision that best suits the "current political consensus" that has evolved in the state.
'The root of the Kashmir problem lies in Partition. To solve the issue, we have to begin from there and settle it forever.'
