'They fear their caste privilege will be exposed if there is an OBC caste census.'
Shahnawaz Akhtar spoke to Diya Kumari at the iconic City Palace, which doubles up as her residence and office, where the princess opened up about her joining hands with the saffron brigade, being addressed by name and to a lot more.
In an exclusive interview to CNN-IBN, Rashtriya Swayam Sevak leader Indresh Kumar says that Bharatiya Janata Party s' prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi is like former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and compares them to Subhash Chandra Bose and Mahatma Gandhi.
Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar, whose party has extended crucial outside support to the Bharatiya Janata Party government in Maharashtra, on Monday said the decision was prompted by the need to avoid fresh elections but made it clear that the party will play the role of an effective opposition.
In the midst of the poll heat, the Congress has heaped praise on A B Vajpayee to attack Narendra Modi, asking how can a person whom the tallest leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party "wanted removed" as the chief minister in the wake of Gujarat riots be the party's PM candidate.
'The animosity in the BJP against Swamy continued for a good more than thirty years.' 'It was only after herculean efforts by a reconstituted and more just RSS, that Swamy was finally inducted into the BJP in 2013.'
Senior BJP leaders had offered the veteran politician the Lok Sabha Speaker's post after he went into a sulk over displeasure to contest from the Gandhinagar seat. However, it is yet to be known whether he has accepted the offer or not, reports Anita Katyal.
After the people pay their homage for an hour on Friday morning, the late prime minister's body will be taken to the BJP headquarters where it will lie in state before the funeral.
Modi will utilise the Presidential poll to show that he is the only leader who matters in India, argue Sunil Gatade and Venkatesh Kesari. So the question being asked in political circles is: 'Who will be the next Kovind?'
Modi is scheduled to arrive in the city to lay the foundation of the Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh State University.
Addressing Bharatiya Janata Party MPs at an event to mark the 53rd death anniversary of Deendayal Upadhyay, a party ideologue who had founded its progenitor Jana Sangh, Modi said the saffron party always puts "rashtraneeti" above "rajneeti" and gives respect to even its political rivals.
Bharatiya Janata Party and Lok Janshakti Party on Thursday night stitched a pre-poll alliance with the Ram Vilas Paswan-led party returning to the NDA fold, 12 years after it quit over Gujarat riots, and it will fight seven out of the 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar under a seat-sharing deal.
A video of the alleged attack that circulated on social media showed some people heckling the 79-year-old social activist.
Vajpayee's last rites will be performed at the Rashtriya Smriti Sthal in New Delhi at 4 pm on Friday.
'...even if they have profound differences. We discuss within our party and with each other, but not openly. We just reminded the BJP that they too, should follow this dharma.'
he said rent that she paid was determined by the government and was the same as for others in her category," the statement said, after a report claimed that she managed to convince the Vajpayee government to reduce the monthly rent of her 2,765.18 square metre house in Lutyens' Delhi from Rs 53,421 to only Rs 8,888 as it was "beyond her paying capacity".
An economist from J&K and a popular face from the RSS/BJP sat together to craftily weave an alliance in what is one of the most difficult agenda-setting exercises in recent history.
What was the experience of meeting Vajpayee like?
The dates selected by the organizers, particularly for Kanpur and Lucknow, could once again ignite communal trouble.
The Bharatiya Janata Party in Bihar is in trouble ahead of the upcoming state assembly polls as two of its ally the Lok Janshakti Party and the Rashtriya Lok Samata Party on Sunday played pressure game to bargain for more seats.
In a season of political deal-making, it would seem the BJP is not only keener to win new friends but is ahead of rival Congress in the game. Its only competition, if at all, has come from regional satraps and the Left parties, which on Tuesday resolved to fight the elections together against both the Congress and BJP.
'Everything was sacrosanct when the BJP was led by Vajpayee and Advani.' 'That was a different culture. But with Modi and Amit Shah nothing is sacrosanct.'
Naqvi clarified that the CD had not been used for the election campaign and it was presented before the media for press preview. When there was "objections at this stage, we asked the state unit to wait for Central clearance," he said.
Interestingly, the choice of August 5 as the day of the bhoomi pujan coincides with the abolition of Kashmir's special status on the same day a year ago. Perhaps the RSS-BJP wants August 5 to be remembered as the date on which the foundation stone of their cherished Hindu rashtra was laid, notes Amulya Ganguli.
Amongst those who attended the meeting included former president L K Advani, current party president Rajnath Singh were prominent leaders who attended the meet.
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday challenged Prime Minister Narerndra Modi's claim about the crime situation in Uttar Pradesh, asking him to check data of the home department and other central agencies.
With the role of the venerable elder thrust on him in UP, Mr Singh has had to attune himself to the politics at the Centre, observes Aditi Phadnis.
The real brilliance of this RSS campaign, therefore, lies in building a dominant power base with, and for, a mostly non-RSS leadership. That is why the rise of the BJP in Assam is their stand-out victory, says Shekhar Gupta.
The leaders were protesting the hike in petrol and diesel prices.
Vajpayee's long-time associate and Bharatiya Janata Party veteran L K Advani, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and BJP president Amit Shah were also present at the event.
Rejecting Bharatiya Janata Party's demand to call off the prime ministerial level talks with Pakistan in New York, the Congress on Thursday said the terror strike in Jammu is an attempt to derail the peace process and wondered whether the saffron party also wanted the same.
Jawaharlal Nehru was a man of the people and of many gifts and achievements, says veteran author Ruskin Bond in his new book, and describes Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a man of humble beginnings, whose political acumen and yogic willpower have brought him to the top.
'After meeting the prime minister and Amit Shah, Yogi has come out with his position secure till the assembly election.'
The Bharatiya Janata Party seems to have learnt a bitter lesson from its past mistake of letting down the people of Telangana for the sake of the Telugu Desam Party's support to the Atal Bihari Vajpaee-led National Democratic Alliance government. This time it is refusing to do the same.
Feud at the top in the Bharatiya Janata Party took new dimensions with the party mouthpiece making a veiled attack on leaders including Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and former Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa, asking them to rise above issues of self and self-existence.
'He has divine power... For our future, safety is in the hands of Modi.'
Actors and singers such as Padmini Kolhapure, Manoj Joshi, Sudha Chandran, BJP MP Manoj Tiwari, Anup Jalota, Kumar Sanu, Deepika Chikhalia and Shabbir Kumar would be among the prominent figures who would perform during 'Atal Geet Ganga', a poetry event to celebrate Vajpayee's 91st birthday
On Tuesday night with veteran BJP leaders raised a banner of revolt against the leadership of Narendra Modi in the wake of Bihar debacle saying that the party has been "emasculated" in the last one year.
Known for weighing his options carefully before making any move, Kumar, upon a closer look, comes across as a risk taker who has not shied away from going against the tide.
Yediyurappa termed these two years as 'trial by fire', pointing out that he had to run the administration without a cabinet in the initial days, followed by devastating floods and the challenge of COVID-19 management, among other issues.