Congress on Wednesday sought to downplay the controversy over the Prime Minister's Office decision to close down its official twitter account ahead of Narendra Modi taking over and expressed confidence that the new PMO will get the original handle.
Jaishakar said in a series of tweets that Nehru omitted Patel from the initial Cabinet list and it was a subject for much debate. "Released an absorbing biography of VP Menon by @narayani_basu. Sharp contrast between Patel's Menon and Nehru's Menon. Much awaited justice done to a truly historical figure," EAM said.
The Karnataka BJP core committee had proposed only Tejaswini's name for the Lok Sabha seat, but Tejaswi Surya emerged the dark horse.
'I am not the Manas Deka who attacked Kanhaiya,' says the BJP activist who shares the same name with the man who allegedly tried to 'strangle' the JNUSU leader.
The term of the 224-member Karnataka assembly ends on May 28 this year.
A Mumbai lawyer and a Beed engineer joined arrested climate activist Disha Ravi in creating a protest toolkit backing the farmers' agitation with the aim of 'tarnishing the image of India' and collaborated with pro-Khalistani elements, Delhi Police officials said on Monday.
In a multi-pronged attack on the government, Congress chief Rahul Gandhi and Surjewala alleged that it was managing headlines to deflect attention from issues such as the death of 39 Indians in captivity in Iraq.
'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.'
Shiv Sena's Sanjay Raut said the Bharatiya Janata Party's national executive should pass a resolution to demand investigation by these agencies in the land case.
Amit Malviya has been pilloried for allegedly threatening journalists, indulging in fake news and generally bringing a bad name to his party.
'I am quite optimistic that sooner or later, my wishful thinking would turn into a reality.' The only hitch is that the INC president's own career ambitions may be hurt if the Congress merges with the BJP,' says Sudhir Bisht.
'It promises to get much, much darker before the dawn.' 'But at least dawn has a fighting chance,' says Mitali Saran.
Ignore negativity, harness positive energy on social media: PM
In Kolkata, senior Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala accused the prime minister of "putting pressure" on the EC to delay its press conference. He also said the CEC's explanation is "preposterous" and wondered whether Bharatiya Janata Party is the "super EC".
Ahead of the assembly elections next year, the BJP has been wallowing in a welter of ideas that has resurrected the debate on populism versus pragmatism, as it has to pander to two important but incompatible constituencies, of the freebie consuming masses and Bengaluru's heavy hitters craving for even roads, pristine lakes and unbroken power supply, reports Radhika Ramaseshan.
'This letter assumes significance as it is for the first time that a letter has been documented and collectively agreed upon.'
It is this new Muslim who is not burdened by the Pakistan guilt, who is ready to fight it out for the rights enshrined under the Constitution, and who is not defensive about Muslim identity that the BJP and the Sangh Parivar are out to crush, argues Mohd Asim.
Khushi Dubey, Hari Shankar Tiwari and Mata Prasad Pandey represent the resentment among Brahmins towards the Adityanath government. Radhika Ramaseshan reports.
In 2017, the former Union minister called Modi "neech aadmi" following which he was suspended from the Congress party.
'Mamata's numbers will reduce this time compared to 2016.'
'If they felt that my post was wrong they should have filed a defamation case against me.' 'Why pick up in the night and detain me?' 'I was scared and thought I will be beaten up. I thought anything can happen to me and I can even die.' Abhishek Mishra on his detention.
'The Modi government thinks that once the CAA protests are over, they will bring in the NPR that will help to get the NRC.'
Under sharp attack, the Prime Minister's Office on Wednesday said the twitter account @PMOIndia has been "secured" by the microblogging company and will be handed over to the new dispensation which will take over next week.
While accounts/pages linked to the Congress party appeared to be large in number, the following or reach of pro-BJP accounts was several times more.
Radhika Ramaseshan reports on why the Karnataka chief minister risked crossing swords with his party, the Bharatiya Janata Party, and its ideological wellspring, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
'This government is feeling uneasy because IT cell narratives are being demolished by cartoons.' 'If narratives are so weak to be demolished by cartoons, then they must be fake ones.'
'In Assam we have lost 2,358 sq km to erosion by the Brahmaputra river! Do you know how much area is 2,358 sq km is? This is four times the size of Bombay. But who is concerned?' 'Didn't the BJP say that as soon as we come to power the Bangladeshis will have to pack their bags? Go to Google and search for 'Modi + Bangladeshi' and see exactly the statement he made... I am asking what has happened to it.'
Having failed to wear down the protesters, the government has now resorted to a bare-knuckle campaign to discredit them by portraying them as pawns in a wider plot bankrolled by shadowy 'anti-national' and 'Islamist' forces, notes Hasan Suroor.
'Any 21st-century political campaign will involve a lot of jockeying for social media territory.' The higher the profile of the campaign, the more likely it is to draw freelancers. Devangshu Datta surveys the Battle of the Bots.
Gandhi revealed that he reflected on issues and gave suggestions to his communication team of two or three members, which fine-tuned the content before posting it on the microblogging website.
The Election Commission has done its homework pretty well on political hashtags, observes ad guru Sandeep Goyal.
Debanjan Ballav, a student of Sanskrit College and member of Left radical United Democratic Students Front, told reporters that it was Babul Supriyo who had threatened and abused him when he wanted to speak of the concerns about lakhs of people who were rendered homeless due to the National Register of Citizens' exercise in Assam.
Shah said not allowing trains to reach West Bengal is "injustice" to the migrant workers from the state.
With SMSes and emails becoming passe, political parties are now harnessing blogs, websites and social networking sites as cheaper and faster means of reaching out to the voters for the October 13 assembly elections in Maharashtra.
The election team of Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance's prime ministerial candidate Lal Krishna Advani has put on its thinking caps to conjure up the maximum number of audience for his campaign rallies.Prodyut Bora, the communication wizard who heads the party's IT Cell, is planning to capture Advani's recent spree of Vijay Sankalp rallies on camera and post it on the internet to attract a larger audience.
'Mahatma Gandhi, even for those on the extreme Hindu Right who believe he founded the politics of Muslim 'appeasement', is suicidal to target,' asserts Shekhar Gupta.
'Our demand is simple: Those private players (to whom 94 per cent of the farmers sell their produce) should also buy our produce at the MSP.'
'Those who have followed politics even when there was no Twitter know what the word 'jumlebaaz' means,' says Utkarsh Mishra.
The party needs to fight competition not by acting like others, but by finding a strong narrative of its own.
'The BJP's election campaign promise of development isn't dead, it just doesn't look anything like what was promised.' 'The results are plain to see, which is why so many of us wake up with a knot in our stomachs, wondering what fresh new hell the day's news cycle will bring,' says Mitali Saran.
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