While they were invited with protests at Geelani's home, they were turned away by Yasin Malik, who was lodged in jail.
Bhagwat said a sense of idealism is good and described himself not as 'anti-modern', but as 'pro-future'.
'Nitish Kumar wouldn't have won Bihar without Lalu. He needed a voter base and Lalu has a much bigger voter base than Nitish.'
At an online book release event, former vice president Hamid Ansari lays to rest the controversies surrounding his tenure.
After weeks of bargaining and protesting, the BJP and the TDP came to a seat sharing arrangement for the May 7 polls in Andhra Pradesh. But will this alliance help the saffron party make inroads in the Telangana region? Vicky Nanjappa finds out
Muslim organisations, who have for years claimed that the Batla House encounter was fake, have not changed their stand after Thursday's verdict.
Has Owaisi's MIM become an albatross for Imtiaz Jaleel, former journalist and the party's candidate in Aurangabad?
The BJP is set to make decisive gains in civic elections in Maharashtra even as it is locked in a neck-and-neck fight with its bickering ally Shiv Sena in Mumbai.
TDP Telangana unit president Ramana said they favoured a 'grand alliance' for the elections in the interest of Telangana people.
'For Nitish Kumar the message is to be democratic. With the support of the BJP, he had suppressed criticism in Bihar. He would also need to change his highly authoritarian way of governance.' 'The Grand Alliance, given the decisive mandate in its favour, cannot afford to fail the people. They have a duty to make it a model for the rest of India,' says Apoorvanand.
Notwithstanding exit polls giving a clear mandate to the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance the Telangana Rashtra Samithi on Friday said the party still prefers to support a Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government at the Centre.
'It was Dr B R Ambedkar's foresight which saved us from some marauding state political leaders who could have indirectly disfranchised large sections of our population as we see some attempts even now,' says V Balachandran.
The Congress party on Friday attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his ministerial colleagues, latching on to the controversy surrounding newly-inducted minister of state for HRD Ram Shankar Katheria over his graduation marksheet.
Asaduddin Owaisi opens up to T S Sudhir on his party's plans for the elections in Uttar Pradesh next year and why he thinks both the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Samajwadi Party have vitiated the secular atmosphere in the state.
Biju Janata Dal members had staged a walk-out while NDA ally Shiv Sena did not participate in the voting.
'This is India, bhai. This kind of country does not exist anywhere in the world.'
'This is an emotional issue and cannot be resolved by law alone.' 'This can be resolved only by creating trust again.' 'So much bloodletting has taken place, there is no point in going on and on.' 'Let us sit together and negotiate'
'I don't practise yoga. How am I less of a nationalist than the person who practises it? Is it a crime if I don't practice it?'
Booth-level surveys conducted by political parties say the electorate voted differently in the 119 assembly and 17 Lok Sabha segments in Telangana. Vicky Nanjappa reports
Wednesday is a historic day for the 2.8 crore voters from Telangana as they exercise their franchise for electing the first government of the new state that will formally come into existence on June 2.
From Chief Minister EK Palaniswami to Seeman to TTV Dhinakaran to elder brother M K Azhagiri, everyone's favourite target these days seems to the DMK chief Stalin, which is good news in an election year, but that doesn't mean he is going to sweep the polls, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
'Chandra Shekhar used to say that some people may oppose such a decision from their mouth, but all will accept it from their heart as the best solution to the dispute.'
RSS mouthpiece Panchjanya has accused Vice President Hamid of speaking like a "communal Muslim leader".
'The clearest interpretation of the November 8 mandate is that the backwards, Dalits and minorities, and a huge proportion of women cutting across caste and class, displayed massive consolidation to the extent that despite chipping of votes by the Left Front, by the Third Front and by the BSP, Mahagathbandhan candidates won, and in many cases by huge margins,' says Mohammad Sajjad.
As the country readies to go to polls on July 25, one can't deny the role of the military, but there are other factors too.
Apart from debating the Rayal-Telangana issue, the Group of Ministers that meets on Wednesday night at 8 pm, will also look into the demand to make Hyderabad a Union Territory.
'If the charges are so serious against him, then why hasn't a single case been registered against Dr Zakir Naik?'
'Besides electoral opportunism, a sustained vilification of AMU on one or the other pretext helps them sustain their 'everyday communalism', the new strategy of the BJP of the Narendra Damodardas Modi-Amit Anilchandra Shah era,' says Mohammad Sajjad.
Sharing of dais with Narendra Modi in New Delhi and numerous other indications that N Chandrababu Naidu was fast heading towards renewed friendship with the Bharatiya Janata Party has left the Muslim leaders of Telugu Desam Party fuming with anger and frustration.
'Why isn't the BJP ready to give reservations to Muslims despite the high court telling it to do so?' 'A K Antony said the Congress lost the 2014 election because of Muslim appeasement. Antony should have gone to the jails of Maharashtra and found out how many Muslims were arrested during Congress rule. I don't know what kind of appeasement this is.' 'We reposed faith in so-called great secular leaders and they deceived us.'
In a show of strength, Bharatiya Janata Party bulldozed the opposition - the Nationalist Congress Party, Congress and estranged ally Shiv Sena -- to wrest power in the state.
With the situation showing improvement, curfew was relaxed for five hours on Wednesday in riot-hit Muzaffarnagar while Baghpat witnessed a communal clash leaving a constable injured.
In conversation with Karan Thapar, former Vice President Hamid Ansari takes on one of the most sensitive issues of our times.
'For short-term gain, the BJP makes extraordinary promises, they take extraordinary decisions, but in the long term it is going to impact both them and the country.'
Lateef Mohammed Khan, convenor, Muslim Forum for Telangana, speaks with rediff.com's Vicky Nanjappa about the mindset of the Muslims in the Telangana region and also explains why the MIM is worried about the formation or a de-merger of Telangana from Andhra Pradesh.
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YSR Congress Party chief Jagan Mohan Reddy's unexpected release on bail -- after spending 16 months behind bars on charges of corruption -- has set many tongues wagging.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis faces the challenge of ensuring that Dalits and Muslims -- who are likely to be most affected by the beef ban -- do not drift away towards the opposition.
What is the road ahead for Rahul Gandhi? Shehzad Poonawalla offers a blueprint.
'She is a daughter-in-law of Pakistan and this is not something that can be overlooked.' 'So many have contributed towards the Telangana cause and many have laid down their lives for the same. Why are their names not considered?' BJP leader Dr K Laxman defends himself in this exclusive interview with Vicky Nanjappa/Rediff.com
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