The Bharatiya Janata Party's tally in Rajya Sabha has dipped below 90 for the first time in several years but the party and its allies are expected to not only recoup the their losses but also make some gains when by-elections to fill the existing vacancies are held in the coming weeks.
A united opposition is set to corner the NDA government on issues ranging from the NEET paper leak case to railway safety.
Y S Sharmila's message to voters in Kadapa is brief: 'I am YSR's daughter, my brother Jagan has ruined Andhra, vote for me, vote for Congress.' A Ganesh Nadar listens in.
Jaishankar briefed the leaders of all parties about the situation in the violence-hit nation and the steps taken by the Indian government.
The BJP, which contested more seats this time than in 2019 but is likely to fall short of the magic figure of 272, garnered 36.91 per cent of the total votes polled, a drop of around 0.39 percentage points as of 6.15 pm.
BJP will find it tougher to push contentious Bills, especially those that would require Constitutional amendments, without the support of its allies and cooperation from the Opposition.
The increased numbers of the Opposition bloc would mean that their MPs are likely to head several more panels than the four that they did by the end of the term of the 17th Lok Sabha.
Will Andhra Pradesh follow the Odisha model, voting differently in Lok Sabha and assembly elections? Or will Odisha follow Andhra Pradesh, voting in new faces in both?
Unlike the previous visit, where TDP MPs accompanied Naidu to meetings, sources termed the current visit as "low profile", with one-on-one meetings with key Union ministers.
The 26-party Opposition alliance has moved a notice of no-confidence in Lok Sabha demanding the prime minister speak on the Manipur situation inside the House. While the notice has been admitted, no decision on a date has yet been taken.
He asked if DMK president and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin, "who speaks of Tamil culture, such a serious allegation has been made--will DMK snap ties with Congress, for Tamil pride and the Tamil people."
Tamil Nadu's Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin has reacted to Andhra Pradesh counterpart Pawan Kalyan's out-of-turn taunts with a one-liner, 'Let's wait', and thereby hangs a tale, notes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Despite failing to secure a simple majority in Parliament, we will continue to see him on TV, newspapers, magazines, bill boards, vaccination certificates, railway stations, bus shelters, airports, sea ports, on the highway and on rural roads, sighs A Ganesh Nadar.
'There is also a possibility that Andhra Pradesh may demand a similar package. But as of now, we are only working on a package for Bihar.'
'Chandrababu is wiser and a very good administrator.' 'Jagan is the opposite. He is not very wise, not a good administrator.'
Chandrababu Naidu's victory comes barely eight months after his political career seemingly crashed in September 2023 when the YSRCP government arrested him in an alleged corruption case.
Former Congress president Sonia Gandhi, BJP chief J P Nadda and new party entrant Ashok Chavan and Union ministers Ashwini Vaishnaw and L Murugan were among the 41 candidates elected unopposed to Rajya Sabha on Tuesday while Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh will witness polling on February 27.
The BJP was unable to win any seat in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala besides Puducherry in 2011.
But as voters gear up for crucial assembly and parliamentary polls on May 13, all eyes are on the high-stakes battle in Pulivendula, an assembly constituency that has been a Reddy family stronghold for over four decades.
The Congress on Tuesday suffered a major upset in Himachal Pradesh at the hands of the Bharatiya Janata Party in the Rajya Sabha elections which were marred by cross-voting in all the three states though it won three seats in Karnataka while the saffron party pocketed an extra seat in Uttar Pradesh.
With the Bharatiya Janata Party falling short of a majority in the Lok Sabha and needing the National Democratic Alliance partners to form the government at the Centre, Bihar Chief Minister and Janata Dal-United head Nitish Kumar and Telugu Desam Party's N Chandrababu Naidu have emerged as potential kingmakers.
A day after TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu held deliberations with Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP chief J P Nadda, Kumar told PTI that preliminary discussions have taken place for the 'purpose of alliance' for the Lok Sabha and state assembly polls, which are held simultaneously in Andhra Pradesh.
Locals have witnessed real estate prices skyrocket from a historic low of Rs 6,000 per square yard (in 2020) during Jagan Mohan Reddy's regime to around Rs 40,000 to Rs 50,000 per square yard after elections.
Key individual parties have cornered a larger share, with some favouring regional and others national players.
'The TDP walking out of the NDA is a victory for the YSRCP.' 'The YSRCP wanted it to happen so that it would help them in coming elections.'
Now, every state election -- first up, Maharashtra, Haryana and Jharkhand later this year, then Delhi in January and Bihar in September next year -- will be seen by his followers for evidence of his recovery, and by rivals of sharpening decline, points out Shekhar Gupta.
The parties which gave chief ministers and sent scores of MPs to Parliament, drew a blank this time.
According to an Andhra government statement, Naidu 'reposed confidence' in the PM's leadership.
Though electoral verdicts have historically been accepted, even though grudgingly, by all parties, there has been a sharper edge to the questions being raised by Opposition parties this time over the polling process, including the Election Commission.
Close to half of the total 543 Lok Sabha seats are bracing for multi-cornered fight this time, making the contest way more interesting and intense than it was in the 2019 elections.
The high-level committee on 'one nation, one election' approached 62 parties out which 47 responded -- 32 in support of holding elections simultaneously, 15 against it.
Bharat Rashtra Samiti leader K Kavitha is expected to be produced before a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court by the Enforcement Directorate in New Delhi on Saturday for obtaining her remand for custodial interrogation in the money laundering case linked to alleged irregularities in the scrapped Delhi excise policy 2021-22, officials said.
It also asked why the data shared pertained to a period from April 2019 even though the scheme for anonymous political funding was introduced in 2017.
The state's economic health is in focus as it has consistently breached the fiscal deficit in eight of the last 10 years since Telangana's formation.
From steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal to billionaire Sunil Bharti Mittal's Airtel, Anil Agarwal's Vedanta, ITC, Mahindra and Mahindra, and a lesser-known Future Gaming and Hotel Services were among the prominent buyers of the now-scrapped electoral bonds for making political donations.
Future Gaming of lottery king Santiago Martin was the biggest purchaser of electoral bonds at Rs 1,368 crore, of which nearly 37 percent went to the DMK.
Exigencies of electoral politics and individual ambitions often stoke family feuds and sibling rivalries.
The Biju Janata Dal will support the bill replacing the Delhi services ordinance and oppose the no-confidence motion proposed by various opposition parties against the government, the party's Rajya Sabha member Sasmit Patra said on Tuesday.
Future Gaming and Hotel Services whose director is the lottery magnate Santiago Martin is the top purchaser of electoral bonds having purchased bonds worth Rs 1,368, according to data uploaded by the Election Commission of India on its website on Thursday.
The government on Monday said it was willing to discuss every issue under rules during the Budget session of Parliament and sought the support of the Opposition in running the proceedings smoothly.
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