'Badle ki bhavna (revengeful politics) was never seen in Maharashtra and Indian politics, but now we are witnessing all that today.'
Former Member of Parliament Anna Joshi has left the Bharatiya Janata Party to join the Nationalist Congress Party and will fight the Maharashtra state assembly elections from Pune.
Both the BJP and the JD-U abetted the LJP split but interestingly, independently. And there hangs a tale of conflicting interests, gamesmanship, subterfuge, and retribution, reports Radhika Ramaseshan.
'If the BJP continues with Nitish as CM, it will not consolidate its position further in future.'
The visits come against the backdrop of complaints from the Khan camp that Akhilesh Yadav has been 'ignoring' the party veteran and the Muslim community, though it backed the SP in the recent assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh.
As Madhya Pradesh goes to polls, all eyes will be on 29 key assembly seats, out of the total 230, where the contest will be keenly watched.
With their high-decibel campaigns so far, the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Samajwadi Party may appear to be locked in a direct fight in Uttar Pradesh.
According to the Election Commission data, 30 out of the state's 40 Lok Sabha seats went to the BJP-led coalition in the latest elections, a sharp drop compared with 39 in 2019 and lower than the tallies of 2014 (31) and 2009 (32).
Contests in 13 seats would attract most attention during the Chhattisgarh assembly elections as they feature prominent leaders of the Congress and BJP.
Mahua asserted that despite all efforts by the Bharatiya Janata Party to "sound the death knell" for constitutional democracy, India is too great a country to be destroyed by the fascists.
'Let the courts decide who is guilty and what punishment they should get.'
Eight Union ministers, two former chief ministers and one ex-governor are among those who are set to test their electoral fate in the first phase of elections on April 19 when 102 seats across 21 states and Union territories will go to polls.
'One reason given for the failure of the Congress in Assam was due to the alliance with the AIUDF.'
'In order to stop the BJP actually, you need a party that changes the discourse rather than positing another pole for polarising it further. The answer to this kind of politics lies in refocusing the agenda on development'
Cricketer Yusuf Pathan will contest from the Baharampur Lok Sabha seat, whereas Kirti Aazd will fight from the Bardhaman-Durgapur constituency.
Apna Dal-K leader Pallavi Patel made it clear that the party was no longer an ally of the SP which is a member of the INDIA bloc.
'Rahul Gandhi was given the impression that if the seat was given to me, then the alliance would be broken in all 40 seats.'
We want to make a non-BJP political front in this country, Raut said.
'The BJP had no traction in Karnataka and Siddaramaiah would have scraped through if he had not done all that he did.' 'When you pander to one community, the other community gets irritated.' 'Then, when you make fun of the cow and the treating of the cow as sacred, in your effort to belittle the Sangh Parivar and its obscurantism, you are hurting your normal voters too.' 'It is okay to make fun of the Sangh Parivar, but it is not okay to make fun of all Hindus.'
Hitting out at the opposition BJP over its 'lust for power' and 'dirty politics', Thakur said that Maharashtra has given a new formula to the country. She also said that the Shiv Sena-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government was stable.
A verbal duel of sorts has erupted between two senior ministers -- M B Patil and Shivanand Patil -- about seniority as the yardstick to become the Chief Minister.
BJP state president Dilip Ghosh said efforts will be made to pacify the dissidents.
The decision by BJP's highest decision-making body was announced by former party president and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh after the meeting, which was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah.
'The NCP fires the gun from Raut's shoulders and who does the bullet hit? Not enemies of our party but loyalists like us. This is not acceptable to us'
Singh said it is the principle of BJP not to promote nepotism and fight against dynasty rule and his decision to resign is in line with the party's principles.
"Special circumstances" exist in Punjab, Wasnik said and added that in view of these, the AAP and the Congress have decided to fight the Lok Sabha polls separately in the state.
'Now Modi ji is saying it is his guarantee that every corrupt person will be made a minister'
Aditi Phadnis picks five key seats in the three states where assembly elections are being held today.
Shiv Sena member of Parliament Sanjay Raut on Monday said his party is ready for a "street fight and a legal battle", ahead of the crucial hearing in the Supreme Court against the disqualification notice issued by the Maharashtra Assembly's deputy speaker to rebel party MLAs.
Hours after quitting as the MLA of the West Bengal Assembly, Rajib Banerjee on Friday resigned from the primary membership of the Trinamool Congress, intensifying speculation that he might soon switch over to the Bharatiya Janata Party.
While Himanta Biswa Sarma scotched rumours that he would be the king this time, political sources in Guwahati maintained that he, and not Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, had a bigger say in choosing candidates, reports Radhika Ramaseshan.
The minister's son, Vikas Kishore, who lives in the house, was in Delhi at the time, when his friend Vinay Srivastava was shot in the head by his other friends.
Even as political pressure was building against Ranjith, actor Siddique quit as the general secretary of Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA) amid voices from within his fraternity seeking his resignation.
Referring to Modi, Adityanath and Union Home Minister Amit Shah as 'outsiders', the farmer leader said he has no objection if they become prime ministers after winning polls from Uttarakhand or Gujarat.
Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar has been fielded again from Karnal.
While the responses of the candidates were predictable, depending on which side they belonged to, an interesting point slipped through when Rahul Shewale cited the Dharavi Redevelopment Project as a scheme that would add to Mumbai's importance. No big infrastructural project in Mumbai, he said, could be successful without the Centre's nod.
Rahul Gandhi claimed a leader from Maharashtra cried in front of his mother Sonia Gandhi, saying he felt ashamed that he could not "fight this power any more and didn't want to go to jail".
High voter turnout was recorded in most of the seven assembly constituencies in six states where by-elections were held on Tuesday.
'I had said that if they have a strong candidate, then I am ready to debate with that person. They can decide the topic, time, and place. I'm ready'
From taking charge of Jharkhand as its youngest chief minister at 38 to establishing himself as a 'fighter' for tribal rights, Hemant Soren, who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate, is an accidental leader thrust into politics after a family tragedy.
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