'I had expected them to fight this election on the issue of development, but they are not doing that.' 'Now they have decided to belittle Gujarat's development.'
In his short speeches at various places, Gandhi assailed Modi over demonetisation and a host of other issues.
The BJP has managed to retain its lead in all the six municipal corporations -- Ahmedabad, Surat, Rajkot, Vadodara, Jamangar and Bhavnagar -- which went to polls last month.
Mumbai pacer Shardul Thakur pushed South Africa to the backfoot before the classy AB de Villiers rallied the tourists with a typically aggressive century on the second and last day of the practice game against Board President's XI which ended in a draw, in Mumbai, on Saturday.
Elections in Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan will see the BJP and Congress in direct contest.
'So far the youth were Modi's strength.' 'It now seems under pressure, and for good reason: Crisis in education, jobs, slowdown in manufacturing, and thereby trading,' points out Shekhar Gupta.
'A false narrative is being created, that Modi is a habitual offender when it comes to lowering the political discourse in the country.' 'Nothing can be farther from the truth,' argues Sudhir Bisht.
A round-up of results from the Ranji Trophy matches played on Tuesday
Hardik Patel, the face of Patel quota stir in Gujarat, has announced plans for a nation-wide agitation seeking reservation for nearly "27 crore people" of various communities including Gujjars and Kurmis.
'Eventually the law of averages has to play catch up with Modi and the BJP, sooner or later,' says Rajeev Sharma.
'Today, the target of this rage are the weaker sections of society -- Muslims, Dalits, liberal thinkers/writers who challenge its ideology. But tomorrow, it could be anyone stepping out of a pub; reading a book or watching a movie by an artist considered an anti-Hindu/anti-national,' says Durba Dhyani.
"It was wrong of Rahul Gandhi and other opposition leaders to express their solidarity with these JNU leaders and therefore I have filed a case of sedition against them," adds Goud.
Stuart Binny, who has lost his place in the Indian Test and ODI teams, struck his ninth first class hundred -- a blistering 156 -- as Karnataka grabbed a huge first innings lead over Assam on day three of their Group B Ranji Trophy match on Saturday.
'Rather than 'consolidate' the Hindu majority votes, as the BJP-RSS combine has been known and wont to try, this time round PM Modi has himself taken the party to the next step, by seeking to create a new divide within the majority community, a la V P Singh in his time.'
'The Gujarat model which is being shown is not the right picture.' 'Farmers are not getting their dues, youth are unemployed and factories have shut shop.'
'The situation in the country is very scary.' 'There is an increasing attack on the Constitutional democratic rights of our people.'
'It will be our attempt that in order to get the country out of the condition it is in because of their (the BJP) coming to power, the Congress will go to them (leaders of parties opposed to the BJP) and if there is need for support we shall do so too.'
'Whatever the result on December 18, Rahul has succeeded.' 'He has taken the battle to the rival's territory, and forced him to take him more seriously than he has done so far, or would have wished to.' 'A party, dominating and powerful as the BJP today, is spending all its time attacking the leader of one with just 46 seats in the Lok Sabha, and in the woods in Gujarat for 22 years.' 'This isn't the script the BJP had written,' says Shekhar Gupta.
'The reason the protests are not happening in Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Gurgaon and Noida is that there are options available to the youth in those cities. And many people can access this sort of job because most of them are armed with English, integrating them into the global economy. This is something not available to most youth in Gujarat (the government schools do not teach English till Class 5),' says Aakar Patel.
A threat issued by the Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti or Patel agitation could affect the game temporarily
Hardik Patel, the 21-year-old politician who has been grabbing headlines as leader of the 40-day agitation by the Patel Community, addressed a massive rally in Ahmedabad on Tuesday where he demanded reservations under the Other Backward Caste quota for the community.
Don't forget to make your pick for the newsmaker of 2015.
'The new generation voter is hyper-nationalistic, but it isn't essentially illiberal.' 'They will find the rants of Adityanath as laughable as Irfan Habib's. They will also find the BJP's polarising approach to vote-gathering unacceptable if it fails to deliver jobs and growth,' says Shekhar Gupta.
Curfew has been lifted from Surat city after no untoward incident was reported from there since Wednesday night.
A round-up of Ranji matches played on Friday
'When you read that for the first time, areas in Gujarat dominated by Patidars/Patels have been declared 'sensitive' for the civic polls that were held this week, you sit up and take note,' says Jyoti Punwani.
Successor Anandiben Patel isn't having an easy time, with a protest movement by her own community and new challenges in keeping the mandate
Manoj Tiwary and Sudip Chatterjee scored centuries to lead Bengal's spirited comeback against Mumbai, while Gujarat put themselves in line for full seven points after enforcing the follow-on against Punjab. A round up of Day 3 of the Ranji Trophy matches.
'One can understand this prejudice in the minds of policemen against Muslims, without accepting it. But what tilts the balance disproportionately is the police's blind eye to offences committed in the name of the majority.' says Jyoti Punwani.
Two seasoned, left-handed Bengaluru-born players -- Amit Verma and Sreenath Aravind -- representing rival teams, stole the honours on day one of a Group B Ranji Trophy match between Assam and Karnataka in Mumbai on Thursday.
'The voter thinks that the State is not going to impartially deliver services, provide justice, basic law and order, social insurance -- so as a voter it's very rational that I may choose a criminal who will help me navigate the State.' 'A weak State allows a criminal politician to be the person who provides that guarantee to mediate whatever problem the citizen has with the State.'
'In the last ten days a mastermind has emerged who is misleading him and using him like a pawn. We made Hardik the face of this agitation. Hardik was the smallest mohra in this agitation.' 'The mastermind is doing Hardik's makeover. He is increasing his face value. But this is helping us in pushing forth for our demands. Because Hardik's face value is increasing, our agitation is benefiting. What is the motive of this mastermind in doing what he is doing is a different issue.'
'We have made no effort in recent years to build a national opinion on Kashmir amongst political parties.' 'At least we should speak as one country.' 'It has been a failure of our foreign policy that we have not been able to convince world opinion that something needs to be done about Pakistan.'
A summary of the day's play in the Vijay Hazare One-day tournament.
A round-up of results from the matches played at the Mushtaq Ali Twenty20 cricket tournament across the country.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances