The BJP has many ruthless leaders with super-sharp political minds. But none has all this and Yogi's charisma and personal ambition, observes Shekhar Gupta.
On the sidelines of the NITI Aayog governing council meeting, CMs of West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala met PM Modi.
'...if elections were to be held today.' 'The problem is Akhilesh is not very aggressive.' 'Had he started his campaign aggressively six months ago, the picture in UP would have been very different.'
Biju Janata Dal members had staged a walk-out while NDA ally Shiv Sena did not participate in the voting.
On its own or with allies the Congress has a strong presence in states that account for a total of 253 LS seats, or 20 short of the magic figure of 272 required to form a government at the Centre. So what is Mamata Banerjee talking about, asks N Sathiya Moorthy.
With 200 MPs out of 785 above the age of 65, there is a serious shadow of COVID-19 looming over the monsoon session Of Parliament.
There is speculation that the Congress may bring Priyanka Gandhi, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Randeep Surjewala and RPN Singh, among others, to the upper house.
Amid reports that Naidu is seeking cabinet berths for his MPs, the TDP met Modi in Gujarat Bhawan in the national capital and the meeting lasted for over 30 minutes after which chief minister-designate of Andhra Pradesh left without talking to media.
Naidu broke the fast by taking a glass of coconut water following intervention by Communist Party of India-Marxist general secretary Prakash Karat, CPI general secretary A B Bardhan, Janata Dal-United chief Sharad Yadav, Rashtriya Lok Dal president Ajit Singh and other leaders who prevailed upon him to end the fast.
Actor-turned-politician Jaya Prada on Thursday said she wants to join the Bharatiya Janata Party as she is impressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership.
Winning an election may be a breeze for the BJP but the aftermath of victory isn't always painless.
Assembly polls in Andhra Pradesh, Sikkim and Odisha will be held simultaneously in the first phase.
In his report, Justice Liberhan said the senior police officers were at hand to ensure that their men toed the line and that the demolition of the disputed structure was allowed to go ahead with "military precision as orchestrated by the leaders present at the spot and carried out by their henchmen."
The YSR Congress on Tuesday told Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar that it is against tabling the Andhra Pradesh Re-Organisation Bill 2013 in Parliament.
A bill to modify the list of scheduled castes in Tamil Nadu by grouping of seven castes which presently exist as separate castes, was passed by the Lok Sabha on Friday.
Punjab faces many mortal threats. For most of these the people of Punjab are themselves responsible. And unless they take a brutal hard look within, their future generations have to be resigned to continue living with this constant slide, warns Shekhar Gupta.
The April 11 polling will decide the fate of several political bigwigs.
Telugu Desam Party chief Chandrababu Naidu is keeping everyone guessing about whether he plans to join hands with the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance for the forthcoming Parliamentary polls.
Telangana is facing a day-long bandh on Saturday called in protest against the passage in Lok Sabha of a Bill to transfer some villages of the newly-created state to Andhra Pradesh to aid the construction of the Polavaram project.
The move is being seen as an attempt to forge opposition unity to defeat the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance.
A senior TRS leader had said his party expects the Congress to not cross the 100-seats mark.
'We have got our permutations and combinations in place.' 'We are also trying to garner support from some NDA allies.' 'Every section of society has suffered during the four years of Modi rule.'
NDA ally, the TDP continued to disrupt the both Houses of the Parliament over demand for special status to Andhra Pradesh.
Discontentment of allies may not look serious now, but the BJP needs to develop a better mechanism to deal with the allies ahead of the next Lok Sabha polls in 2019.
He said while the state government had sought Rs 8,481 crore as central assistance, the Centre has provided Rs 940.92 crore.
According to sources, Congress managers are attempting to fix a meeting between Sonia Gandhi and Mayawati. Congress is hopeful that Mayawati will support any government other than BJP, even though the BSP supremo had lashed out at Congress throughout her campaigning.
The BJP leadership believes these parties are flexing their muscles in the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls for better seat-sharing deals.
This spicy tangy preparation is quite popular during the festival season.
The accent on 'making the south feel wanted' was the reason why P Muralidhar Rao, who was dropped as general secretary, was partially reinstated in the central apparatus as prabhari in charge of Madhya Pradesh. 'Pressure from the RSS was brought to bear on Rao's return,' a source said. Radhika Ramaseshan reports.
The only business that the House could transact was laying of official papers on the table of the House.
According to media reports, abducted Biju Janata Dal Member of Legislative Assembly Jhina Hikaka will be released on Thursday in Koraput district of Odisha at 10 am. Reports say that the decision was taken at a Maoist 'people's court'. The Naxals have also asked Hikaka to 'resign'.
Maoists on Thursday produced abducted ruling Biju Janata Dal MLA Jhina Hikaka before a people's court to decide his fate, a day after the Odisha government said it would withdraw cases against 13 prisoners in exchange for freedom of the tribal legislator.
With the deadline set by the Maoists holding Biju Janata Dal MLA Jhina Hikaka hostage ending on Wednesday, his fate still remained unknown despite the Odisha government's decision to seriously consider withdrawal of prosecution in "suitable cases" involving jailed rebels if the ultras free the legislator.
With the curtains drawn on the Italian hostage crisis, a somewhat relieved Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Friday flew to Maoist-infested Koraput where 37-year-old tribal MLA Jhina Hikaka was being held captive by a separate Maoist group since March 24.
UP and Bihar contributed 105 seats to the BJP's tally in 2014. It has now lost 8 Lok Sabha by-polls in the last four years, including three successive losses in UP and two seats in Rajasthan.
Polling for three parliamentary seats and 29 assembly constituencies were held on October 30, an exercise being seen as a barometer of the political mood in the country ahead of assembly elections in politically critical Uttar Pradesh as well as other states.
Abductors of Biju Janata Dal legislator Jhina Hikaka on Tuesday fixed April 5 as the deadline for fulfillment of their demands and rejected the Odisha government's invitation for talks, a day after a similar threat was issued by another Maoist group holding an Italian hostage
The party has also expanded its list of spokesperson to 23, with MP Anil Baluni being elevated as the chief spokesperson and remaining its media head.
Many in the Telangana region have shown some interest in the RLD and depending on how honest they are to the cause they would think of supporting them, says Vicky Nanjappa.
A latest survey by the Association for Democratic Reforms reveals that 14 criminals and 50 crorepatis will be contesting the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections.
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