'Outside the core voter base of upper caste Hindus, there is a large section unhappy with the performance of the BJP.'
Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Friday urged top opposition leaders to rise above political compulsions to take on the BJP in the interest of the nation and start planning "systematically" to realise the "ultimate goal" of winning the 2024 Lok Sabha polls
'The TMC has become a private limited company.'
'If we were to change the name of our country officially and become a Hindu Rashtra, will the treatment of Muslims change?' asks Aakar Patel.
There is disquiet and discomfort in the citizenry that can be touched and felt. No one is talking, but then, the Indian voter has not talked much -- with the conviction that all that goes up has to come down, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Though a pyrrhic victory for the BJP, the party he chose to align himself against his former mentor Banerjee, it nevertheless is being seen as a morale booster for the saffron party as his former party, the Trinamool Congress under Banerjee's leadership, has garnered an overwhelming 213 seats out of 292 seats which went to polls.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi was never shown any government files, her political secretary Ahmed Patel said while terming as "baseless" the charges made against her in a book written by Prime Minister's former media advisor Sanjaya Baru.
'Shivraj Singh Chouhan gave an affidavit in the Supreme Court that his government will give reservation in promotions which resulted in a powerful reaction by the youth.' 'These youth used to vote for the BJP, but will not vote for it in this election.' 'Even if the Congress does not make any gains, the BJP is losing voters in the current situation. It is losing farmers, OBC votes.'
However, another quota agitation body Sardar Patel Group welcomed the government's move, but said they will assess how it will help Patel community and up to what extent.
A new Congress leader may make an electoral impact by his very presence. Congress voters who had moved away from the party, after being influenced by the BJP's 'family rule' campaign, can now return with a certain moral satisfaction, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
'The way discrimination against Muslims has become almost normalised is very upsetting.'
Chirag Paswan says his party's support to BJP is issue-based.
'The BJP certainly has an edge as the BJP has gone ahead of the Congress in pleasing the trading community.'
Tamil Nadu is the celebrated home of the 'social justice' movement in the country, yet caste differences and violence has only been increasing in numbers and becoming more brutal in recent years, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
The Congress Legislature Party, which met at a private hotel in Bengaluru on Sunday evening, passed a unanimous resolution authorising the party chief to pick its leader.
"The Congress believes in the politics of appeasement and dynasty, whereas BJP follows politics of performance," Shah said.
'There is core BJP support on the Hindutva line. It will continue.' 'Along with that, the BJP is ready to play the OBCs trifurcation card to its benefit.' 'If you see the post-Kairana result, the BJP spokespersons and IT cell have already begun talking about Hindu unity against Muslim unity, Ram vs Allah.'
With the exit polls predicting a victory for the National Democratic Alliance, Gujarat Bharatiya Janata Party leaders on Tuesday went into a huddle, triggering speculations about finding a successor to Narendra Modi, but the party dismissed such conjectures and described the talks as "routine".
'When Uddhav Thackeray went in for surgery, he had presumed that Eknath Shinde would have looked after the Shiv Sena for him during this period.' 'He did not imagine that Shinde would use this period to backstab him.'
The National Democratic Alliance on Monday finalised its seat sharing for Bihar polls with the Bharatiya Janata Party contesting 160 out of the 243 assembly constituencies while allies Lok Janshkati Party and Jitan Ram Manjhi's Hindustani Awam Morcha being allotted 40 and 20 seats respectively.
To beat BJP, you either deny them a critical mass of Hindu vote or build a regional leader and party strong enough to protect their turf, observes Shekhar Gupta.
The outcome in UP is far more significant than in the other states going to the polls next year. An unlikely setback in UP can cramp the Modi government, virtually making it a lame-duck two years ahead of the 2024 parliamentary poll, observes Virendra Kapoor.
Consultations within the Bharatiya Janata Party on government formation gained momentum on Friday with Prime Minister-designate Narendra Modi holding a long meeting with party chief Rajnath Singh and other senior leaders.
The controversy over Article 370 continued unabated on Wednesday with the rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh hitting back at Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah for his remarks but he made it clear that it cannot be revoked without recalling the Constituent Assembly that is "impossible".
Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday night released the first list of 43 candidates for the high-stakes Bihar polls, giving about 60 per cent representation to those from SC and backward castes in an apparent attempt to target the base of rival Janata Dal-United-Rashtriya Janata Dal combine.
After facing a difficult election, the Congress top brass including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and party chief Sonia Gandhi are expected on Monday evening to deliberate on the strategy ahead. The Congress core group, headed by Gandhi, will be holding consultations at a time when exit polls would be out, giving indications of the shape of things to come when results are declared on May 16.
Several Muslim leaders on Friday echoed the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and Bharatiya Janata Party's sentiments on the Section 377 issue with some even warning the United Progressive Alliance government that it would be taught a lesson in the 2014 polls over its move to file a review petition against the Supreme Court verdict against homosexuality.
Trinamool Congress leadership is yet to take a call on ghar wapsi (return home) by former TMC leaders who had joined the BJP ahead of the recently concluded assembly elections which the Mamata Banerjee-led party swept.
Both the parties had been banking heavily on the internal feud in the first family of the state
One of the G-23 leaders also pointed out that "we are not political tourists" and said the party leadership has to be conscious of "rumour-mongers and naradmunis".
'The BJP can kill two birds with one stone by wresting back control of the message; and the steps are fairly obvious. Once the media is neutral, there is a level playing field,' argues Rajeev Srinivasan.
Five of the six Lok Janshakti Party MPs in Lok Sabha have joined hands against their leader Chirag Paswan and elected Pashupati Kumar Paras, the youngest brother of Paswan's late father and party founder Ram Vilas Paswan, in his place, causing a big churn in Bihar politics.
A victory in Nandigram would not only establish him as one of the tallest BJP leaders in Bengal but would push him miles ahead of others in the chief ministerial race if the party is voted to power.
'Chief Minister Rio is holding the Naga Peace Accord hostage with his tacit support to the NSCN-IM, egging them to refuse to accept a solution within the Constitution.'
BJP president Amit Shah had said during the campaign that the party was fighting the election under Rupani and Nitin Patel.
In the absence of a conducive environment, India should not show any "hurry" to hold talks with Pakistan when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visits New York later this month, BJP president Rajnath Singh said.
Upholding principles was a luxury when there were charismatic leaders capable of winning elections without stooping low to indulge in identity politics, observes Virendra Kapoor.
The Bharatiya Janata Party claims it has over six lakh committed workers in Bihar, a team of 10 deployed for each of the 62,200 polling booths.
Over two dozen Muslims have been elected to the Lok Sabha. This shows that all is not lost for India's Muslims, suggests Mohammad Sajjad.
'What do you think the Congress is today?' 'Is it a political party heading for a life-and-death battle?' 'Or an NGO, just doing its thing and hoping it will improve the state of the world?' asks Shekhar Gupta.
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