Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday asserted that Article 370, which granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir, will not be restored even if Congress stalwart and late PM Indira Gandhi comes down from heaven.
The notable names in the BJP's first list include Prime Minister Narendra Modi from Varanasi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh from Lucknow, Hema Malini from Mathura, Ajay Mishra Teni from Kheri, Smriti Irani from Amethi, Lallu Singh from Faizabad (Ayodhya) and Mahendra Nath Pandey from Chandauli among others.
When he turned 53 last year, celebrations were rather subdued. Two weeks after the Congress won 99 seats (including a personal double victory in Wayanad and Raebareli), hoardings and banners wishing Rahul Gandhi on his 54th birthday appeared around 10 Janpath (where his mama and Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson Sonia Gandhi lives) and the Congress HQ in Delhi.
Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is expected to visit Wayanad in Kerala on June 12, party sources said on Monday.
According to an agreement reached after the telephonic conversation between Priyanka Gandhi and Yadav, the Congress has now got seats such as Sitapur and Barabanki.
'Modi 3.0 will have more balanced policies like one saw in Modi's first term.'
The move comes days after Akhilesh's party said he would join Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra only if its seat-sharing proposal for the Lok Sabha polls is accepted.
'What matters is policies, not personalities like Priyanka, Rahul or Modi.'
Employees of Sheena textiles, which is lying closed for past over one year, met Congress President and local Member of Parliament Sonia Gandhi in whose presence the management assured them that the unit will start soon.
Rahul Gandhi has taken a break from his ongoing 'Navsarjan Yatra' in Gujarat to meet the families of victims of the explosion.
Modi said that Congress' tally in the Lok Sabha polls will be an "all-time low"
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has decided to cut short his Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra in Uttar Pradesh by skipping western part of the state and saving five days, a party leader said on Monday while citing board exams.
Kishori Lal Sharma, a close aide of the Gandhi family, has been fielded from the Amethi Lok Sabha seat, the party said in a statement.
The BJP, which romped to power in 2019 on the back of an unequivocal mandate from UP, winning 62 of its 80 seats, was cut to size this time and had to be content with only 33 seats.
Russian chess great Garry Kasparov has expressed hope that his "little joke" on Indian politics does not pass for "advocacy or expertise" after his cheeky social media post on Congress MP Rahul Gandhi's love for the game went viral.
A host of conspiracy theories followed, involving Indira Gandhi, her younger son Sanjay, his favourite small car project, secret funding of the Bangladesh Mukti Bahini and even the Central Intelligence Agency of the United States.
In the five years in politics Priyanka Gandhi has undeniably emerged as a thorn in the BJP flesh, notes Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay. It is time that this thorn is twisted a wee bit more when the elections have become far more uncertain than what it was when the Election Commission announced the poll schedule.
Robert Vadra indicated that he will also join politics and said there is an atmosphere of change in the country. His entire family is working diligently on this, he added.
Political observers lauded the SP's choices in fielding several non-Yadav and Scheduled Caste candidates, the party's alliance with the Congress, and Rahul Gandhi's campaign around the danger to the Constitution if the BJP won a big majority.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and his convoy will spend the night on a farm in Bhadohi as the district administration has denied permission for his stay at a government college citing a police recruitment exam, a party member said on Thursday.
The Congress has consciously contested on a lesser number of seats in this Lok Sabha election as part of a strategy to keep the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) together and defeat the Bharatiya Janata Party, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has said.
The seats held by the non-BJP parties in the state are Bijnor, Amroha, Moradabad, Sambhal, Raebareli, Ghosi, Lalganj, Jaunpur, Ambedkarnagar, Ghazipur, Shravasti, Mainpuri, Saharanpur and Nagina. Of these, Raebareli is held by Sonia Gandhi of the Congress.
Indicating his keenness to contest the Lok Sabha elections from Amethi, Robert Vadra, businessman and husband of Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has said that the people of Amethi expect him to represent their constituency if he thinks of becoming a member of Parliament.
The SP chief said, "If the Congress behaves like this, who will stand with them."
Akhilesh Yadav said those who are looking for "profit" in the situation will leave.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday declared 13 candidates from Uttar Pradesh for the Lok Sabha polls including actor Arun Govil, who played Lord Ram in popular TV serial Ramayan, from Meerut, while replacing sitting MP Varun Gandhi from Pilibhit with state minister Jitin Prasada.
'Rahul Gandhi is going to turn 54 and in India political leaders peak when they are around 60.' 'This 'bhai-behen ki jodi' has done a wonderful job for the Congress.' 'Priyanka Gandhi was a very effective campaigner.'
While people voted in a fifth round that will set the tone as this election rounds into the straight, and while Modi on the stump chews the cud of personal grievances and hackneyed promises that have long since passed their use-by date, there is a rogue wave rising -- what damage it will do, we will know 16 days from today, observes Prem Panicker.
Without making two-thirds of the country's population a development partner, India's prosperity is impossible, the Congress leader added.
'He has emerged as a formidable leader who cannot be ignored anymore, who cannot be mocked.'
'The Constitution of India defeated the BJP.'
Around 90-100 people received burn injuries, and the condition of some of them was serious.
'If we want real democracy, the economy itself will need to be democratised.'
According to insiders, their lack of enthusiasm is showing on the ground. There is nothing to suggest that their enthusiasm will return in the final four phases of polling, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
The BJP lost 15 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in 2019. Union ministers have been deployed in all 15, tasked with turning the result around.
I think Sharad Pawar invited Ajit Pawar for the INDIA bloc meeting, Raut said.
India's star hockey player Rani Rampal has become the first woman in the sport to have a stadium named after her, in Rae Bareli, Uttar Pradesh.
You suffered the pain of walking for miles. But the Modi-Yogi governments acted irresponsibly and turned their faces away and closed their eyes, despite the pain of the people: Sonia
No answer for the time being, will see later, Vadra said.
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