In private, questions are being raised about the wisdom of a 'dual-SIM' leadership during the long run-up to the 2026 assembly polls where 'family rule' could become an election issue, reports N Sathiya Moorthy.
The Congress rebels are seeking to install a person of their choice as the new chief minister of the state.
What these elections prove beyond any doubt (if ever there was one) that Modi's hold over public mind and Shah's mastery of election management are unparalleled. It doesn't seem likely that they will be matched any time soon in the Indian political scene, reaffirms Shreekant Sambrani.
"The killer of Kanhaiya Lal, Riyaz Attari is a member of the BJP," Khera said in a tweet after the press conference.
What the INDIA alliance needs is neither a counter to Modi's tall personality and undiminished charisma nor a counter-narrative to his Hindutva agenda, now centred on the Ayodhya temple consecration on January 22, argues N Sathiya Moorthy.
'The larger story of systematic destruction, which can and has been quantified, goes mysteriously missing from any political and/or public discourse about the ongoing devastation in the Ghats,' notes Prem Panicker.
On Friday evening too, Crime Branch teams had visited the residences of Kejriwal and Delhi Minister Atishi. But sources said the police teams could not serve the notices as officials at Kejriwal's home refused to take it and Atishi was not present.
The students had earlier planned to arrange a mass screening of the documentary India: The Modi Question, but they watched it on Saturday on laptops and mobile phones at a decided time and venue despite a warning by the institute, while tight police security was deployed outside the campus, he said.
Antony, who headed the digital media cell of the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee, slammed the Congress leadership for working for a "single family" instead of working for the country.
Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara has asserted there were no lapses on the part of the government in handling cases relating to the alleged sexual abuse of women by Hassan MP Prajwal Revanna and that the Special Investigation Team was probing them from all angles.
'How come the BJP won even in the Muslim belt? I am 100% sure that the BJP would not win in the Muslim belt.'
"Hum saath hain (we are together) is the message we want to give," Uddhav said.
Earlier this week, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said a law on population control would not serve any purpose but insisted instead on education for girls and women.
Rahul said that if you ask the BJP why a train accident happened, they will say the Congress Party did such and such thing 50 years ago, taking a swipe at the government following the Odisha train accident, one of the worst railway tragedies in the country.
Ending days of suspense, the Congress on Friday announced that Rahul Gandhi will contest the Lok Sabha elections from Rae Bareli, the constituency held by his mother Sonia Gandhi for the last two decades, and Kishori Lal Sharma, a close aide of the Gandhi family, will fight from Amethi.
'...for success like the BJP.' 'The BJP's work for the next election begins the day one election ends.'
Sources within the Congress, including those who have been members of the teams that drafted its 2019 and 2024 Lok Sabha poll manifestos, said the Karnataka government decision lacked any empirical basis.
In his letter to Sitharaman, Venugopal said media reports have exposed the alleged "quid-pro-quo between BJP and several firms, which in a strange coincidence donated to it, after the Enforcement Directorate (ED), Income Tax Department (IT) and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and others, raided or searched those enterprises".
'Commentators have said that dealing with allies as equals will make Modi more sensitive.' 'Remember that the people Modi is dealing with are equally autocratic in their own lairs.' 'Further, Modi always has handy the threat of dissolving Parliament and calling for fresh polls.' 'Most of his own party, and certainly his allies and opponents having blown their budgets of efforts and resources in the just concluded elections, have no stomach for this.' 'They are all greatly looking forward to the loaves and fishes of office on offer.' 'That gives Modi an unbeatable advantage in any push-comes-to-shove situation,' explains Shreekant Sambrani.
'Rahul Gandhi is the face of the INDIA alliance. If he contests against a BJP candidate and defeats her/him, it will send a strong message.'
The Madhya Pradesh Congress demanded an apology from the BJP for "insulting" the defence forces.
The PM is seen as slipping up in confidence levels as aired by his 'exposure' of the BRS on a crucial issue as alliance negotiations, which is not done under normal circumstances, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Will Foreign Minister Mr. Jaishankar please refer to the RTI reply dated 27-1-2015...The Reply justified the circumstances under which India acknowledged that a small island belonged to Sri Lanka," Chidambaram said.
Nalin Kohli, who is in-charge of the party's affairs in Meghalaya, said the state governments can decide on cow slaughter ban keeping in view the local food habits.
Jani said that as a food blogger, she has informed people about local cuisines of various places and that's what happened in Kerala video, whose screenshots are being used.
The EPS camp believes that the BJP was already arm-twisting the AIADMK into conceding more seats in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections 'than they deserve' observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
The TMC has won in 34,560 gram panchayat seats, besides leading in 705 seats, according to the SEC as of 11.30 am on Wednesday.
The Opposition parties need to spell out how exactly they will protect the citizen from government excess, asserts T N Ninan.
Raising slogans against the Bharatiya Janata Party, Trinamool Congress (TMC) leaders ended their 24-hour protest at the Mandir Marg police station in New Delhi on Tuesday evening, a day after they were detained while staging a dharna outside the Election Commission's office.
'Till today, we don't know how many people died of Covid in India.' 'How many migrated from cities to villages during the Covid pandemic?' 'How many corporates contributed to PM Cares?'
The latest ultimatum underlines the hardening of the government's stance on the issue of deepfakes and misinformation powered by AI, after the Centre categorically told platforms to crack down with urgency on doctored and manipulated videos rampantly being circulated on social media.
This time Modi has no emotive message to take to the stump. Muscular nationalism doesn't work against the backdrop of China's successive inroads into Indian territory. Rising prices is a sore point that cuts across class and caste barriers; unprecedented levels of unemployment has the youth in a ferment. This has reduced the BJP campaign to a laundry list of recycled grievances and thinly veiled communal appeals, neither of which are working as well as they have in the past, argues Prem Panicker.
Sanjeev Kumar alias Sanjeev 'Mukhiya', an alleged kingpin behind the NEET paper leak, was not only minting money but wanted to become an MP or MLA.
Shailaja Teacher, arguably the most famous Covid warrior in India, versus former student leader Shafi Parambil who defeated 'Metro Man' E Sreedharan in the last assembly election. Shyam G Menon reports from the Vadakara Lok Sabha constituency, which some feel is the most politically important contest in Kerala this election.
If any corruption has taken place in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, which was ruled by the undivided Shiv Sena for more than two decades, then probe it, but also inquire into the work done by states during the pandemic, he said.
Kerala's election discourse operates surreptitiously. Its explicit face focuses on important national and local issues. At the same time, it seeks to secure apt communal equations to ensure votes, notes Shyam G Menon.
Rulers in New Delhi and their political aides in sensitive states like Tamil Nadu have to be doubly careful not to provoke a situation whose consequences may be much more than visible now to the naked eye, notes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Aaditya Thackeray on Wednesday sought to distance himself from the strident "anti-migrant" stance that the Shiv Sena, founded by his late grandfather Bal Thackeray, has often been accused of.
Stalin still enjoys a lot of sympathy and empathy as someone wishing well for the state, but not full-throated support as in 2019 and 2021, notes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Congress general secretary and chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala accused the BJP of pushing India into a dark age of religious polarisation to "subserve its parochial political agenda in the short term".