The O Panneerselvam-led AIADMK Cadres Rights Retrieval Committee has withdrawn from the BJP-led NDA coalition, a year after joining. The move follows meetings between Panneerselvam and DMK Chief Minister M K Stalin, fueling speculation about future alliances.
Kejriwal claimed that the BJP has ruined Gujarat in its 30-year rule. The Congress has failed as an opposition because it helps the BJP retain power, he said.
This is important because he is to be seen as a sure winner before criss-crossing the state to campaign for candidates of the party or an alliance, highlights N Sathiya Moorthy.
Successive elections since 2019 have proved that the Modi charisma and Shah's strategy does not work in Tamil Nadu. Now, they have to see next year if the DMK is capable of losing, whether to an existing NDA alliance or an expanded version, if one becomes necessary and possible!, explains N Sathiya Moorthy.
While the BJP went back to the drawing board to recraft its political and governance outreach and regained momentum by notching up surprisingly big wins in a string of assembly polls, the burst of fresh optimism in the main opposition Congress and other INDIA bloc parties fizzled out.
...the DMK chief minister's campaign -- which includes criticism of the BJP's 'pro-Hindutva, anti-Tamil, anti-federal' policies and building on his own government's social welfare programmes targeting especially women and youth -- appeals to Tamil Nadu's voters in next year's assembly election, explains N Sathiya Moorthy.
Two-time Trinamool Congress Lok Sabha MP Mahua Moitra is learnt to have quietly tied the knot with Biju Janata Dal leader Pinaki Misra on May 3.
India's greatest para-athlete Devendra Jhajharia will be contesting on a BJP ticket from his hometown of Churu in Rajasthan.
RJD president Lalu Prasad has expelled his elder son, Tej Pratap Yadav, from the party for six years for "irresponsible behavior" and snapped all family ties with him. The decision comes after a viral Facebook post claimed that Yadav, a former Bihar minister, was "in a relationship" with a young woman.
While acknowledging that they needed strong allies for a chance in the assembly polls, AIADMK cadres seemingly prefer actor-politician Vijay's Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam to the BJP, owing to the latter's 'communal agenda' and consequent hardline Hindutva image, explains N Sathiya Moorthy.
'The Election Commission's involvement in the avoidable SIR controversy has carried a message down to the last voter -- who just does not like it,' observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
The Sena-UBT pointed out that the Congress only spoke about itself in the Ahmedabad meet, and INDIA or Bharat was nowhere in the discussion.
Uttar Pradesh deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya on Friday after taking the oath of the office said that Bharatiya Janata Party is targeting to win more than 75 seats out 80 from Uttar Pradesh in 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar was on Thursday appointed as the next chief election commissioner.
'After the 2020 Bihar assembly polls when our party got only 43 seats and our ally the BJP got 73 seats, Nitish Kumar refused to become chief minister and assured the BJP that he will support the government led by anyone.' 'But the BJP's top leaders told Nitish Kumar that as the NDA contested the polls under his leadership, the next government will be headed by him.'
Around 1.5 crore polling and security personnel, about 55 lakh EVMs and four lakh vehicles will be deployed for the polls, according to the poll authority.
The Congress followed next with Rs 620 crore or 18.5 percent of the total expenses among the 32 national and regional parties whose records were analysed, the ADR said.
Former India football captain Bhaichung Bhutia, who launched the Hamro Sikkim Party in April, said his outfit will form a coalition with anyone wanting to work for the betterment of his state.
Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray chief Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of trying to scuttle the possibility of his party's alliance with the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena led by his estranged cousin Raj Thackeray ahead of civic polls.
The Election Commission is in the process of deciding the number of phases and the months in which polling would be held, sources said.
At the customary meeting ahead of the session beginning Monday, the opposition raised various issues, including voter roll revision in Bihar, the Pahalgam terror attack and Trump's 'ceasefire' claims.
Voting was underway on Friday in 102 Lok Sabha seats spread across 21 states and Union territories in the first of the seven phases of the world's largest electoral exercise, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging voters to exercise their franchise in record numbers.
EPS' acceptance of Amit Shah's proposal for an electoral alliance with the BJP is being interpreted to mean how the AIADMK has signed up the NDA national leader as a junior partner. Not many have appreciated EPS for this strategic move that has now forced the BJP to play second fiddle to the AIADMK. This has meant that the BJP has buried its ambitions of capturing power in Tamil Nadu now, and is willing to wait until after the 2029 Lok Sabha polls, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Even if the BJP gets 60, 70, or even 100 per cent of the votes in the seats where it scored more than 50 per cent in the 2019 Lok Sabha election, these will still add up to only 224 seats, argues Shekhar Gupta.
With his induction into the Bharatiya Janata Party's parliamentary board, the party's highest decision-making body, Narendra Modi's prime focus will be on the next Lok Sabha polls, a state BJP leader close to the Gujarat chief minister has said
The current situation in Kerala politics is perhaps best described as a case of the state's traditional two front politics now seeing a third front (the BJP) muscling in with the potential outcome being either a messy three front affair or a renewed endorsement of the two front pattern but with one of the old fronts compromised or quashed, observes Shyam G Menon.
Maintaining that the INDIA alliance is for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and not for assembly polls in any state, the Congress on Friday asserted that the opposition bloc of 27 parties exists and will fight together.
One Rajya Sabha seat is a small price to pay for all the skills that Kamal Haasan brings to the table, points out Aditi Phadnis.
"Mock polls" are part of the first level check (FLC) process.
Over the medium and long term, the BJP hopes to devour the AIADMK, they having identified the party as 'ideologically not as sound as the DMK', predicts N Sathiya Moorthy.
Elections will also be held in 35 assembly constituencies in Odisha.
"More voters were added in Maharashtra in five months between the Lok Sabha and assembly polls than in five years," the former Congress president said.
A special CBI court in Hyderabad convicted former Karnataka minister and MLA Gali Janardhana Reddy and three others in the Obulapuram Mining Company (OMC) illegal iron ore mining case after a prolonged trial spanning nearly 14 years. The court sentenced them to seven years' imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on each. Reddy was named accused number two. The court imposed a Rs 1 lakh fine on the company. The CBI took Reddy and others into custody soon after the judgment.
BJP leader says there can be no government at the Centre without the BJP or the Congress backing
MNS leader Raj Thackeray has sparked speculation about a potential political rapprochement with his estranged cousin and Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray, suggesting their past differences are "trivial" and uniting for the greater good of "Marathi manoos" is not a difficult task. The comments come amid a political landscape in Maharashtra where the Shiv Sena (UBT) is facing a tough battle to retain its stronghold in Mumbai in upcoming civic polls, with competition from the Shinde-led Sena and BJP.
Aiming at a repeat of its success in the recent Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections in which it secured a majority on its own, the Bahujan Samaj Party has now started preparations for the Lok Sabha polls.
The leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha is preparing his excuses for future defeats in the upcoming assembly elections, including Bihar, Fadnavis said in his articles published in the Indian Express and Marathi daily Loksatta.
Shah pulled no punches in lambasting the RJD supremo for alleged nepotism, accusing him of making his wife the chief minister, getting his daughter elected to Parliament and "now both his sons want to become the CM".
Senior BJP leader Ashwini Kumar Choubey has expressed his desire to see Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar as the Deputy Prime Minister. However, the JD(U) and the RJD have dismissed Choubey's remarks as inconsequential, with the JD(U) pointing to Amit Shah's recent statement that Nitish Kumar is the coalition's leader for the upcoming assembly polls. The RJD has also ridiculed Choubey's statement, stating that the BJP is looking to get rid of Nitish Kumar and that Tejashwi Yadav will be the next Chief Minister of Bihar.
Actor Kamal Haasan launched Makkal Needhi Miam at a public meeting in Madurai in 2018.
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