Congress stalwart Gegong Apang, who served as the second longest serving chief minister in the country with a record 22 years, mostly with the party, has resigned and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Amid reports that Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi may be anointed the Congress Prime Ministerial candidate, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday said the recent Assembly polls results have shown the party has "failed" under his leadership and has no possibility of doing well in the Lok Sabha polls.
Indian Mujahideen operative Hyder Ali Shaqoor is believed to have been assigned the job to assassinate BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, reports Vicky Nanjappa.
Shrikant Shinde on Monday said the swearing-in ceremony of the Mahayuti coalition government has been a bit delayed, and currently there are lot of discussions and rumours.
The Union home minister recalled that the BJP had won far greater number of seats in the last assembly polls than the JD(U) but Prime Minister Narendra Modi kept up his promise to back Kumar for another term in office.
Like Nitish, Mamata and KCR have prime ministerial ambitions, but, unlike Nitish who has established a rapport with Sonia, both Mamata and KCR are cold towards the Congress president, points out Virendra Kapoor.
In a scathing attack on Rahul Gandhi, the Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi on Sunday accused him of undermining authority of the prime minister and asked people to decide if the nation will be run based on the Constitution or whims of the "prince".
A day after the Bharatiya Janata Party scored big wins in three assembly polls, talk within the party shifted to the likely chief ministerial picks in these states, with senior leaders holding discussions on Monday.
Discordant voices emerged on Sunday from the Mahayuti even as the alliance continued to remain in the throes of government formation more than week after it swept the Maharashtra assembly polls.
If the idea was to garner AIADMK votes with or without the three faction leaders after the party broke ties with the NDA, it may not work after all, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Harping on putting up a united front, the Congress alleged that democracy is being "mercilessly murdered" and MPs who raise people's issues are suspended from the House.
'When he was sidelined in the INDIA bloc, it was was the turning point because it badly hurt Nitish's ambition.' 'After that, he decided to damage INDIA by changing sides.'
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Sunday snubbed the Rashtriya Janata Dal, headed by his arch-rival Lalu Prasad Yadav, stating that he had forged alliances 'by mistake' with the opposition party which 'did nothing' while in power.
Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi on Tuesday echoed Janata Dal-United leader Nitish Kumar saying that the Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate should be a liberal person like former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee acceptable to all sections of society.
Chouhan's fate will be determined by the BJP central command's assessment of the implications of such a move ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
The name of the Maharashtra chief minister will be announced on Wednesday, a day ahead of the swearing-in ceremony of the Mahayuti government, after the Bharatiya Janata Party elects its legislature party leader, a senior functionary said on Monday.
Ahead of the crucial INDIA alliance meeting in Mumbai, AAP leader Priyanka Kakkar Wednesday pitched for Arvind Kejriwal as the opposition bloc's prime ministerial candidate but party colleagues Atishi and Sanjay Singh hastened to deny that the Delhi chief minister had such aspirations.
Amid a buzz that Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar may emerge as the opposition's prime ministerial candidate, his party Janata Dal-United said on Friday if other parties want so, then this is an option.
Leader of Opposition in Gujarat Assembly Shankersinh Vaghela today criticised the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and some religious leaders for supporting Chief Minister Narendra Modi as the prime ministerial candidate.
Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy on Saturday asked the Bharatiya Janata Party to declare Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as its prime ministerial candidate at the earliest to ensure a majority in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
'BJP's ultimate ambition is to control Bihar independently.'
Those meeting Modi included BJP's Narayan Rane, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Ajay Bhatt, Bhupender Yadav, Shobha Karandlaje, Pritam Munde and Meenakshi Lekhi, Lok Janshakti Party's Pashupati Paras and Apna Dal's Anupriya Patel, sources said.
Terming Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani's yatra a "political gimmick", Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on Friday said the exercise was aimed to promote himself as the party's prime ministerial candidate.
The party rank and file seemed bewildered at the sudden turn of events which has taken the spotlight away from the "Har Ghar Tiranga" programme which the BJP was planning to hold with much fanfare.
Hours before the ceremony, Saini visited the Valmiki Bhawan and offered prayers at a gurdwara and the Mansa Devi temple in Panchkula.
L K Advani had no option but to strike now to ensure that Modi is not announced as the prime ministerial candidate under any circumstances before the general election, says Sheela Bhatt
She expressed confidence that a three-way alliance is very much possible in West Bengal between her Trinamool Congress, Congress and the Left.
With Narendra Modi set to take over as the BJP's prime ministerial candidate, a combination of big capital and Hindutva could prove the undoing of the rule of law and Indian democracy. He must be stopped -- to start with, in Gujarat, says Praful Bidwai.
Telugu Desam Party leader Ram Mohan Naidu will be sworn in as a cabinet minister and another party MP, Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani, as a minister of state in the new Modi government, a party leader has confirmed.
Speaking at the Congress manifesto launch programme, Gandhi said it is a much closer contest than what is propagated by the media, and expressed confidence in winning the polls.
It was not that differences did not crop up over other issues between the two erstwhile allies, but Parkash Singh Badal always ensured that these were amicably resolved and the ties remained intact.
With Atishi at the helm it will not be easy for the BJP to continue using the LG's office and the bureaucracy as political instruments to hinder governance and thereby provoke the electorate's ire against the AAP, expects Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
As the Bharatiya Janata Party looks set to retain Haryana, the Congress' poll campaign, which was built around various issues including unemployment, farmers' plight and Agnipath scheme, appeared to have failed to click with a majority of the voters.
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena leader Raj Thackeray, once considered close to Narendra Modi, on Thursday said that the Gujarat chief minister should have resigned the day he was nominated BJP's prime ministerial candidate, a suggestion immediately rejected by the saffron party.
"No, she will not make me the PM," was Dr Pranab Mukherjee's cryptic response in a reference to Sonia Gandhi when he was asked by his daughter Sharmistha Mukherjee about his chances of becoming the prime minister in 2004.
Nayab Singh Saini on Wednesday staked claim to form the next government in Haryana, hours after he was unanimously elected as the leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party legislature party in the state.
The Bharatiya Janata Party had not yet given a thought to who would be its prime ministerial candidate for the next general elections, it said on Saturday.
Former Indian cricket captain Sourav Ganguly has been offered a ticket to contest the general elections next year by the BJP but is undecided on whether to accept the offer.
Former Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi on Monday claimed that Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi was the "target" of the serial blasts carried out by Indian Mujahideen modules in Patna.
Stirring the hornet's nest in the Bharatiya Janata Party, noted lawyer Ram Jethmalani has strongly pitched for projecting Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as its prime ministerial candidate in the next Lok Sabha elections.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances