The political fight for the Dalits' cause escalated on Thursday with Congress president Rahul Gandhi accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi of having an "anti-Dalit" mindset and the Bharatiya Janata Party chief Amit Shah alleging the opposition party had a legacy of insulting the community.
The senior Congress leader was in a coma since October last year, when he was admitted to AIIMS after he suffered a brain haemorrhage.
'Was he afraid that his answers during cross-examination would land him in trouble under the new ruling dispensation?'
Setting in motion the process for the 16th presidential election, the Election Commission on Thursday said anyone desiring to contest would need 50 electors as proposers and 50 others as seconders -- a move aimed at weeding out non-serious candidates in these polls that once saw nominations getting rejected for 36 out of 37 candidates.
'If Lalu puts the agenda of his son's career ahead of the coalition's interest, this coalition will fare very badly.' 'Lalu will ultimately want that his son becomes deputy chief minister but if he's prepared to wait for some time, nothing bad will happen for the coalition,' Professor Prabhat Ghosh, Director, Asian Development Research Institute, tells Archana Masih/Rediff.com
The Chief Election Commissioner pointed out that the exercise involved nearly 7.3 crore voters and over 1.06 lakh polling stations.
'At this moment, the Trinamool has an edge.'
Dantewada recorded lowest turnout with 49 per cent voting.
Voting is being held at 11,860 polling stations spread over 11 assembly constituencies each in Murshidabad and Birbhum, six in Malda and seven in north Kolkata.
'Wherever in the world there is political instability, those countries are beset with severe crises today. But India is in a much better position than the rest of the world due to the decisions taken by my government in the national interest,' President Droupadi Murmu said in her address to both Houses of Parliament.
'What we have is the bill and the Act passed by Parliament.' 'And then there is a criterion of exclusion as to who will not be covered in EWS.' 'Beyond that, we have no clue where this idea came from.' 'And most importantly, why is it 10% reservation, and say why not 15% or 20%?'
'I am hopeful of getting all six seats from Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur, either for the BJP or with our allies.' 'The same is true about Meghalaya.' 'We will have to work hard in Mizoram and in Tripura.' 'In Assam, we won seven seats. In 2019 election, we will add to this number.'
Keen to scrap the collegium system, government on Monday introduced a Constitution Amendment Bill in Lok Sabha to establish a six-member body for appointment of judges to the Supreme Court and the high courts.
The Child Protection Services programme under the Integrated Child Development Services was increased to Rs 1,500 crore from Rs 925 crore.
'If you look at the entire protest on April 2, you will find it was not only about the Atrocities Act dilution, but the accumulated anger of the Dalit community against the BJP over the last four years.'
Congress leaders say that controversies like the one triggered by Janardhan Dwivedi could be damaging for the party in the run up to the 2014 Lok Sabha election.
He was most recently credited as one of the brains behind labour law reforms in Rajasthan
'It is imperative that all parties make a commitment that they shall abide by the final decision of the Supreme Court.' 'This will be the best way to bring a closure.' 'It is time India moves on to face several other challenges.'
Shah attended a function on renaming of Mughalsarai junction after Pt Deendayal Upadhyay.
'Amendments in the past have created fear. This will take it further.'
Senior Congress leaders say Sharad Pawar's 'clean chit' to Modi in the Rafale deal is the most recent example of regional parties succumbing to pressure. The Congress is also convinced that Mayawati is being arm-twisted.
'You've got to be a doer to be re-elected.' 'You don't have to be a great communicator or an orator any more because voters want to see action and development on the ground.' 'And they want a doer rather than just an orator.'
'Indian cricketers in IPL should be allowed to vote wherever they are'
Pakistan will not participate in the shooting World Cup in New Delhi after a top official of the national federation confirmed that its marksmen had not been issued visas
The Congress, a responsible political party, has never cast unwarranted aspersions on the actions of Constitutional bodies, Surjewala said.
'The government and corporate sector must join hands to implement action which allows all of India to develop. It would be good for the corporate sector in the long run.' 'It is not that talent is a monopoly of a few castes who have been privileged over centuries. Talent also exists in other groups. They need opportunity and exposure,'
De-scaling of businesses, job losses and subsequent impact on disposable incomes has created negative sentiment among traders, business owners and workers alike, says Abhishek Waghmare.
Sporadic incidents of violence were reported from various places that went to polls on Saturday during the first phase of the West Bengal assembly election, even as the overall poll situation was largely peaceful with 79.79 per cent turnout recorded till the end of voting, an official said.
The Congress vice-president's office and staff have been revamped after the party's electoral defeat in 2014
'India's relationship with China has been and will continue to be complex, delicate and sensitive,' says Rup Narayan Das.
Tamil Nadu's unending legislative fight for exemption from NEET has now flagged the question if it's time to review the Supreme Court's famous verdict in the 'Mandal case', fixing 50-per cent upper-limit for all reservations, asks N Sathiya Moorthy.
Community will now avail of exclusive schemes run by the ministry of minority affairs.
Voting is being held in 59 of the total 60 seats .
The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Union ministry of home affairs to provide two additional companies of the Central Armed Police Forces to secure every polling booth during the Tripura municipal polls.
Commenting on the Narcotics Control Bureau investigation of a drug case, related to actor Sushant Singh Rajput's death case, Raut said, "The probe of the case started about murder and suicide. Now, narcotics came into the case. Nobody knows where will it go. It is under NCB's jurisdiction to summon anyone to join the probe."
The new candidates fielded from these constituencies by the BJP are: SP Singh Baghel (Agra), Parameshwar Lal Saini (Sambhal), Raj Kumar Chaher (Fatehpur Sikri), Jai Prakash Rawat (Hardoi-SC), Ashok Rawat (Misrikh-SC) and Arun Sagar (Shahjahanpur-SC).
Ajay Bahadur Singh could not become a doctor because of family and financial constraints. He now helps financially challenged students from Bhubaneshwar become doctors.
'In the last five years of UP government, the UP police were given a fair environment and the rule of law always remained supreme.' 'In these five years, nobody within BJP dared tell a police officer to act against the rule of law.'
Cautioning against forces which fan communal tension in order to polarise the situation in their favour, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday voiced concern over the Muzaffarnagar riots and said such violence cannot be allowed to spread.
The sub-quota scheme may now lead to a ganging up of non-Vanniyars in individual constituencies against the Vanniyars just as in the past, such ganging up against SC-ST candidates was seen in the non-quota constituencies, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
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