Signaling its keenness to create a third alternative along with the United National Progressive Alliance, the Left Front on Thursday announced that they will coordinate with the alliance against the government over the India-United States nuclear agreement and other issues. The Left, which provides crucial outside support to the ruling United Progressive Alliance, dropped hints of its intention to stitch a non-Congress and non-BJP alliance.
The ruling party seems in far better shape than the Congress, which is yet to finalise seat-sharing agreements in several states.
Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray on Tuesday sought to put the onus of the recent strain between the Sena-BJP alliance on the new generation of leaders in that party.
In a vitriolic attack on Sharad Pawar for equating the Shiv Sena to "ants that will be stuck to jaggery of power," the ruling alliance partner on Friday described the Nationalist Congress Party as "blood sucking leech" waiting to join hands with the BJP to be a part of Maharashtra government.
Though the PDP-BJP alliance staked claim to form government in the state last Saturday, the date for swearing-in of the chief minister-designate is yet to be announced.
'It is an uncomfortable situation for a woman.' 'She has been on her own, separated from family.' 'That is the point of isolating her -- breaking her to a point where she bends to their will.'
The BJP's strong showing came as a surprise for many as the party did not even have a councillor in Tripura.
The candidate is from the DMK's ruling family, and the sky is the limit -- for both expenses and expectations.
As the results pour in from the five states which have gone to polls, scenes of celebrations can be seen across the nation.
Polling will be held in all 13 seats in Punjab and an equal number of seats in Uttar Pradesh, nine in West Bengal, eight seats each in Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, four in Himachal Pradesh, three in Jharkhand and the lone seat Chandigarh.
Pawar pressed for forging alliances of anti-BJP parties at state level and favoured picking up the prime ministerial candidate after the election results, as happened after the 1977 and 2004 general polls.
Thackeray's remarks that only the Sena pattern -- and not Modi -- will work in Maharashtra, is being viewed as a reminder to top state BJP leaders who want to replicate the 'Modi effect' in the state. Sena is the senior partner in the over two-decade old saffron alliance, which has seen a lot of turbulence after the killing of Pramod Mahajan, the main architect of the alliance.
Punjab Governor S F Rodrigues administered the oath of office and secrecy to Badal at a ceremony held at PCA stadium in Mohali.
However, it was BJP, which put up an unexpectedly impressive performance bagging 19 of the 23 seats it contested.
The Telugu Desam Party-Bharatiya Janata Party combine stormed to power in the residual state of Andhra Pradesh, commonly known as Seemandhra, as the Congress was virtually wiped out in the assembly polls, which were simultaneously held with the Lok Sabha elections.
The Nationalist Congress Party on Thursday said its victory in the Navi Mumbai civic polls was significant as it managed to overcome the 90,000-vote deficit of the last year's Maharashtra assembly polls.
The elections in this phase are seen as a big test for the Bharatiya Janata Party
Some people expressed apprehension that governor's rule might lead to lack of transparency and worsen the situation in the state
There is anti-incumbency in urban areas. Rural Punjab, the Akali base, will hold the key.
The AGP had in January withdrew its support to the BJP government in Assam in protest against the Centre's decision to go ahead with the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill.
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav lashed out at his one-time ally, the Congress, and said that in the state the BJP is nowhere.
The announcement was made by AIADMK coordinator and deputy chief minister O Panneerselvam and Union Minister and senior BJP leader Piyush Goyal, party election in-charge for Tamil Nadu, who described it as a "mega alliance".
'Of equal importance was the AIADMK's precarious assembly membership, what with 11 of its MLAs including deputy chief minister OPS facing court cases for disqualification and by-elections due in another 21. To shore up the party's numbers for anticipated eventuality on the 11-MLAs' front, the AIADMK leadership in general and chief minister EPS in particular, were even more focussed on assembly seats than LS seats, just now,' says N Sathiya Moorthy.
In an apparent bid to offset BJP candidate Pragya Thakur's controversial statement against slain IPS officer Hemant Karkare, Modi heaped praises on Mumbai police.
Sonowal, who steered the BJP to victory in the elections, has put the issue of infiltration and attempts to check them as his government's priority.
The Congress president addressing women students at the Stella Maris College said that the law must apply to everybody and not be applied selectively.
A PDP-BJP alliance would have been formed on the evening of December 28 had the BJP agreed to let Mufti Mohammad Sayeed become chief minister for the first three years and allow the BJP to nominate its chief minister for the next three years.
In a damage control exercise, the Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi on Tuesday night spoke to Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray amid fissures in the saffron alliance over BJP's overtures to the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena.
Parrikar has been admitted to the AIIMS for follow-up treatment reportedly for a pancreatic ailment.
Terming West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's call for a Federal Front as a "ploy" to increase her bargaining power with Congress and BJP before the 2014 polls, the Left parties feel it cannot be successful without a common minimum programme.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan came under a scathing attack at a meeting of the All India Congress Committee headed by senior leader A K Antony, with some state leaders telling the high command that the party's fate would be no better in the assembly polls due by October.
Launching a scathing attack on its former ally, Shiv Sena on Friday dubbed those who broke the 25-year-old alliance as "enemies of Maharashtra".
Punjab has over 400,000 employees and pensioners and about 125,000 staff members in its corporations and boards.
Banerjee said she was doing so after consulting leaders of major opposition parties and following 'a favourable court order'.
With the Supreme Court ordering Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar to appear before the Central Bureau of Investigation, the agency will finally be able to question the top cop in cases arising out of the Saradha chit fund scam probe.
Omar said that the NC has been telling them time and again that if they are not ready to form the government, they should be bold enough to break the alliance.
M K Alagiri, the disgruntled son of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam patriarch M Karunanidhi, has reached out to the Bharatiya Janata Party with an offer of support in the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls.
Yediyurappa said he would decide on members to be inducted into the ministry after consulting party president Amit Shah.
Reacting to the meeting of former Bharatiya Janata Party chief Nitin Gadkari with Maharashtra Navnirman Sena leader Raj Thackeray in Mumbai, the Shiv Sena on Tuesday said if a senior leader from BJP supports Raj or Sharad Pawar, it can affect the alliance.
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