Anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare, who left Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee red-faced two days back, said that he had skipped the poorly attended rally because he was misled.
Hasty, ill-conceived steps show how isolated Mamata Banerjee had been from the national political trend. A fascinating excerpt from Sugato Hazra's Losing The Plot: Political Isolation Of West Bengal.
Kisan Baburao Hazare is supporting Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress and attempts are afoot to form an alternative Third Front. Will these alliances really work, asks Bharat Bhushan.
After announcing their partnership for the coming Lok Sabha polls, social activist Anna Hazare and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee are set to mark their presence on the national scene with a public rally at the Ramlila Grounds in New Delhi on March 12. Anita Katyal reports
Social activist Anna Hazare on Thursday said his support to the West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was only for coming Lok Sabha elections.
Anna Hazare on Wednesday found fault with the government for bringing a separate Citizens' Charter bill saying it was against the assurance given by Parliament to him and urged Trinamool Congress Chief Mamata Banerjee to pressurise the United Progressive Alliance on Lokpal issue as she did on FDI in retail.
In an interview with CNN-IBN, the Trinamool Congress chief explains why she decided to team up with activist Anna Hazare and alleges that the Left Front, the BJP and the Congress have an 'understanding' in Bengal.
Syed Ahmed Bukhari, now on the side of two leading ladies -- Mamata Banerjee and Mayawati -- thinks Anna Hazare ditched the Bengal chief minister, resulting in the poor turnout at Didi's Delhi rally on Wednesday.
Arvind Kejriwal met Anna Hazare on Saturday night shortly after which the Gandhian had a jibe at the Delhi chief minister saying some people take bungalows despite having promised not to do so.
The Bharatiya Janata Party's unit in West Bengal on Friday shot off a letter to activist Anna Hazare, questioning his support for Mamata Banerjee, and contested the 'clean' image of her government.
Social activist Anna Hazare on Wednesday declared his support to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who apparently has ambitions outside the state in the coming Lok Sabha election, and snubbed his one-time protege by saying that he will not support Arvind Kejriwal.
Moments after Anna Hazare skipped a public meeting addressed by Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, former army chief Gen V K Singh on Wednesday met him triggering speculation that the anti-corruption crusader could have been wooed by the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare on Wednesday skipped a rally addressed here by Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Bannerjee who attacked Narendra Modi and ruled out support to either Congress or BJP after the Lok Sabha polls.
'Mamata Banerjee was an anti-body that the people of West Bengal needed to throw the CPI-M out. Though the disease is no more, we are suffering the anti-body. It is a punishment for the people of this state.' BJP leader Tathagatha Roy lashes out at the West Bengal chief minister.
Targeting the political class, Team Anna member Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress of misusing the Central Bureau of Investigation while in power. He also took on Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee for not being vocal about Lokpal like she was on the issue of Foreign Direct Investment in retail.
'The numbers have been scaled down for the Trinamool Congress. Today, the upper number of victories seems to be 30, with 25 seats being the realistic option. The Trinamool Congress may still be the largest non-BJP, non-Congress party in the next Lok Sabha, but it may not make it to the Cabinet table, leave alone sit in the top chair,' says T V R Shenoy.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), led by Arvind Kejriwal, suffered a major setback in the Delhi Assembly elections, losing to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The loss marks a significant blow to Kejriwal's national ambitions and raises questions about the future of the party. The AAP had been in power in Delhi for the past 10 years and had also formed a government in Punjab. Despite the defeat, the party still holds 13 MPs from Punjab and Delhi. The article examines the factors that contributed to the AAP's defeat, including allegations of corruption, poor civic facilities, and the BJP's relentless attacks. It also explores the impact of the loss on Kejriwal's national aspirations and the party's future.
Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo Mamata Banerjee on Saturday trained her guns on the Congress, saying that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will become more powerful as the grand old party is not serious about politics, and alleged that the country is suffering because that party does not take decisions.
With an aim of maximising its electoral prospects, Trinamool Congress will be using the 'star power' of actor Mithun Chakraborty to add spark to its campaign for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
"He (Modi) is concerned more about corporates than farmers," Hazare told PTI in an interview in Latur.
Like the Hindi film industry, where formulas for hit films are done to death, the political fraternity in India is making an all out effort to 're-brand' itself to follow the hit script of the AAP, says Upasna Pandey
'Even if the BJP does not come to power, the system has changed.'
With this kind of coinage, the Opposition seems to be readily conceding the point that Modi is taller than all of them put together. So they need something bigger than themselves, collectively or not, to capture the voter imagination when it is about taking on Modi and the BJP in 2024, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
The ground, which served as the battleground for the 51-year-old bureaucrat-turned-politician during the Anna Hazare-led India Against Corruption movement, is getting decked up and workers are busy making arrangements.
'Who are these people on the streets?' 'They are youth and students who were hoodwinked, bluffed by Modi for the last seven years, with a promise of 2 crore jobs every year.' 'And Mamata sings the same tune.' 'But the youth can see that as long as there is Mamata or Modi, there is no hope.'
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday said that the Third Front was like a "parking lot" where parties come and go and ruled out any chance of it forming a government at the Centre.
One would not think that a Facebook status or a tweet could land you in jail, at least not in India -- the world's largest democracy. However, the reality is a lot more brutal in India, which has a shameful history of locking up its citizens for dissenting viewpoints. According to Mint, at least 50 people have been arrested through 2017 and 2018 for posts on social media. Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com presents some of the most prominent cases.
In the unlikely event of the BJP-NDA losing all five states going to the polls in February-March, the Presidential electoral college numbers could be significantly altered, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
Here's what leaders have been saying about AAP's stunning election victory in Delhi
'They also think that if all opposition parties rally behind him, then 2024 will be Rahul versus Modi and that will be advantage BJP'
'You can never say never in politics.' 'We may still see the return of AAP, but hopefully not of the same abusive politics again,' says Shekhar Gupta.
'For the BJP to lose this virtual pocket borough of the saffron brotherhood demonstrates how resolutely the people of Gorakhpur have turned against the party,' says Amulya Ganguli.
It seems the Congress just does not have the energy and vitality to break through even in the states where it has a ground presence and the wind of anti-incumbency on its back, says Aakar Patel.
'Kejriwal tries to project that his party is not Hindu virodhi.'
Big banners bearing messages like 'Dhanyawad Dilli' along with the image of the Aam Aadmi Party supremo were put up on Saturday in and around the venue ahead of the mega function which is 'open to public'.
AAP is not like any other party but an alternative for a change in this country, Jarnail Singh tells Rediff.com's Onkar Singh.
The BJP at 43 is a work in progress, with total ideological continuity and much substantive change in political method and style, observes Shekhar Gupta.
'In Kejriwal's re-election, we are finally seeing someone who has successfully bridged his Hindu identity with ground-level development triumphing over the BJP,' notes Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
'Pure, uncluttered anti-Modi-ism, however angry, can't be an ideology or an electoral alternative.' 'The best it can do for you is damage Mr Modi enough for him to finish below 200.' 'Can it enable you to cross 100 to begin with?' asks Shekhar Gupta.
'For now, the AAP is the conversation,' Lord Meghnad Desai tells Rediff.com's Sanchari Bhattacharya. 'Everyone is talking about the 'Delhi model'. They have made so much difference. They have changed politics.'
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