Asom Gana Parishad President and former Assam Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta on Wednesday kept open his party's option of joining hands with the Bharatiya Janata Party for Lok Sabha polls, saying a decision will be taken soon.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday took a dig at the BJP's anointment of L K Advani as its next prime ministerial candidate, saying it was done because the party feared "danger" from Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.
In the midst of the poll heat, the Congress has heaped praise on A B Vajpayee to attack Narendra Modi, asking how can a person whom the tallest leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party "wanted removed" as the chief minister in the wake of Gujarat riots be the party's PM candidate.
He said it is evident that the crisis has touched all segments of the economy and the society and that it 'could assume the proportions of an economic emergency unless it is handled with determination, clarity of thought and creative new approaches'.
The debate on prime ministerial candidate is futile and leaders should talk about this only before the Parliamentary board, says Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan in an exclusive interview to CNN-IBN.
The Janata Dal United on Sunday reacted cautiously to the elevation of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi to the Bharatiya Janata Party's parliamentary board, saying it is an "internal matter" of its ally. "It (elevation of Narendra Modi) is an internal matter of the BJP at the national level," JD-U spokesman Niraj Kumar said.
The Supreme Court on Friday refused to entertain a plea questioning the clean chit given to Narendra Modi by the Special Investigation Team in its probe in connection with the 2002 Gujarat riots.
Congress on Friday downplayed Narendra Modi's anointment as BJP's prime ministerial candidate for the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, while the Samajwadi Party said his "dream will never come true".
Dismissing his call for a debate on Article 370 of the Constitution, Congress on Monday advised Narendra Modi to discuss the issue first with Sangh Parivar, saying there is already "clarity" in the ruling party about it.
Ruling out himself as his party's prime ministerial candidate, Bharatiya Janata Party president Nitin Gadkari on Sunday favoured Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi for the top job and promised to back his candidature as party chief.
For months now, the Washington Post reports, a core group of political strategists, computer specialists and management graduates have been poring over Obama's speeches and web site, his campus of change and, of course, the rhetoric of change, to nail down how Advani's campaign can be run to inspire India's untapped potential of young voters
Hardening its stand against the Shiv Sena leadership, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has said that negotiations on seat-sharing for the coming Lok Sabha elections could not begin unless statements made by a Sena leader that his party would back Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar for the prime ministerial post are publicly retracted by senior Sena leaders.
Amid a debate on the Bharatiya Janata Party projecting Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as its prime ministerial candidate, senior leader M Venkaiah Naidu on Friday said the party would only take a call on the issue before the 2014 general elections.
Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati on Thursday said Narendra Modi could change the secular credentials of the Constitution on the pretext of reviewing it and give it "Hindutva colour", if he came to power.
The new chief minister, if from the Congress, will have little or no time for political administration, to ensure that he does not lose the voter's goodwill even before the Lok Sabha polls. He can count only on one thing. That the BJP may not want to upset him too early lest an early failure should become an added problem for the party in all the polls to follow, predicts N Sathiya Moorthy.
Patel will be administered the oath as the 18th chief minister by Governor Acharya Devvrat at a function to be held at the Helipad Ground near the new Secretariat in Gandhinagar at 2 pm.
Aam Aadmi Party on Saturday asked the BJP to announce the seat from where Narendra Modi would be contesting the Lok Sabha election and sought to know if he was "scared" to take on their leader Arvind Kejriwal.
Concealed beneath the feat, which testifies to his political acumen and survival instincts, is the fact that the 72-year-old leader could never remain at peace with his allies which also made him change partners frequently.
The Congress on Tuesday dismissed as 'day dreams' the projection of the likes of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and senior leader Sushma Swaraj as the party's prime ministerial candidates, and said Delhi is 'still distant' for the opposition party.
The alliance leaders are getting together for the third round of the brainstorming session in Mumbai, after Patna and Bengaluru, to chalk out their common campaign strategy to take on the NDA in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, who is being projected by some in BJP as its Prime Ministerial face for 2014 elections, on Sunday asked his party cadres to work hard to present an alternative to the UPA government.
The development can change the power dynamics within the ruling alliance, even if it manages to retain power in the state and Kumar continues to be chief minister.
A day after Bharatiya Janata Party released a video attacking Congress president Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law Robert Vadra, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav defended Vadra and accused the BJP of blowing the issue of the land deals out of proportion. He also slammed the BJP's prime ministerial candidate, saying Narendra Modi's name meant model of diving India.
Congress masterstroke foiled by Vajpayee niece's failure. Illustration: Uttam Ghosh/Rediff.com.
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi has weakened the Bharatiya Janata Party's plank of protesting at Congress president Sonia Gandhi Figuring in all central government advertisements at the exchequer's cost.
Meeting for the first time after the spectacular win in Narendra Modi-led Gujarat and after wresting Himachal Pradesh away from the Congress, Singh praised the success of the party's ideological commitment and its ability in the field of development. "I fully believe the string of successes would further lead us to victory in the Lok Sabha elections," he said.
The Congress on Tuesday attempted to drag Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani and the saffron party into the Malegaon blast case controversy, accusing the BJP's prime ministerial candidate and the party of making the 'first political interference' in the terror case. "The internal security of the country is today threatened by two As -- Advani and Abhinav Bharat," senior party leader M Veerappa Moily told reporters.
The Bharatiya Janata Party and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh top brass on Tuesday held a meeting, lasting over five hours, to discuss issues of mutual concern but the prime ministerial candidate and the Ram temple at Ayodhya issues did not come up during the parleys.
The Shiv Sena on Saturday said that Narendra Modi's "toilets first, temples later" remark show that the Bharatiya Janata Party is not in touch with the views of its prime ministerial candidate.
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader and former finance minister Yashwant Sinha has asked newly-appointed party president Rajnath Singh to name Gujarat Chief Minister Narendre Modi as the party's official prime ministerial candidate for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
The Congress won 40 seats in the 68-member Himachal Pradesh assembly while the BJP got 25 seats.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday cautioned partymen against speaking out of turn on its prime ministerial nominee, with its president Rajnath Singh saying some leaders have been announcing names on a daily basis and creating unnecessary controversy. The party emphasised on the need for discipline and improving its image at a meeting of its office-bearers in Delhi to discuss the strategy and issues ahead of polls in six states and the Lok Sabha elections.
The veteran socialist leader, who ended his long alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party last year, was responding to queries from journalists about the 'Hindu Rashtra' clamour, which was openly endorsed earlier this week by his Uttar Pradesh counterpart Yogi Adityanath.
By comparing I.N.D.IA. with banned terror outfits, Modi has exhibited the kind of nervousness never ever associated with him even at the height of the Gujarat riots, and certainly since his prime ministerial days, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
The Bharatiya Janata Party appears to have come under pressure from Sangh Parivar on the choice of Narendra Modi as its next prime ministerial candidate, with Vishwa Hindu Parishad demanding announcement of the Gujarat chief minister's name.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Wednesday called for a "main front" of all non-BJP parties to take on the ruling alliance in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls and asserted that the decision on its leadership can be taken later.
The BJP's top leadership will drop its MPs found to be facing anti-incumbency, according to its internal surveys -- a pivotal tactic to ensure the party achieves its target of winning 370 seats.
Bharatiya Janata Party leader Sushil Kumar Modi on Wednesday claimed he did not rule out Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar joining hands with the saffron party again.
The Bharatiya Janata Party and its Parliamentary Board members were on Thursday directed by the Delhi high court to respond to former Rajya Sabha member Ram Jethmalani's plea challenging his expulsion by the Board in May this year.
From politics to fashion, the Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party alliance remains intact. Prasanna D Zore reports